[Macworld]

Post your comments for See your Mac's screen remotely here

[NovaScotian]

The easiest screen sharing solution I've found (and use) is Yazsoft's ShareTool 2 ($27) which I use on a daily basis.

[Bubb]

I want to trouble shoot my my mom computer ( which is in Brooklyn ) from my place ( In Manhattan )
How to I do that? ( configure dynamic DNS ) I have no idea how to do that.

It would be awesome if you did a video about that. I'll bet a lot us out here are our parents IT person and we are soooo tired of trying to do that over the phone then ultimately giving up and traveling an hour to fix a five minute problem.

[Grapho]

I did en experiment that was cool but risky. I login in remotely to a Mac then I went ahead and remotely logged back in to my local machine. The effect was like putting a mirror in front of a mirror. I couldn't stop it so I had to kill the network connection by unplugging it. I would not recommend doing this, but it was cool in a ephemeral way.

[Dan Moren]

Bubb, on 15 March 2012 - 10:51 AM, said:

I want to trouble shoot my my mom computer ( which is in Brooklyn ) from my place ( In Manhattan )
How to I do that? ( configure dynamic DNS ) I have no idea how to do that.

It would be awesome if you did a video about that. I'll bet a lot us out here are our parents IT person and we are soooo tired of trying to do that over the phone then ultimately giving up and traveling an hour to fix a five minute problem.

This is a great question, and one I may investigate in a future tip. The short answer is: Have her sign up for an iChat account, then when there's trouble, have her log on to iChat and you can request to share her screen. (This works for certain versions of Skype too.)

[Grapho]

Dan Moren, on 15 March 2012 - 11:08 AM, said:

Bubb, on 15 March 2012 - 10:51 AM, said:

I want to trouble shoot my my mom computer ( which is in Brooklyn ) from my place ( In Manhattan )
How to I do that? ( configure dynamic DNS ) I have no idea how to do that.

It would be awesome if you did a video about that. I'll bet a lot us out here are our parents IT person and we are soooo tired of trying to do that over the phone then ultimately giving up and traveling an hour to fix a five minute problem.

This is a great question, and one I may investigate in a future tip. The short answer is: Have her sign up for an iChat account, then when there's trouble, have her log on to iChat and you can request to share her screen. (This works for certain versions of Skype too.)

This is how I do it with my clients, that way, I don't need to setup there computers to share resources on the web.

[MacRaven]

Agree. Whenever I get a new Mac client, I always make them sign up for an iChat account. Then I can just share their screen. AND IT's FREE. NIce because it has audio with the screen share and I can discuss the problem with them while I'm fixing whatever they have screwed up. Has saved me a lot of hair pulling conversations--"No, ON YOUR LEFT, no, not in the window, LOOK UP to your LEFT see the MENU? Has words like FILE in it?" ; O I screen share it at least once a month trying to figure out what my 83 year old cousin has trashed by accident this month (he lives 3 states away). Plus I just run his updates for him from the screen share. I also recommend you set up Time Machine for her, because when these people do mess something up you can just go to Time Machine while you're sharing the screen and retrieve what they threw out. I made my cousin buy a cheap external drive for backup after he accidentally deleted ALL his photos (of course he had no idea how they disappeared).
Anyway, that's my advice!

Grapho, on 15 March 2012 - 11:03 AM, said:

I did en experiment that was cool but risky. I login in remotely to a Mac then I went ahead and remotely logged back in to my local machine. The effect was like putting a mirror in front of a mirror. I couldn't stop it so I had to kill the network connection by unplugging it. I would not recommend doing this, but it was cool in a ephemeral way.

[Bubb]

Dan Moren, on 15 March 2012 - 11:08 AM, said:

Bubb, on 15 March 2012 - 10:51 AM, said:

I want to trouble shoot my my mom computer ( which is in Brooklyn ) from my place ( In Manhattan )
How to I do that? ( configure dynamic DNS ) I have no idea how to do that.

It would be awesome if you did a video about that. I'll bet a lot us out here are our parents IT person and we are soooo tired of trying to do that over the phone then ultimately giving up and traveling an hour to fix a five minute problem.

This is a great question, and one I may investigate in a future tip. The short answer is: Have her sign up for an iChat account, then when there's trouble, have her log on to iChat and you can request to share her screen. (This works for certain versions of Skype too.)

Thanks so much for the advice! ( I've been dealing with this for years ) I almost regret getting her that iMac ( haha ) just kidding, sort of.
Now, if there was only a way to remotely change the ink cartridges in her printer. You would think she's running a printing press over there the way she goes through ink... Parents. ( ~SIGH~ )

This post has been edited by Bubb: 15 March 2012 - 01:01 PM

[meade78]

I second the iChat solution. I have helped both my sons who live out of state in that manner. Much better than trying to explain things on the phone.

[Grapho]

MacRaven, on 15 March 2012 - 11:29 AM, said:

Agree. Whenever I get a new Mac client, I always make them sign up for an iChat account. Then I can just share their screen. AND IT's FREE. NIce because it has audio with the screen share and I can discuss the problem with them while I'm fixing whatever they have screwed up. Has saved me a lot of hair pulling conversations--"No, ON YOUR LEFT, no, not in the window, LOOK UP to your LEFT see the MENU? Has words like FILE in it?" ; O I screen share it at least once a month trying to figure out what my 83 year old cousin has trashed by accident this month (he lives 3 states away). Plus I just run his updates for him from the screen share. I also recommend you set up Time Machine for her, because when these people do mess something up you can just go to Time Machine while you're sharing the screen and retrieve what they threw out. I made my cousin buy a cheap external drive for backup after he accidentally deleted ALL his photos (of course he had no idea how they disappeared).
Anyway, that's my advice!

Grapho, on 15 March 2012 - 11:03 AM, said:

I did en experiment that was cool but risky. I login in remotely to a Mac then I went ahead and remotely logged back in to my local machine. The effect was like putting a mirror in front of a mirror. I couldn't stop it so I had to kill the network connection by unplugging it. I would not recommend doing this, but it was cool in a ephemeral way.

I got the best Mac disaster story ever. I had a client who thought that the files in the left side of here windows were duplicates (OSX shortcuts). So she, very diligently and with much patience placed file by file, folder by folder in her trash. Once she realized what she had done, her enter system was in the trash. I have never seen anything like it. I had to get FileBuddy so that I could see the trash content in here computer once I booted from an external HD so that I could retrieve at least her home directory. It took me hours to restore that computer back to the point where she had it. I managed to not lose a single one of her work files, but it was a mess. I had to reinstall the system and all her applications. This was before Time Machine. Now I have Time Machine and two backup HD. One for her entire HD a second for only her home directory.

[giulio]

Bubb, on 15 March 2012 - 10:51 AM, said:

I want to trouble shoot my my mom computer ( which is in Brooklyn ) from my place ( In Manhattan )
How to I do that? ( configure dynamic DNS ) I have no idea how to do that.

It would be awesome if you did a video about that. I'll bet a lot us out here are our parents IT person and we are soooo tired of trying to do that over the phone then ultimately giving up and traveling an hour to fix a five minute problem.

I've found logmein.com to to be the best solution. Traversing routers, firewalls, over the internet, etc.
My mom's XP machine is 2.5 hours away from me. But I can access it any time with logmein.
Oh yeah, it's free, too =)

[FranciscoDaSilva]

Grapho, on 15 March 2012 - 11:17 AM, said:

Dan Moren, on 15 March 2012 - 11:08 AM, said:

Bubb, on 15 March 2012 - 10:51 AM, said:

I want to trouble shoot my my mom computer ( which is in Brooklyn ) from my place ( In Manhattan )
How to I do that? ( configure dynamic DNS ) I have no idea how to do that.

It would be awesome if you did a video about that. I'll bet a lot us out here are our parents IT person and we are soooo tired of trying to do that over the phone then ultimately giving up and traveling an hour to fix a five minute problem.

This is a great question, and one I may investigate in a future tip. The short answer is: Have her sign up for an iChat account, then when there's trouble, have her log on to iChat and you can request to share her screen. (This works for certain versions of Skype too.)

This is how I do it with my clients, that way, I don't need to setup there computers to share resources on the web.

[FranciscoDaSilva]

I use two free programs:
a) www.logmein.com for mac
b) www.teamviewer.com for mac

Super easy to use.

good luck

Grapho, on 15 March 2012 - 11:17 AM, said:

Dan Moren, on 15 March 2012 - 11:08 AM, said:

Bubb, on 15 March 2012 - 10:51 AM, said:

I want to trouble shoot my my mom computer ( which is in Brooklyn ) from my place ( In Manhattan )
How to I do that? ( configure dynamic DNS ) I have no idea how to do that.

It would be awesome if you did a video about that. I'll bet a lot us out here are our parents IT person and we are soooo tired of trying to do that over the phone then ultimately giving up and traveling an hour to fix a five minute problem.

This is a great question, and one I may investigate in a future tip. The short answer is: Have her sign up for an iChat account, then when there's trouble, have her log on to iChat and you can request to share her screen. (This works for certain versions of Skype too.)

This is how I do it with my clients, that way, I don't need to setup there computers to share resources on the web.

[FranciscoDaSilva]

I use two free programs:
a) www.logmein.com for mac
www.teamviewer.com for mac

Super easy to use.

good luck