Remote Support For Non-Technical Loved Ones
At some point, a loved one in your life loses touch with technology yet they still need to be connected. This point in my life occurred when Microsoft removed the “Start” button upon the release of Windows 7. After all, how do you explain to an older relative “Click the Windows logo in the left-hand corner” and then spend hours trying to remove the search dialog box from the screen. For several years I have continued to provide support to my loved ones by visualizing what I could see on their screen. In the past, I have adjusted their firewalls to allow for remote desktop connections through the built-in Microsoft program “Remote Desktop Protocol”. Inevitably the security articles on exposing this port were too much for me and I would shut it down leaving me to go back to visualizing the screens. After a while, visualizing the screens in Windows 10 is hard to remember, therefore I embarked on a new tool to see the screen of the loved one.
After testing Zoom and WebEx it was determined that invoking these programs and the screen sharing was not easy for a non-technical loved one. It required too much work to share the screen. Plus the login information would need to be maintained.
To remediate this issue, the AnyDesk service has a solution that minimizes user input and launches in the startup routine with no noticeable impact to the user. Now when the loved one places a call for help, the helper can fire up their version of AnyDesk and connect to their computer. The AnyDesk software has a number of features to restrict the “helper” for what they can and can’t do. Upon setup of the software, you should configure the settings to provide the correct level of access that you will need. If you are at the level where this software is needed, consider enabling all of the features for support.
If you are providing remote support for loved ones and you have been “visualizing” the screen, spend the time to find remote software such as AnyDesk.com