Favorite remote support utilities

[Brian K. White]

On 8/31/2010 10:28 AM, Bob Rasmussen wrote:
> Hi all, new subject: What do you use to do remote desktop? What do you
> like about it? What don't you like about it or others you have tried?
> Please provide details such as what platforms you work on.
>
> I have been using Webex (from Cisco) for a while. It always gets the job
> done, but it is a little tedious to get it started on the customer's end.
> They have to answer some preference questions about timezones, their
> identity, and so forth. They have to install a small piece of code, but
> that's generally true of these utilities. The big downside is a monthly
> fee. All my support is from and to Windows-based PCs. I have recorded the
> video of some support sessions, in order to refer back later. That's a
> nice feature. I'm never trying to reach an unattended PC. I'm always doing
> one-to-one, never one-to-many.
>
> I hear a lot about GoToMeeting and GoToMyPC, but haven't tried them.
>
> I was just reading about Mikogo (www.mikogo.com). Looks pretty nice, and
> it's free.
>
> What do you like?

We use beamyourcreen.com / joinsession.com
It's very easy and free for the client, and only slightly more work and 
not free for the "presenter", platform-agnostic web client option that 
works ok on linux in chrome etc, although on windows there is a native 
binary client which works a bit better. Easy for either party to swap 
controls around, easy for the presenter to switch sides and make the 
other pc the presenter. We use it for sales demos and training sessions, 
both of which are multiple viewers to one presenter, and for support 
which is one on one.

I don't know how it compares to other things except that it's a lot more 
convenient than setting up traditional port forwarding for rdp or vnc. 
Neither side needs any router or firewall setup. I would assume several 
other systems by now share those same basic qualities but I haven't used 
any others so all I can say is it's good enough I haven't felt a need to 
look further. But I'm not paying the bill either.

-- 
bkw