If you read this blog then you’re probably: a) into tech, b) go to a church! And if you’re like me – then you’re also the church’s ‘geek in residence'(!).
With this (amazingly) important role comes a range of responsibilities including being the person that everyone calls when something goes wrong on their computer… To help with remote tech support there’s a nifty bit of software that’s free for private (non commerical) use.
TeamViewer
TeamViewer is a very clever bit of cross platform software which allows you to see (and control) another person’s computer. It’s available for Windows/Mac/Linux and most mobile systems.
(Here in the UK it’s got a bit of a bad reputation as it’s the software of choice of the nasty scammer who ring you and claim to be from ‘Windows Support’ and can ‘fix your computer’. However, don’t blame the software for the scammers dodgy practices!)
I’d played around with it a bit, but this week I had to use it in at the deep end. I helped out a relative who lives in a country that’s not exactly know for their quality of Internet… Well apart a small bit of latency it worked very well! (I’m a Mac and my relative is Windows 7)
Visually, it’s very similar to using something like VirtualBox. On the side there’s also an IM/chat/audio box so you can talk about things as you’re going along (because of slightly iffy Internet on my relatives end, we couldn’t use voice and TeamViewer at the same time – but the text IM was great). Also, it doesn’t seem to like being used at the same time as Skype (I assume they use the same ports and get grumpy with each other!!!)
You can also do file transfers using its built in system.
As I said, it’s free for private/non commercial use. However, if you’re going to use it in a commercial setting you really need a license – but that’s not cheap! But for a church/ministry that’s non commercial then it could be a very useful addition to the tech toolkit!
Find out more on the TeamViewer website.
Have you used TeamViewer?
What other tools do you use for remote Tech support?
Jimmy says
I use this a lot and I love that the other user you are helping doesn’t have to install the program on their computer permanently, they can just run it one time from the downloaded install file.
I also use it to access my home media server from my main computer if I need to log into it, so I don’t have to get it out from it’s hiding place. My server is Linux and TeamViewer runs great on it.
Kris says
It unfortunately is not free for church use. There license language is weird enough that I contacted them. No go. Sorry.
Josh says
They are pretty restrictive in terms of what they consider commercial use…Kris is right. We use ScreenConnect after coming off years of LogMeIn Free (which isn’t exactly free anymore either).
Richard says
Kris, is this because you are a paid employee of the church?
My understanding is that it would still be free for us non-paid volunteers since we receive no compensation either directly or non-directly through a salary.