Tired of driving back and forth to fix mom's computer.
I am.
Hopefully this will help. Tried it on the home network and it couldn't be simpler to use, yet powerful.
I've been tech support to my parents over the last 10 years and I've tried plenty of configurations and installations to help them get the most out of their PC, RDP was one way I used to help them.
Setting up a remote desktop into their machine can be easy, Windows XP has this as standard and I'm certain that Vista and 7 have this also, but you may need specific versions to get this as built in, otherwise look into VNC Viewers, I imagine team viewer is similar technology.
I'll be honest with you though, just because I could RDP into their computer, didn't mean I had to do less, problems still kept coming up, systems still slowed to a halt, and reinstallation after reinstallation I decided that there was only one thing for it... Ubuntu
My parents are 65 and 75, and certainly weren't massive users of their Windows PC, but it was familiar to them at least, I was pleasantly surprised how quickly they could use Ubuntu, and they actually enjoyed it. It's very straight forward to use for people that don't have their minds perverted with 'how Microsoft/Apple thinks should happen', the computer no longer suffers from strange periods of slow down, and I don't need to tell you about how safe it is from viruses or other malware.
They've had it on there for about 2 years now and they've not looked back, I've even got a printer with scanner support hooked up for them, they have all the software they'll need installed by default.
One day, she phoned me up and asked if I could 'remote in' and fix a problem for her. I logged into LogMeIn while chatting to her, and noted that her PC wasn't showing up on my host list.
"Mum, I can't see your machine - have you disabled LogMeIn?"
"No love. The icon's there... it's got a red cross on it."
*thinking*
"Mum, are you connected to the internet?"
"No. Should I be?"
o.0
She once bought DVD software, then got really confused when it wouldn't play DVDs on her old laptop.
I had to explain that the difference between CDs and DVDs was more than a piece of software...
"Can't you just work your magic and convert the drive for me, darling?"
I'm actually flattered my mother has such faith in me and my wonderful assortment of screwdrivers. =D
Parent does not use the computer but I have a couple of close friends and a sister whom I've become a tech support to. I just call around fix the computer and get fed or get a haircut or both in exchange
Interesting software all the same, thanks for the link.
My Mom still runs Windows 98, which makes it a real challenge whenever she needs to upgrade components or peripherals, all of which are w98 compatible, but actually none of them are out of the box.
What's nice about this TeamViewer software, is that you don't need to install it - which I don't - and it also is portable.
As for Linux, the last time I installed it, about 2 years ago, it fared as well as Vista....i.e. quick uninstall.
Setting up a remote desktop into their machine can be easy, Windows XP has this as standard
She has Win 98 which means it must be downloaded.
The host must run XP Pro, which isn't my version (wasn't going to pay for Pro) - which led me to google and this software.
It also has a web interface which is pretty interesting. You can access your own PC (or another ) from any location in the world.
I tried the "presentation" mode on the home network yesterday....very nice.
@resio: I'm not sure I agree with you, but that was pretty deep!
As for Linux, the last time I installed it, about 2 years ago, it fared as well as Vista....i.e. quick uninstall.
A lot happens in 2 years! I was running ubuntu as a dual boot on my XP machine a year ago, and ended up very frustrated with some things, and a botched upgrade that borked my display drivers and was beyond my patience level to figure out caused me to dump it.
After getting a new laptop, having the hard drive fail, not having the vista installation disks to setup vista on my new hard drive, and not being able to get XP to install on it...
I am very happily running Ubuntu exclusively on my laptop (with a beat up windows desktop still running, so I can still use photoshop).
I am extremely impressed with how user friendly Ubuntu is, and how much improvement there has been in that area over the course of a year.
My latest box has Win XP64 bit on one HD and Ubuntu 9.04 on the other. I haven't quite figured out how or why but my XP 64 bit drive now no longer loads. in fact it has been like that for about four - six months. Corrupt files/missing files it wont repair either. Normally I'd be in a state of shocked panic that I could not get my daily fix of Photoshop and the pleasure of a leisurely peruse of the Wibbly Wobbly Way.
My Ubuntu drive has saved me from all this. Connects to the net wired or wireless like a darlin' and now that I've got my head around Wine I can run Photoshop. So far I've had PS7 and PS CS running almost perfectly. I still have not managed to get PS CS4 working but I can live with that till I get Windows 7. In fact one of the main reasons I'm getting Windows at all is to run Photoshop.
I love that tune too NoJive. (BTW I've used your Randi Rhodes quote so many times over the past month or so, great stuff)
SleepingWolf
If you do try ubuntu out, and I hope you do, apart from the support you can find on the ubuntu forums you'll also find lots of really good help and advice here if you need it. I was very wary at first but received great encouragement and lots of advice and tips right here.
I think it would be really interesting to see how someone who has little or no previous knowledge of Windows gets to grips with Ubuntu.
Oh, my mistake, I see that your mom is already used to working with Windows. Ah well.
As it happens I am at this very moment using Ubuntu while it is upgrading to version 9.10 (Karmic Koala). There is still a couple of hours to go before the upgrade should be complete. Fingers crossed, this is the first time I have upgraded like this, I've usually just downloaded an image file, burned it to disk and gone for a complete fresh install.
posted 10-28-2009 22:28
