I've seen some solutions, such as Team viewer. However I'm bit concerned about the security side.
If you have same situation, what is your solution?
I've taken the phone call that says "I have the police on the phone and they need me to do something but the computer keeps blocking it, what do I do??". That's how you know you just saved them from a horrible mistake.
I've now got a shared google account on my Chromebook and their computer, Chrome Remote Desktop is installed on their PC and I have the PIN, with that I can just go to remotedesktop.google.com (on the shared account) and join their computer whenever they ask for help.
I was originally planning to use the system where they generate a code first, but they're nowhere near the technical level for that to not become a nightmare quickly, so now it's just flat remote desktop.
Experimenting with other people having to do some of the steps (eg elevated permissions) is extremely tedious and far slower than you doing it on your own and then just telling them the correct answer which just magically works as far they are concerned. This also tends to be less stressful for everybody involved.
For windows and Android, VMs are the right tool as you can get the exact version right. iDevice VMs are possible but not worth it, a physical device is easiest. Fortunately even fairly old hardware runs the on-the-run OS version.
edit: clarity in second sentence
Hard to overemphasize this aspect. I would even add this to the localization level, as some menus and even keymaps differences could turn a simple task into madness!
Also, have limitless patience and wisdom to postpone some stubborn task for next, hopefully more relaxed time. Better yet set things up in person, if possible ahead of time, to avoid all the unnecessary annoyance.
This all assumes the receiving side indeed wants this type of assistance, as too often people in age may prefer to rely upon their time-provem and familiar ways to deal with tasks.
I’ve never used a chromebook, but I imagine it would work as well.
Troubleshooting is usually just turn it off and on or take it to Apple store and get it fixed or get a new one. The new screen sharing feature is nice too because now you can show them where items in the menus are and whatnot.
For the others, unless they're really close or really desperate, I tell them that I haven't used Windows in many years (which is pretty much true, other than testing sites and so on to make sure they work in Windows browsers), so I can't really give them good advice.
There's one relative that uses Linux, but he doesn't generally need my help. Heh.
I thought the direct-manipulation interface would work for him, but experience says that in his case a traditional mouse pointer and an explicit "click" action gives less trouble.
YMMV, of course.
I understand why these products have been designed this way but I don't think the people who make them understand how badly they are designed for some people. I am a web dev and, imo, a lot of this comes from ways to make your app "look cool" on mobile. Add some buttons, make your app a bit longer vertically...it isn't the end of the world.
I will say though, they find tablets far easier than computers. Tablets present a very simple interface of things to do. Computers seem more complicated (ironically, you see this with kids today even young adults in their early 20s...they have no idea how computers actually work, and often don't understand anything beyond...click this, and app opens). Both hate phones, they can use them but they feel uncomfortable using them.
On the OP, you just have to take stuff over. If you are paying bills or whatever, you should just do it yourself. It will save you time.
Consider having back up options -- if they have an iPhone or tablet, remember they can always point the computer at the screen as a last minute option.
I have Ubuntu and Windows 8.1 at home.
It's the same principle as Teamviewer (code and password, though you need a login to an MS account I think? Most people already have that on Windows anyway, willingly or unwillingly), except using the software and servers that Windows already uses.
Some of the things I liked about it are:
- Single, small exe for them to download and run.
- All the port-forwarding and such is done on my side, no having to configure their router.
- They have to initiate it. I can't connect to their computer (and spy) even if I wanted to. I like ensuring that level of autonomy as a minimum.
Fortunately, the UltraVNC viewer works under WINE, so I can run that in listening mode on my Linux PC, no problems.
Is it peer-to-peer or it goes via some 3rd party server?
Do you setup a tunnel on your end?
I don't. I start the UltraVNC viewer in listen mode and the remote computer connects to mine when my dad clicks the desktop short-cut.
That was one of the features I wanted. I can't connect to his computer (and spy) even if I wanted to. I like ensuring that level of autonomy as a minimum.
> Is it peer-to-peer or it goes via some 3rd party server?
It is peer-to-peer.
> Do you setup a tunnel on your end?
No tunnel (in the VPN sense). The VNC software uses encryption itself. I had to setup a port forward on my modem to my PC. I also needed a host name that points to the public IP address of my home internet connection for the software on my Dad's end to use for the destination when it tries to connect to me. (So, dynamic DNS or some such.)
All of that setup is for my own equipment though. My dad has swapped internet providers and/or modems a couple of times and no re-configuration of equipment was needed when this happened.
I spent too many times on the phone hearing complaints like "it just put up a error message that said 'no'" etc that this is much easier. No more asking what the error actually said etc.
Reliable, and I mostly trust (for better or worse) google to get security right.
In they're on Win10, there's "Quick Assist" baked in - which removed the hurdle of getting them to download and install something, before you can see exactly what they're doing.
To be honest this only covers 95% of the problems you could encounter so think about a pikvm[0] or something similar.
You can help them debug multiple PCs with one setup, you can help even when they lost their internet connection (hardware switch, driver problems - when nothing works use android usb tethering) You can even configure their bios/debug boot problems through this.
Just for info, you could directly use the SSH tunnel to redirect the adb communication, without an intermediate VNC: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy#ssh-tunnel
However, in the end, even walking him through launching Quick Assist was too error-prone, so I ended up installing Chrome Remote Desktop with a Google account that I controlled and enabled remote access, allowing me to connect without requiring him to do anything.
pfSense router sits in a VM. Router is connected via s2s OPVN back to the center of a VPN host (star - many s2s's). OVPN configs use DNS for lookup, with IP as retry - static as it may be you never know! Modems sit as-factory (double-nat) just in case ISP support is needed or I want to swap an ISP out. They don't need forwarded ports for their consumption. Failover (s2s VPN traffic only) is via 4G on a little mini router. 250MB a month for free.
Windows machines (because of used peripherals) have RDP and VNC. I literally type their DNS and provided I'm within a home network or on the roadwarrior client, I can get straight in. All machines are connected to smart plugs and turn on automatically on powerloss restore. Server is some fancy AMT thing that lets me VNC in to mount ISOs, get to BIOS etc, but never used it. This is all very stable and has worked flawlessly for a decade.
They've slowly acquired Android devices over time (phones, tablets, and shields). This has been troublesome for support. Tried Visor at first but it often would fail. scrcpy has been more successful. But the real issue is often the ADB debugging would be disabled randomly. This remains a thorn. And of course, it isn't ideal to have ADB on as they roam from Wifi to wifi!
If they use a desktop computer, replace it with a decommissioned desktop server or a workstation with ipmi/idrac/iLO: you can do most remote management through it (including power cycle and os install/reinstall).
You can password-protect access to it and you'll have to setup a vpn connection to be able to access it.
It's really the bes you can do, albeit a bit expensive.
That way you can fix things, install programs, handle updates, etc. There are tools to share the screen. But usually it is enough to use X Window to run a program on their computer on your own screen.
It is also handy that you can just scp photos, videos etc to their computer.
Dad asked asked them to remote into their PC for the 10th time to troubleshoot XYC problem. My dad owns a small business and is in every sales list for SEO services, as well as sales subscriptions for every antivirus and basic software that you can think of and he doesnt need. He will click on some notification reminding him to register by x freeware and end up signing up for commercial subs he doesnt need. Which then he asks me to cancel.
So knowing this, among the fixed i did this 10th time, is I asked parente to provide credentials for gmail.
I then proceeded to set very aggresive filters to kill all the junk soliting before he would sign up for it. I also keep an open tab actively monitoring inbound email
If you get infront of it, thats 1 less thing you need to fix later.
Thats my advice. If your parents are the type to believe anything they get, then you must manage what they are getying.
RustDesk (yes, remote IT software written in Rust) is one option I hear a lot about.
Technical solution wise, sharing credentials via 1password or bitwarden is probably the most straightforward approach IMHO.
Not exact same situation, but the solution was along the lines of setting things up for the remote desktop.
First I configured the router for remote access. This step was the least secure. The objective was to set up port-forwarding for SSH. Once the tunnel is configured, the remote admin acccess on the router is no longer needed.
Then set up an SSH server the and remote desktop. In my case the remote OS was Ubuntu, so it was relatively straightforward, but did involve some typing/copypasting.
Once the remote desktop was up, the rest is just use it on-demand as needed.
This approach could likely be made more simpler, but the router part may still be needed, and in my experience this was the most difficult and critical task to clear remotely.
The VPN will let you RDP or SSH/VNC into their machines for remote manitenance. Since it gives you access to their entire LAN, this has the bonus of you being able to access and configure other devices like security cameras/etc.
If security is less of a priority there are simpler options other commenters have discussed like Chrome RD, Teamviewer, etc.
1. Buy 2 iPads. Don't use laptops or any other tablets: it's not worth the hassle.
2. Buy a cheap/light-weight glass side table (the kind that goes next to your sofa to hold drinks/snacks, for example).
3. Pick up and place the glass side table on top of the kitchen table.
4. Put one iPad, camera side down, on the glass table. Put the second iPad on the kitchen table, underneath the glass table.
5. Initiate a FaceTime video call on the upper iPad and help parents use the lower iPad.
This set-up has saved me a hundred hours of frustration.
Having this kind of setup lets me guide their finger.
Likewise for explaining how to do a hard reset of the device, “I pressed it but nothing happened”, etc
Also using a password manager (1Password) with sharing, but they don't use it properly. It does the job though.
Now I use Splashtop.
Their computers and mine are connected in the same ZeroTier network. I SSH to their computer and connect to VNC over an SSH tunnel. VNC is only bound to 127.0.0.1 so nobody on the network will be able to access it.
Perhaps I could have skipped the SSH part of it since ZeroTier should have covered the network security, but I also wanted an easy way to run commands too.
It's a couple steps to get connected, but it works well.
I feel that team viewer's pricing is a bit expensive for this use case.
imho quite a good business model - builds up good-will/recognition, and then if anybody is asked what to buy for "remote desktop at work", it'll get a mention.
I only use it to assist my parent and don't really use it much. but they will pop up the message and saying they have detected business usage with my account. And then disconnect after 5 minutes.