Number 285 - February 2007

Windows XP: Remote Assistance
by Dick Maybach, Brookdale Computer User Group, New Jersey www.bcug.com/ "With Remote Assistance a tutor can see a student's Windows desktop and operate his or her computer over the Internet."
Because of BCUG members' interest and experience with PCs, many of us are asked for help by friends and family. Often, those seeking help live across town or across the country, and it is inconvenient to visit them. Fortunately, Windows XP (both the Home and Pro version) provides a solution. Using its Remote Assistance feature, a tutor can see a student's Windows desktop and operate his or her computer over the Internet. This allows you to assist someone almost anywhere in the world. Remote Assistance supports an audio link and live file transfers. During the session, you can speak with the person you are helping, and exchange files between the two PCs as easily as you can move them between directories.    To use Remote Assistance, both parties must be using Windows XP, either Home or Pro. The operation will be smoother if both have high-speed Internet access, but this is not required. Also, both parties should have microphones or combination microphone-earphone headsets, which are available inexpensively from many computer hardware dealers. Without this, you will have to juggle a telephone during the whole session or use text chat, both of which are inconvenient. Finally, Universal plug-and play must be enabled on your hardware router, if you have one. This appears to be the default for those used in homes, but if you are behind your company's, college's, or some other organization's firewall, you may not be able to use Remote Assistance. UPnP does entail a small security risk, which many organizations won't tolerate.    It will also be helpful to use MSN Messenger to set up the session. Without this, you will have to use e-mail, which will slow down the dialog immensely. (As a bonus, Messenger will allow you to make free audio or video calls anywhere in the world.) Both the Messenger software and service are free. You can download the software from Microsoft. (The fastest way to find the correct download page is to do a Google search for "MSN Messenger". During the installation process, you will be led through the process of obtaining a Messenger account.)    XP enables Remote Assistance requests by default; however, check to be sure that this is so. The error message if it isn't is not helpful. (Right-click on My Computer, select Properties, select Remote, check Allow Remote Assistance invitations to be sent -, select Advanced, check Allow this computer to be controlled - While you are here, reduce the time that requests are active to something like four hours; the 30-day default is far too long.) Allowing Remote Assistance requests does add a small security risk; I recommend that you disable it when you aren't using it.	Use the following procedure to start a session. (It assumes you use MSN Messenger.)     Both parties start MSN Messenger and sign in. The student requests assistance (Start ; Help and Support ; Invite a friend to connect to your computer with Remote Assistance ; Invite some to help you ; select the friend from the Messenger list ; select Invite) The tutor accepts the request.    Both can now see the student's desktop, but only the student can control it; that is, the tutor's mouse and keyboard do not affect the student's desktop. For many problems, this is all that is needed.    Once the session has begun, you can control the interaction.     If you are using a high-speed connection, tell the program so. (Click Settings and check High Quality Connection.) To start a voice conversation, click Start Talking. Again, one party requests and the other accepts the link. This, of course, requires a microphone or a headset at each PC. You can use instant messaging for conversations, but this is much slower than talking and can be confusing. The tutor can request control by clicking Take Control. If the student accepts, both now control the student's desktop. This allows the tutor, for example, to demonstrate the correct procedures and to make changes in the student's configuration. Either party can send a file, by clicking Send a File. Hitting Esc allows either party to revoke control, kill the voice link, or stop the session.    Remote Assistance provides a very valuable tool that allows PC users to help each other without leaving their homes, but it hasn't received the recognition it deserves.    There is no restriction against any non-profit group using this article as long as it is kept in context with proper credit given the author. The Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which this group is a member, brings this article to you.
Number 285 - February 2007