ShowMyPC – Give Your Relatives Remote PC Support, No Need for Technical Knowledge
It’s great that older people are also embracing the possibilities of the Internet and multimedia, but less so when they regularly ask you when you’re in the neighborhood and if you can spend a few hours to help them with some issues with their equipment or software. ShowMyPC is a free remote support software that allows you to take over their computer remotely, even when it’s behind a (wireless) home router. And you don’t need to have a degree in computer science to get it up and running.
Why It’s Clever and Easy
I’m always encouraging my relatives to get onto the Internet, if they haven’t done so already. It’s becoming less of a luxury and more of an essential part of life now that everything’s going online. But how to get around it isn’t very obvious for people who’ve never operated a PC, and “computer illiterates” tend to get stuck on a few simple problems that could easily be solved if only someone was looking over their shoulder and clicking the right option in the software. But I dread, when visiting family, spending the little time that we have in front of a PC instead of at the dinner table.
For at least the last ten years screen-sharing solutions have been available that “virtually” look over someone’s shoulder by taking over the PC screen and keyboard remotely. Examples are the good old NetMeeting, the free VNC, UltraVNC, the standard Windows Remote Desktop, etc. (the techies can continue reading here). That is, sitting behind your PC in your home, you can see what’s on the other person’s screen, click the mouse, and type on their computer – after their approval – which is a very easy and quick way to help them out. But with increasingly sophisticated (wireless) home networks with integrated routers, most older tools aren’t able anymore to connect to the remote PC – unless you’re an expert who can set up these kinds of routers correctly.
With ShowMyPC3000, in most cases these problems are handled automatically. Both parties simply start the free remote support program or click on the link to the ShowMyPC website, and the software deals with the technical issues for you. You can work on the other person’s PC as if you were sitting in front of it, configure things, install software, or simply show them how to do something while talking them through it over the phone.
How does it work?
1. Both parties start the software on their PC
2. The party requesting help clicks on “Show My PC Now” and gets a unique password, which he can communicate over the phone to the other party.
3. The supporting party clicks on “View Remote PC” and enters the code when requested.
4. If all goes well, the connection is established, and the “family helpdesk” can operate the remote PC as if it was his own.
| Can't wait to try it out? Click here to
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(you have to replace the address in the "To" field with your friend's - but you know that, right?). When you have him or her on the phone, then click on this link yourself to start the remote control software on your side. Note: the link might change when there's a new version, just give us a sign via the comment field at the bottom of the page when it's dead. |
Summary
- Easy and free remote PC support software
- No technical knowledge required
- Works just as well when PCs are behind (wireless) home routers
- Full control of remote PC
- Unique password per session avoids unauthorized access
- Paid version has additional features for professional support and for Internet-based meetings and conferences
- Variant for controlling your own home PC remotely.
Tips
A lot of other features are also available with ShowMyPC, including some for professional remote support applications and Internet-based PC conferences. If you need any of these, you can read more about them on the ShowMyPC website.
Update: Since I wrote this article, I've been using ShowMyPC quite a lot and I noticed that I often didn't get a connection when I was working in the office, behind a strict firewall. Or when the other party was in that situation. I've been digging a bit deeper and found out that Netviewer also has a free remote support package for private use, and I haven't found a situation yet in which I wasn't able to connect with that software.
Where to buy
The simple remote support version is free and can be downloaded (or started directly) from the ShowMyPC website.
A paid version for professional remote PC support can be purchased from the ShowMyPC website.
Approx. price: $0 = Free (June 2009)
Categories: multimedia,time-saving
