hi bobjam, i read this article before by the Geek, i hope this is what you're looking for (or at least, i hope this helps), remotely control somebody's desktop the easy way

I'm curious to know if Pipo's suggestion works for you, BobJam. If so, I have an aunt that's like your sister, so I'll give it a try too;-)

Cheers,
Sarah.

yes but with crossloop don't you have to accept from both sides? or did you set it up differently? i think that vnc is pretty strait forward and easy to use.

i know they would be there but if you already had to walk to that computer why not just fix it there? i have done the same thing with vnc with a computer that was closer but i didn't have to go over to that computer to accept.

@jack. I did it as an experiment. (and for the exercise)

BobJam: Remote Assistance is native to Windows. Go to Start -> Help and Support and you should see Remote Assistance on that page. This is NOT a Dell tool, it is built-in to Windows. It works very well for remote controlling and the 2 systems do not have to be running the same OS. I've used it plenty and it's good.

One of the hard parts with RA is getting the invitation. Microsoft wants you to use their tools -- Outlook Express or Windows Messenger. However the third option, "save to file" is universal. Once the invitation is saved, it can be sent by mail, IM, FTP, or what have you. One more caveat -- if either you or your sister are behind routers or firewalls, it can be tricky. Let me know if you need help with it.

@jd2066, you are correct, as usual, however some people use web-based mail with no local client and I have found that Remote Assistance can't seem to handle that.

@BobJam, there are plenty of articles on Remote Assistance at Microsoft (KB, Technet, etc.). The page below, that I googled up, has a very nice tutorial with screen shots. It also lists the port, 3389, that is used by Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). That port needs to be allowed or forwarded through routers and firewalls.
http://www.windowsnetworking.c.....rmass.html

Wow . . . got more responses here than on other forums. Thanks very much.

Coupla' things.

pipo,

I went to that link you provided on the Geek's article . . . more on that in a bit.

k9,

Yes, I did say "NATIVE", but I didn't consider there were third party softwares out there that my Sister could download too. In that regard, CrossLoop fits the bill. I guess I was thinking that I didn't want to make it that much of a hassle for her, so that's why I said "NATIVE". Plus, I didn't want her to have to pay anything, but I see also that CrossLoop is "FREE".

As you can see by some other posts, Windows DOES indeed have this capability with "Remote Assistance"

On another forum someone linked me to another "FREE" piece of software that does the same thing as CrossLoop. It's called "TightVNC". I took a look at the TightVNC web page, and it looked like a good piece of software . . . BUT . . . it didn't seem to be too user friendly for a novice to use (my Sister) to get connected to somebody more experienced (me).

I saw a lot of geekspeak/jargon/computer lingo, so if I refer her to that page for the download, she will likely not only get intimidated but NOT know how to connect to me.

I need something that's very easy for a novice to use for connecting, and TightVNC, while it appears to be an excellent piece of software, doesn't seem to fit that description. I want to be able to minimize the amount of "click on this . . . enter this" stuff I have to tell her.

While Windows Remote Assistance certainly won't eliminate that "click here" stuff I have to tell her, it does seem to be a little simpler than TightVNC, though I see that TightVNC seems to have more capabilities than Windows Remote Assistance.

So, I'm leaning toward trying to use Remote Assistance with her, unless I've misread the TightVNC documentation and it will be easier for her to use.

Which leads me to another question about OS's. If she has XP Pro, does it have the Remote Assistance GUI or only the Remote Desktop GUI . . . and are they the same anyway?? I need to know this because I'm going to send her some screenshots from my machine if I use Remote Assistance, and if the screenshots are different from what she sees, she'll get confused.

Sarah,

I haven't launched into the effort yet (haven't even decided which piece of software I'll use yet), but when I do, I'll post back here in this thread and let you know.

Lighthouse,

More on my thoughts about CrossLoop in a second. And I would appreciate an account of how that CrossLoop experience of yours would go for a novice connecting.

jack7h3r1pp3r,

I assume you're talking about "TightVNC" when you referred to "vnc". As I read on the web page, "TightVNC" is the developer's upgrade of "VNC". I'm intrigued by your comment that "vnc is pretty strait forward and easy to use." That's exactly what I'm looking for regarding my Sister, but I didn't get that out of reading though VNC's documentation, as I said.

ScottW,

While I haven't decided yet which software I will use . . . Windows Remote Assistance, TightVNC, or CrossLoop, Crossloop seems to be the only one that negotiates AROUND firewalls. I assume there is a way to overcome the firewall restriction with RA and VNC, and it will be easy for me to give a permission with the ZA that I use, but my Sister has a router (a hardware firewall), and I don't know that I will be able to guide her through the steps necessary to let VNC or RA through that router. I guess I could just tell her to unhook the darn thing, and also disable my ZA if it gives me problems, but I'd rather not be so insecure with this whole thing. So . . . I may prevail upon your advice on how to deal with these firewalls. Just bear in mind that my Sister doesn't respond well to geekspeak, so I may have to translate your advice into plain English if you use computer lingo. TIA.

I have indeed read up on RA, and one of the things that confuses me in some of the write ups is their reference to plain vanilla XP. In one breath, they said just "Windows XP" and didn't differentiate between Pro and HE. But then they go on to say that Pro has a "Remote Desktop" function while HE has only the Remote Assistance function.

To repeat my earlier question: If she has XP Pro, does it have the Remote Assistance GUI or only the Remote Desktop GUI . . . and are they the same anyway?? I need to know this because I'm going to send her some screenshots from my machine if I use Remote Assistance, and if the screenshots are different from what she sees, she'll get confused.

jd2066 and ScottW,

Regarding email invitations and clients with RA, I have both GMail (which is the only Internet Email now that interfaces with OE . . . hotmail used to, but now M$ wants you to read the adds, so hotmail can no longer be read through OE) AND OE AND HOTMAIL, but my Sister has AOL, which is really buggy and quirky, so I may have to get her to sign up for a hotmail account (I know that will work with RA). Will GMail??

And finally, Mr. Geek,

My compliments on your discussion of CrossLoop. I took a look at Crossloop, and the deal breaker there seems to be that it requires broadband. I have an archaic dial-up, but this may be what gets me off the fence. I have been meaning to step into the 21st Century and switch from my stubby pencil dial up to cable, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. In any case, even if I use Remote Assistance, I'm sure if I still have dial up that it will be slow going for me. Got to switch to broadband.

It does indeed look like CrossLoop may be the ticket for her ease of use in connecting, at least based on your screenshots and the comment you made in this thread.

Can you use CrossLoop with a dial up??

if you use dial up it will be really slow.

and the vnc that i use is real vnc all you have to do is have your sister would have to do is download this here: http://realvnc.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi then just install. then have her tell you her ip and you are set as long as you have it too.

mmmm...tilting at windmills. Don Quixote