Remote PC support has come a long way. It used to be a long phone call and people would explain what they were seeing. Then we added remote desktop sharing tools like VNC. Now many sites and applications have these features. I have discussed remote desktop sharing / support apps before – http://jimiz.net/2008/07/open-source-applications/
Since then I have tried many versions. Go2MyPC, webex, livemeeting, dimdim, view, and many more. Recently on a family support call I decided to try two new ones. I have recently been using go2assist (from citrix) however I decided to let my subscription run out and go back to open source.
Two players in this space. join.me – a simple web site to allow you to share your screen. It was simple to use but not as intuitive as I would have liked.
I ended up using Microsoft’s SharedView. Since I already had a live /hotmail account and so did my family member who needed help the requirments to use this tool were already set.
They basically went to http://connect.microsoft.com/site94 downloaded the application and ran the 3 step install.
After it is installed you can run the app and get a tool bar on the top of your screen. Steps are simple. Login, start or joine a session. I was able to walk them through starting a session and quickly join them via email address in about 1 min. If you are starting the meeting you just click the start a new session and you are presented with a link to email or a password to share (SIMPLE)
Thank you Microsoft for this great tool. It is not as clean ad go2assist but very practical.