Comments on: Instant Housecall Review

By: Imprimante

Imprimante — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:33:00 +0000

The best feature of this software it is, in my opinion, the SMS. That means you don’t have to stay all day long by your computer waiting for support requests.

By: Eastern Shore IT LLC

Eastern Shore IT LLC — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:25:19 +0000

Just wanted to give my 2 cents here. I recently purchased the Pro lifetime license of Instant Housecall after moving from the business license of Teamviewer 4. Teamviewer is great but did not offer the amount of options and integration that Instant Housecall offers such as integrated billing functions and sheer user-friendliness. Furthermore Mr. Fruitman really does take the initiative to make sure his customers have everything setup properly – something I really respect. This is relevant to point out since someone in this thread accused him of hijacking for advertising.

By: Jim R.

Jim R. — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:26:51 +0000

I have been a technician for 17+ years and started doing remote support in the last couple of years. I have used Crossloop, LogMeIn, GoToAssist, and other remote software apps. I now use the free version of ShowMyPC and it works well. (www.showmypc.com) I needed some help installing some custom software at a client’s site and the software company helped me remotely using this software, so my first experience to ShowMyPC was as an end-user. It uses a passcode (similar to crossloop), and can be installed directly from the support website. It was really simple to install and use, both as an end user and as the tech support person. The free edition works great, but has a limit of 90 minutes per session and one session at a time. I installed the host app on my desktop (Win 7 64-bit) and it runs without any problem. The software has file transfer, meeting scheduler, whiteboard chat, etc. I recommend it.

By: Corey Fruitman

Corey Fruitman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:30:42 +0000

Hi Rob,

Thanks very much for the feedback and for the post. Please know that you’re welcome to contact me directly at 1-888-838-4050 (+1 416-871-4725 international)or e-mail support@instanthousecall.com if you need assistance with the software or any of these features.

Instant Housecall is a remote support tool works on a variety of platforms, so it has a “smart” installer that will determine the best place to install the software. This ensures that Instant Housecall can be installed on all of your customers’ machines, even when a directory is unavailable or set up with permissions restrictions. The “AppData” directory is used by many applications, and it’s one of the recommended directories by Microsoft.

You’re absolutely right that normal users can stop the Instant Housecall service any time they wish. That is by design — we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Instant Housecall is a remote support tool, not spyware, and its transparency is important to us and your customers. It’s only intended to be used with the end-user’s permission, and if they choose to shut down the service, they’ve revoked their permission.

In short, for your customer’s security, they are always given the final say on any transaction, and they can disconnect the Specialist or turn off the service any time they choose.

That gives your customers peace of mind and confidence knowing you can’t access their computer without their permission.

I’d be happy to help troubleshoot or answer any other questions you may have. I’m sorry for the delay in getting a response to this post — I don’t check Technibble as often as I’d like to. But you can always reach me at cfruitman@instanthousecall.com or at the phone number on the website if you have any other questions or concerns.

By: Rob Nicholson

Rob Nicholson — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:31:25 +0000

I’ve been evaluating Instant Housecall over the past two days and I’m a bit reluctant to switch from our existing provider (NTRGlobal). I started looking at IHC on cost alone but I’ve hit a couple of things that worry me in a corporate non-admin environment:

1. The installation goes into the “c:\Document and Settings\Adminstrator” folder which just feels wrong. Why isn’t there a standalone installer that installed in the normal locations and lives as a service

2. We’re looking at automatic deployment of software, gold images etc. Not sure if there is an MSI installation package

3. Normal users without admin rights seem able to simply right-click on the IHC icon and exit IHC. Worse, it appears to uninstall the service!

4. As a test, I disconnected the wireless and re-established and it didn’t reconnect. Worse, it sat with a message saying “Trying to reconnect” and I had to end the task after about 15 minutes. It then lost the option to unattended operation underneath the “Start Session” box so now unattended access appears to have been lost

These are instant problems I found which have tarnished my intial “wow” feelings

Cheers, Rob.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:17:17 +0000

I completely agree with Cartuse: I had similar problems with LogMeIn Free (obviously LMI Rescue is the most advanced solution out there, but is just too ridiculous in terms of pricing). I’ve recently switched from Teamviewer to Techinline (http://www.techinline.com) which is a fraction of the price of LMI Rescue and is very easy to use for the remote users (doesn’t even require installation because entirely browser-based). It’s a relatively new solution, so they should be improving their functionality from here

By: Cartuse

Cartuse — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:28:07 +0000

was pleasantly surprised with Instant Housecall Free Edition in many aspects: it’s dead easy to use and it works seamlessly through firewalls and Vista UAC. The application is perfect for occasionally lending a hand to your not-so tech-savvy friends or parents, but I’m afraid it’s too simplistic if you’re looking for a professional customer support service. In this case you may want to turn to the paid version of Instant Housecall.

By: Free Reminder

Free Reminder — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:01:21 +0000

Indeed Instant Housecall is a fast, easy remote desktop program that lets you offer remote support through firewalls. It help

By: Internet Age

Internet Age — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:00:11 +0000

That was a very comprehensive review, not just some idle banter fobbed off with a “recommended” label. The question that has to be asked is if you will use it for yourself, that usually tells us how good things truly are.

By: sk

sk — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 11:07:52 +0000

Brian,
It sure does include that. Check the box to “include listener in build” The listener can be setup to poll as often as you like. We set ours up to poll every 15 seconds so that is the most you would have to wait for a connection. We actually don’t use that very often though. RDP is what we use for on-demand to servers. And don’t forget, it also has a repeater for remote access from any computer in the world.
As far as port forwards, yes, you do have to forward ports, but on your own firewall not the clients. If a support person cannot do that in 10 seconds they should find another line of work!
I’m really not trying to talk down the system but I am just so happy with RSS and you CANNOT beat the pricing…