Best Software to Help Elderly Family Members With Their Computers Remotely

In normal times, computers and mobile devices are merely another way to stay in touch. Just at that place'southward nothing normal about our electric current earth, where we're being asked to shelter in place and maintain social distance to slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

In these decidedly non-normal times, technology is an essential communication tool, peculiarly for the elderly, for whom it can quite literally be a lifeline. So how do you back up your family and friends if an in-person visit isn't an choice?

I've been practicing for this moment for the final two decades, helping out relatives and neighbors who are hundreds or even thousands of miles away. In this mail service, I share some of the steps y'all should be taking correct now to ensure that you lot'll be prepared when y'all get an urgent tech support phone call about their PC or Mac.

The cardinal to solving that trouble, when it appears, is being able to see the problem. Information technology can be maddening to listen to someone with no technical background endeavor to describe what's happening on their screen. Your gramps might exist an awesome teller of bedtime stories, just you'll become a much better handle on what's happening if you tin get them to show, not tell.

To prepare for that moment, practice these 5 things today. For the sake of this article, I will refer to your poor befuddled friend or family member as "the customer."

Install remote support tools

For garden-variety problems that don't block startup, it helps tremendously to accept a remote support tool that allows you to literally take over the other person's screen. Y'all tin can accomplish then much more when yous can run diagnostics and accommodate system settings without having to enquire your nontechnical friend or relative to drop to a control line or open a system utility.

The fob is to install and configure that remote back up programme today, before you need information technology.

I adopt TeamViewer, a powerful tool that many corporate help desks use. The skillful news is that TeamViewer is free for personal, noncommercial use. And information technology works.

TeamViewer is free for personal, noncommercial utilize.

Update: Several colleagues who previously used TeamViewer to provide costless tech support for their online communities tell me that the company revoked their licenses after characterizing that activeness equally "commercial." 2 of them told me they've switched to AnyDesk, which has a similar business model but doesn't penalize people who are active in the customs.

After I reached out to TeamViewer, they announced that they take suspended checks for commercial usage of the gratis software in the U.Southward. in response to the coronavirus crunch. In addition, a visitor spokesperson tells me they are working on improvements in the procedure of checking for unauthorized commercial use then that they can exist more than responsive to legitimate use cases.

The popular Zoom conferencing tool likewise offers free remote support sessions that allow you to work direct with a remote PC running Windows or MacOS. These sessions work with both complimentary and paid accounts and allow the person initiating the support session to asking command of the desktop or an awarding and to request a computer restart. Details are in this Zoom support article.

If both computers are running Windows 10, y'all have a congenital-in tool at your command: Just tap the Windows fundamental and search for Quick Assist. (You'll want to bear witness your remote customer how to pivot that shortcut to Start or the desktop for easier access.)

Google also offers a Remote Desktop tool that works well for advert hoc back up.

If you lot'd rather use an open up source culling, try one of the many variations on the venerable Virtual Network Computing (VNC) utility. The granddaddy of them all is VNC Connect (formerly known as RealVNC), which offers a costless 30-day trial just is really geared at paying corporate customers. As a complimentary alternative, check out UltraVNC or TightVNC.

No matter which option you choose, you lot'll need to go through the (brief, i hopes) inconvenience of setting things upward on both ends. Your goal is to create a one-click shortcut on the remote desktop that you can enquire your esteemed client to double-click and so you can get admission to what's bugging them right now.

Install video chat software on desktop and mobile devices

Remote support software is cracking for some tasks, but it falls autonomously when the problem is preventing that software from running in the start place. The underlying issue might be physical (a bad network cable, say) or software-based (a Blue Screen of Decease on a Windows PC, for example, or an iPhone that refuses to answer to input).

Either fashion, y'all want your client to be able to bear witness you what's happening. Which is why you should install a solution on their desktop and on their mobile device and then that yous tin can communicate directly when either device is temporarily incommunicado. Hither are some options:

• FaceTime: If both ends of your remote back up connection are all Apple, all the time, you can use FaceTime on a MacBook/iMac and on an iPhone or iPad. If the iPhone's acting upwards, your customer tin can hold it front of the MacBook webcam. If the MacBook is out of commission, you can use the iPhone to go a shut-up look at any fault letters.
• Google Hangouts: For those living the Google life, with Chromebooks and Chrome on the desktop, this is a perfectly good pick. Only it gets tricky as you get further abroad from platforms Google controls.
• Skype: I've rarely had skillful luck with Skype over the past 20 years, but if your customer is experienced with Skype and comfortable with its quirks on the desktop and on mobile devices, be my guest.
• WebEx:You probably wouldn't think of this business-focused tool for communicating with your family unit, just gauge what? It works! The free Webex Meetings plan lets yous hold meetings with up to 100 participants, with HD video, screen sharing, and your own personal room. And at that place'southward no time limit.
• Zoom: This is another web conferencing tool that you lot probably associate with working from dwelling, but a free Zoom account includes unlimited one-on-ane meetings and online support, and you can stay in impact with the entire family using grouping meetings of up to 100. (The free business relationship restricts grouping meetings to 40 minutes.)

Whichever selection you choose, make certain your clients are comfortable with it. Use these tools for casual chats with multiple family members, so that when you need them for troubleshooting, yous can count on them working.

Set up a shared folder in the cloud

If your client is using a Windows PC or a Mac, y'all will eventually want them to install a slice of software to assistance you assistance them. Maybe information technology'south a slice of diagnostic software, or maybe it's only an app you retrieve they'll benefit from.

Either style, it's much easier if you tin download that app and share it with them. So, I recommend you lot gear up a shared folder using your favorite deject storage service: Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud, Dropbox, or whatsoever.

Also: Top cloud providers in 2020: AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Deject, hybrid, SaaS players

Put a shortcut on the client's desktop and prepare that folder up so that it syncs automatically on your remote client's device. Feel free to use that shared folder for fun stuff, similar photos and music and games, to make it comfortable to use. Building familiarity will brand it easier for when you demand them to open that folder and install an update package or a device driver or run a diagnostic plan.

Become updates and security software in society

At present, while everything is running right, is a perfect time to ensure that your remote support clients take the most recent updates installed and that update settings are configured correctly.

And given the depressing reality that scam artists and online thieves increase their action during crises like this, it'south likewise time to check that whatever security software is working properly, especially password managers. Finally, a quick grooming session on how to identify phishing attempts might exist helpful.

All of these steps can assistance prepare you to help when your services are needed, even if yous can't be in that location in person.

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Source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/remote-support-essentials-four-steps-you-can-take-now-to-keep-friends-and-family-connected/

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