On Wed, 05 Jan 2011 09:07:11 -0500, dgk wrote:



My mother (my main support caller) got a Win7 machine when her old XP
one died (turns out it was from that capacitor leaking problem). Since
I have a Win7 box also, support has become very simple. There is a
built in utility (find it by searching for Remote Assistance). Mom
emails me the Invitation that is produced, reads me the 12-15
character check code, and I'm into her machine. It really couldn't get
any easier. It's better than the old PC Anywhere and saves my
remaining hair.

I'm curious about what problems you would solve by remotely entering a
Win7 system. Seems to be a solid system.
OTOH, it has a decent backup/restore utility, so just going in to do
backups on a regular basis would allow you to do a restore if your Mom
got caught by a malware problem.
Remote is no help for hardware failures.
What I did with my dad (he's in Florida) when I set him up with his
first PC was leave him a Ghost floppy and an image on a second drive.
He actually used it once with me coaching him on the phone, then got
support from PC savvy family down there after that.
It's amazing what people can do with PC's now. Even with no concept
of how the disk drives or file systems are organized, they install all
kinds of software and steal music and movies, make tons of DVD's of
same, email and facebook photos, etc, etc.
When I see all the crap on my Dad's computer, I kind of get sick.
It must have every damn toolbar ever created on it, on multiple
browsers.
They have cable, but also still have AOL because of something related
to mail and some game my stepmom likes to play.
Buzzers and dings sounding off, crap popping up on the screen.
But it doesn't bother them.
Anyway, I'm glad I'm not maintaining their PC, and they should be glad
that my BIL the PC repairman lives right across the street from them.
He's a real saint, he is.

--Vic