The best part about LogMeIn is that the free version meets the needs of most home users and in my case allowed me to remotely control two computers at my parents to help my dad switch over to his new laptop. This saved me a trip home and also allowed him to get up and running on his new computer faster.

Through the year I’m connecting to someone’s computer at least every other week to help solve a problem or upgrade some software. If you are on call for your family you’ll appreciate the ability to see what’s actually on the screen instead of relying on the user to tell you the specific error message. With LogMeIn I’m able to answer my dad’s questions in half the time and since he can see what I’m doing at the same time he has learned how to handle more problems on his own from upgrading and troubleshooting to identifying malware attempting to install itself on his computer.

The best time to give this gift is when you’re at their house for the holidays, but I have walked others through the installation process over the phone in order to solve problems in a crunch. You can even use the iPhone, iPad, Android or iPod Touch to connect to your other computers.

For saving us time, sanity and keeping the computers of friends and family up and running no matter where we are we want to call out LogMeIn as one of the best gifts to give this year.

Here’s an example of how one user uses LogMeIn to help family members:

LogMeIn: The Best Gift You Can Give Yourself and Your Family is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Remote Assistance which I will be taking a look at in this article is geared towards the home user, although it is still useful in business scenarios for help and support technicians. Remote Assistance allows you to do a number of things:

• Ability to share your Windows 7 Desktop with another user
• Ability to share control of computer peripherals: Mouse and Keyboard
• Peer to Peer connection without a relay server, meaning, Remote Assistance works just as well with two computers over a LAN (Local Area Network) just as it would over the Internet (WAN).

Remote Assistance in Windows 7 introduces a new feature called ‘Easy Connect’ which simplifies the process of connecting to another PC remotely with only a password, no file needed. When a connection is established between both computers, contact files are exchanged which creates a trust relationship. This further simplifies future connections that are made without the need for a password. Lets take a look at inviting someone for help using Remote Assistance Easy Connect:

There are multiple ways of inviting and offering assistance, lets take a look at connecting from the Novice side and accepting from the Expert side.

Click Start, Type: Assistance

Hit Enter

Inviting a friend or family member for help (click to enlarge)

Helper password which you will tell the Expert to gain access to your desktop.

Once you have established your connection with the Expert who will be assisting you with your problem, the Expert will connect to your machine with the password generated by Windows Remote Assistance. Lets take a look at connecting from that side of the fence:

Using the Easy Connect wizard to help a friend or family member.

Enter the password generated by the person requesting assistance.

Your Windows Remote Assistance session will now begin:

The above screenshot shows the person viewing the desktop of the individual in need of help.

Both persons can initiate a chat session to help communicate and explain the problem

Requesting and granting control of your desktop

A person seeking help can share their desktop which will allow their friend or family to use the mouse and keyboard to help solve their problem. In this scenario, adacosta doesn’t know how to hide desktop icons, the Helper is showing them how to do so. (click image to enlarge)

You can quickly stop sharing your desktop by clicking the ‘Stop Sharing’ located on the Chat window.

Conclusion

Remote Assistance makes the troubleshooting experience on the PC seamless, taking away the lengthy phone calls typical of years ago in which you tried to explain what your PC is going through using psychic abilities to solve a problem or make a simple diagnosis. With Windows 7, Remote Assistance is even easier to use and help others.

Troubleshooting: If you experience problems trying to connect or invite, try these suggestions:

• Ensure that your network location is set to ‘Home’ in Network and Sharing Center’.
• Microsoft provides a tool for testing your router for Peer to Peer technologies such as:

  - Universal Plug and Play

  - Teredo (Network Address Translator)

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/using/tools/igd/default.mspx

Remote Assistance in Windows 7: Lending a helping Hand is even easier is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

In Windows 7, the Windows Team has added improvements to networking and sharing data among multiple computers in the home. You can easily share information and resources such as Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos and Printers with just a password.

How do I setup a HomeGroup?

To successfully setup a Homegroup, you need more than one PC running Windows 7. Both PC’s must be within the same the workgroup, network discovery must be enabled and network locations set to Home.

Getting your network ready for Windows 7 HomeGroup

• Click the Network icon in the Notification area.
• Click ‘Open Network and Sharing Center’.
• Under View your active Networks > click the link to your Network type (usually defaulted to as unidentified).
• When the ‘Set Network Location’ window appears, select ‘Home Network’ from the available options.
• After selecting this option, the Homegroup wizard should appear prompting you to create a homegroup and requesting the type of information and resources you would like to share.
• Next, the wizard generates a password, please print or write this down since it will be used by other PC’s to gain permission to your Home group.

HomeGroup setup Wizard

Joining the Homegroup

Once you have successfully setup the Homegroup, other PC’s can join it and start sharing data and accessing shared resources on your network with ease. Here’s how you do it?

• Click the Network icon in the Notification area.
• Click ‘Open Network and Sharing Center’.
• Under ‘Change your network settings’, click the ‘Choose homegroup and sharing options’ link.
• A wizard will appear asking you to join the homegroup you created.
• Click ‘Join now’ (See Troubleshooting if this option does not appear).
• Your PC now has the option of sharing data and resources too, select the Libraries and devices you want to share within the Homegroup and click Join Now.
• You are now prompted for the homegroup password, enter it and click ‘Join now’.
• If you forgot your password, you can retrieve it by going to the computer you setup Homegroup on, open the Network and Sharing Center, under ‘Change your network settings’ click ‘‘Choose homegroup and sharing options’ > click ‘View other homegroup options’ click ‘View or print the homegroup password’ link.

Joining a HomeGroup (click to enlarge)

Q: I have successfully setup my HomeGroup, how do I share and view data?

You can share and view data automatically by browsing the Libraries folder. Click Start > click any of the shell folders you enabled for sharing: Documents, Music, Pictures etc. Any data saved within these locations are automatically shared with other PC’s within your HomeGroup.

Troubleshooting:

Unable to connect to your HomeGroup?

• Check your Windows Firewall to make sure that HomeGroup and Network discovery are not blocked.
• Make sure you enter the case sensitive password correctly.
• Are both PC’s properly networked? Ethernet cable connected properly, are you connected to your wireless access point? You can check by clicking Network icon in the Notification Area.
• Ensure that your Network Location is set to ‘Home Network’. In Network and Sharing Center, under View your active Networks > click the link to your Network type (usually defaulted to as unidentified). When the ‘Set Network Location’ window appears, select ‘Home Network’ from the available options. After selecting this option, the Homegroup wizard should appear prompting you to jpin an available HomeGroup and requesting the type of information and resources you will be able to share and access.
• If you encounter a problem with your HomeGroup Password, try changing it on the computer you setup HomeGroup on and try joining again.
• If none of the above works, try running the HomeGroup Troubleshooter, In Network and Sharing Center under ‘Change your network settings’, click ‘Fix a network problem’ under ‘Network’, click HomeGroup troubleshooter and follow the wizard that appears.

Resources:

Setting Up a Home Network in Windows 7

Networking made easy with HomeGroups in Windows 7 is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.