I use a Mac Mini late 2012. 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7. 16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM.
Does just fine for what I need.
That said, when using Zoom, it does not have the video card “crunch” to fully embed an artificial background. It is kind of like a very very poor video keyed background. Again, fine- that’s just a plaything.
Here’s the question. I use Zoom to assist Mom on issues with her computer. Share Screen is a godsend. This morning whilst helping her out, I found a terrific feature- it allows ME to use my cursor on HER screen. Instead of passively watching as she Shares Screen, I can actually use my cursor on her screen to make changes. In theory, a game-changer.
In reality? So slow and pokey as to not really work at all. I couldn’t even grab the edge of a window and drag it wider on her desktop. Is this MY computer’s lack of video card ooomph, HER computer’s lack of video card ooomph ( it’s a…6 year old Dell? ). Do I have too many browser tabs open on my end ( some of which may be rolling video because so many sites force video start when they are opened… ), etc.
She’s 85 with limited patience. Seeing her screen is awesome. Talking her through moving her mouse, clicking, etc works but can frustrate her. This new bit? Using my cursor ON her monitor? Wow.
What’s causing it to not fully engage? Again, I did see my cursor engage with her window and it activated the line when I got to the edge of a window, but I could not drag, etc.
I doubt it has anything to do with the speed of your computer or the number of tabs you have open. My guess is you are experiencing lag which is related to the speed and latency of both your and your mom’s internet connection.
This is something which IT professionals often run into when attempting to provide support to employees working from home. Their company’s internet connection may be blazing fast but the home internet connection of the employee they are supporting is slow and makes it difficult to do anything.
TL;DR: Improve both your and your mom’s Internet connection to fix the problem.
Use a remote control software package designed for the purpose. I am happy with Splashtop these days, although I’ll never stop missing Timbuktu There are devotees of GoToMyPC and PCAnywhere, and TeamViewer is quite popular. There’s also Mikogo and Autohelpmate.
Zoom is geared towards a whole batch of people seeing each other’s faces and conversing. That it also does screen sharing is commendable but it wasn’t designed to be a remote control software package.
Just did a tech check with my MIL. ( She’s 88… ) 2 year old iMac with huge display, wicked fast. I had full control, could type into her search bar, etc etc. Damned useful. Just embedded a link she always had to look for into her toolbar.
Now to check with Mom again. Might be her signal, more likely mine. Hers is an Ethernet-wired Cablemodem. Insanely fast.
So if it turns out connection speed is the issue here (the most likely culprit), you can try other options instead of Zoom. Microsoft’s first-party Remote Desktop functionality is a more bandwidth-efficient protocol than what Zoom does.
RDP “understands” Windows and can send chunks of metadata, like “this window that I sent you last time is still the same, except the user moved it 20 pixels to the right… I’m not going to send you the whole window again, just move it to the right yourself”. Zoom just sends it as a livestreaming video. It can’t tell your computer “the window moved”, instead, it sends the video as a series of images, each one showing the window – and all of its pixels – moving slightly to the right, then a little more, then a little more, then a little more, etc. It’s far more expensive on your bandwidth.
With enough bandwidth, either approach wiould work fine. But if you’re on a slow connection, RDP or Citrix based remote desktops might give you a far more pleasant experience.
You might try setting both your and your Mom’s Zoom resolution lower. Sending 1080p at however many frames per second Zoom uses is a huge resource hog.
I shut down my browser.
This gave me enough crunch.
I believe those of you who have shared the names of more sophisticated and Powerful remote desktop controllers. That said, but my mother-in-law and my mom are happy to be on Zoom so they can see my wife and I. The ability to make adjustments by remote while visiting with them makes this The Logical solution. It did everything I needed to do.
THIS is a solid suggestion. I appreciate the suggestions for other platforms. Hands down Zoom is the way to go. Cutting my resolution? Genius. If I have issues, I’ll do this.
I speak from experience that TeamViewer (free) is a far better solution when it comes to fixing mom’s computer remotely.
Instead of walking her through stuff you take control of her PC as if you were sitting there yourself. She can see what you are doing if that matters to her.
So, so, so much better for parental PC support even if you need to teach them something (you can both control the PC.)
Thing is, it’s more likely HER resolution that would be the problem, not yours. Hers is the screen being shared with you, which is probably what is running slow.
I don’t know anything about Zoom’s features, but most remote access programs will have a way to set it where it will send a lower resolution screen to you. That might be an option.
If you can’t get it to work, I would actually suggest just using the Zoom feature to install some other software that does a better job. It really can be that much better (as the feature seems almost non-functional right now), and the user experience from your mom’s side would be basically the same. There’d just be a new icon in the notification tray.
Do set up a good password if you do that, though, so you can use it without having to make her confirm permissions. Either that, or use the Zoom feature to then allow the connection to the other software.
Regarding remote desktop programs, I happily used TeamViewer, mentioned above, to provide support to my parents for years. But last year their algorithms somehow decided I was using the free version for commercial purposes (I wasn’t) and wouldn’t let me continue using it unless I paid a substantial monthly fee. This happened to lots of other users around the same time, and there was no way to appeal or reverse the decision. It was very annoying.
I switched to Remote Utilities, which does everything TeamViewer did, and is even better in some ways, and free.
I also suspect it is not as resource-intense as Zoom.
There are devotees of GoToMyPC and PCAnywhere, and TeamViewer is quite popular. There’s also Mikogo and Autohelpmate.