Average users…

Most of the people nowadays turn on their computers and just start to browse the Internet to read news, update their Facebook status or check their emails. They don’t really care about how things work. But then, someday, they run into a problem. Some application doesn’t start anymore or suddenly something looks different and they start to panic.

Due to the fact that an average computer user doesn’t know and maybe doesn’t want to bother with the basic structures behind applications or even an operating system they often seek help from expensive IT experts who charge a lot of money for a simple task or just a quick change of some rogue setting.

Click on more to read on…

People are not aware that there are nice remote assistant tools available for free. I know that, because I use those tools almost daily to support customers at my daytime job and after I log in on their computers I often hear things like: “Oh my mouse is moving! This is so weird!”. The first few times I seriously had to suppress one or the other giggle, but then I realized that more people should be aware of those tools. So here’s a quick overview of the most common tools.

VNC – the classic remote support tool

Virtual Network Computing (VNC) is one of the oldest remote support tools around. It’s available for a lot of platforms and consists of a server application and a client (or “viewer”). Many companys’ IT people install the VNC server on their clients to be able to quickly check what’s going wrong at a user’s computer without the need of running through the whole building to see that the user just needs to tick a certain check box in some application.

The downside of VNC is that it is relatively slow and it is not using encryption by default. So the main usage field is on a local network.

If you want to read more about VNC take a look at the official homepage.

TeamViewer – free for private use, encrypted and easy to use

TeamViewer is a bit different. Basically you download the software from the TeamViewer website, install or just run it and you’re good to help out your buddy or family member to solve that annoying computer issue they might have.

The person you want to connect to needs to give you a 12-digit ID number and a 4 digit password which his or her TeamViewer application is displaying. Then, after he or she allows you to take over his desktop, you’re good to go.

TeamViewer supports Windows, Linux and OS X operating systems and even works on the iPhone or iPad.

However please note that if you want to use it professionally you will have to get a license.

Find out more about or try TeamViewer on the official website.