# Best remote support software? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 28, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-remote-support-software/629640 "2012-07-28T02:54:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![perfectparanoia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@perfectparanoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/perfectparanoia)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-remote-support-software/629640/21 "2012-07-30T17:23:37Z")
We use gotomeeting. Mind you, that’s because we want to be able to have multiple people present so we can go through items in a meeting sort of way. We want any number of those people to be able to take control of any other computer in the course of diagnosing. Teamviewer and GotoAssist don’t let us do this. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-remote-support-software/629640/22 "2012-07-30T17:51:21Z")
Just to clear up my recommendation of Teamviewer, it’s not necessarily the best, depending on your needs, but it has an easy and reliable start up process in my experience, and the OP doesn’t have to worry about the guy on the other end configuring his machine correctly. Once that link is established, I’d recommend configuring the other machine to support Remote Desktop and other Windows remote access services. That allows the OP unfettered access to the remote system and the ability to configure it for any other kind of tool. At work I use SecureLink a lot. It’s an excellent tool, allows multiple users to connect to the same machine, and it’s very secure. I think it is expensive though, and the security is so good there are a lot of problems getting through firewalls with it. It’s not for everybody, but if you are looking for incredibly secure remote access, it’s the way to go. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-remote-support-software/629640/23 "2012-07-31T03:20:14Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Just go to Start - Help and Support and it’ll walk you through it right there. Easy peasy. If your firewall is not configured to allow it, it’ll walk you through that too. I have no doubt that you and I could make it work with minimal hassle. But it might be too complicated for this particular situation. I just took a quick look, and MEGO set in. That’s not a good sign if I’m not working with a peer. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-remote-support-software/629640/24 "2012-07-31T03:33:06Z")
I think a large percentage of people responding here read the thread title an not the actual OP. Best remote support software is one thing, best remote software for your case is entirely another. Aren’t we geeks supposed to RTFOP? Teamviewer et al look great, but as any remote support tech has seen, even something as simple as allowing an ActiveX script on a page can be a deal breaker. BTW the first time I went to disable teamviewer in my task bar it finally prompted me to log into a VM, nice, but it didn’t show me a thing about the target’s DL path. If I have a fleet of PC’s I need to be able to access unattended, do file transfers, etc. I’ll likely choose something like TV, but for dealing with the feeble end users that have to be told how many times to click which button, and when to hit enter, I’ve made my choice. ---
**Author:** ![Curiosity\_Kills\_Her](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Curiosity\_Kills\_Her](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Curiosity_Kills_Her)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-remote-support-software/629640/25 "2012-07-31T04:23:23Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > I think a large percentage of people responding here read the thread title an not the actual OP. > > Best remote support software is one thing, best remote software for your case is entirely another. > > Aren’t we geeks supposed to RTFOP? > > Teamviewer et al look great, but as any remote support tech has seen, even something as simple as allowing an ActiveX script on a page can be a deal breaker. BTW the first time I went to disable teamviewer in my task bar it finally prompted me to log into a VM, nice, but it didn’t show me a thing about the target’s DL path. > > If I have a fleet of PC’s I need to be able to access unattended, do file transfers, etc. I’ll likely choose something like TV, but for dealing with the feeble end users that have to be told how many times to click which button, and when to hit enter, I’ve made my choice. Speak for yourself, I read it just fine. I assure you, my mother is about as feeble an end user as you will find, and she is capable of clicking the TeamViewer shortcut to launch the program and telling me what the password number is. Yes, I had to talk her through the download and installation initially. > [@](#): > > Teamviewer et al look great, but as any remote support tech has seen, even something as simple as allowing an ActiveX script on a page can be a deal breaker. BTW the first time I went to disable teamviewer in my task bar it finally prompted me to log into a VM, nice, but it didn’t show me a thing about the target’s DL path. I am unable to parse what you are talking about in the above quote because it in no way translates to any behavior I’ve ever encountered while using the program. The OP was asking for suggestions and experienced opinions, not religion. I think all of the suggestions have been valid. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-remote-support-software/629640/26 "2012-07-31T09:08:23Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > I think a large percentage of people responding here read the thread title an not the actual OP. Ummm… no. Teamviewer is a very good choice for the OP and I have used it for precisely the OP’s purpose. If I wished for a corporate solution, I might use something like VNC. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-remote-support-software/629640/27 "2012-07-31T13:10:30Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > I think a large percentage of people responding here read the thread title an not the actual OP. Hate to pile on, but WTF are you talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-remote-support-software/629640/28 "2012-08-02T01:17:28Z")
I just wanted to report a session with my friend. I wasn’t quite ready and done with my tests, but he had a problem that needed to be fixed, so we plunged in. First, we ran [join.me](http://join.me) on both machines. I was able to connect to his with his serial number, and that’s as far as we got. I clicked on the mouse icon, “request control”, and nothing happened on his end (so he says). So I could never control his computer, although I could see the screen just fine. That wasn’t a good sign, but I installed teamviewer on my machine to see what it looked like, then guided him thru installing it on his, exchanged serial numbers and password, and I was able to control his screen. One oddity was the low number of colors which made images very blotchy. I checked his display settings and they were 1024 x 768, 32 colors, so that wasn’t the reason. I suspect teamviewer reduces the color palette severely to reduce the amount of data that is transferred. We ran malwarebytes and his machine was reasonably clean (I think MWB brings up a few false positives that are of no consequence). We were able to straighten out some problems without too much hassle, so I declare this first trial OK. Thanks for everyone’s suggestions and assistance. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-remote-support-software/629640/29 "2012-08-02T15:59:53Z")
A few thoughts, and I’ll admit this was not a typical support session… One of the reasons teamviewer worked but [join.me](http://join.me) did not was the similarity between the client and host side screens in teamviewer. [join.me](http://join.me) uses different colors for each side – not a bad idea, but if I am trying to tell someone which button to click, it doesn’t help if I say orange and he has only greens. I ran teamviewer and continued with the installation until I got to the point where one of us had to enter a code and password. Since the two sides were identical up to that point, I could tell my client exactly what, why and how to select. Then when we both arrived at the same point, I could ask him to read the codes on the screen. Also, teamviewer’s default text size was much bigger and more readable. Even then, I had to anticipate the anti-virus trapping which was different on each machine. This would not be a problem if we were both frequent users of the support interface, but in this case, neither of us were. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-remote-support-software/629640/30 "2012-08-02T16:30:23Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > IOne oddity was the low number of colors which made images very blotchy. I checked his display settings and they were 1024 x 768, 32 colors, so that wasn’t the reason. I suspect teamviewer reduces the color palette severely to reduce the amount of data that is transferred. You can configure this: click Extras, Options, Remote Control. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-remote-support-software/629640/31 "2012-08-02T16:42:40Z")
I don’t recall if Teamviewer does this, but some remote software automatically turns the background to black on the target machine to cut down on data transmission. Varying resolutions are the annoying part of these packages. Some machines with low res displays are too small to read when viewed on my screen. The communication rate can also vary in a lot of ways. I regularly use GotoMeeting, Teamviewer, SecureLink, WebEx, and even Skype Desktop Share to connect to different sites. It just depends on what the other end can handle. One good feature of SecureLink is that a gateway can be installed on the remote machine allowing unattended access. If I don’t need the party on the other end to show me something, or watch what I’m doing, I find Windows Remote Desktop to work best (on Windows obviously). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-remote-support-software/629640.md?page=1)