what its the best software for remote services?

[lan101]

Sorry it was a typo. Mine is $27.50 too.

The thing that I hate the most about subscription based software is there is absolutely NO incentive to innovate or make a better product. In the past, software companies had to make you WANT to upgrade so they could get paid again. Not anymore. Now no matter how big of a stinking pile of crap it is, you'll be paying for it FOREVER if you want to use it. Mark my words. Microsoft Office won't be getting any real upgrades. I bet 20 years from now it will be basically the same as it is right now.

Yep exactly...so I guess all previous lifetime license owners get a "deal" per say so basically in a few years we'd be screwed anyway and have to move to subscription model or onto a different product. The deal of 27.50 per month vs 50 for a new person getting it today.

 

[GTP]

I have been trying out some remote supports lately so if i decided on Teamviewer my customers would need to pay for it also, in order for me to use it?

If you bought/paid for TV then you can create a "custom" module to install on your clients computers. It would cost your client nothing for TV and there is no timeout.
The other way to do it is - if you have the paid version of TV - is to direct your clients to the TV website where they can "join a session."

I have a clickonce script that downloads teamviewer and kills the existing processes, they would need to be in IE or have the clickonce extension or whatever its called in chrome if that even still works. It has been a while since i've tried it. You can try it at http://www.wi3.us/launch to confirm it still works for newer teamviewers, let me know if you want me to send you the files, im sure i even have the source code laying around some where.

Edit: if you don't mind the generic computer repair tech business name, i dont mind you linking customers directly to it either.

Edit2: it should still be the old tv5 remote so shouldnt auto add ID to my tv list (unless they added that function to work with the old ones)

Thanks, I'll give it some thought.

 

[cam w]

If you bought/paid for TV then you can create a "custom" module to install on your clients computers. It would cost your client nothing for TV and there is no timeout.
The other way to do it is - if you have the paid version of TV - is to direct your clients to the TV website where they can "join a session."

Thank you!

 

[Mainstay]

is to direct your clients to the TV website where they can "join a session."

That could work. Currently testing Go-To-Assist and for the power users connection is a breeze. But for the elderly and the painful-to-get-connected, Gawd!, it still takes 15 minutes to connect.

Had a lady that we eventually gave up on getting her to fastsupport.com and I attended onsite. In her browser she was Yahoo!'ing "back support".

 

[GTP]

I have Teamviewer integrated into my RMM. It amazes me that something so simple can take so long...
Please right-click on the blue/white "B" icon and left-click on "Remote Assistance".... No!, you have to right-click the icon....ok, you've left-clicked it again... No! you have to CLICK WITH THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON!!.... Ahhhhh!

 

[fencepost]

"OK, let's stop for a minute. Do you know the difference between what left-clicking and right-clicking do? I'm asking because some people (particularly Mac users) don't ever right-click on things, and some Mac mice don't even have a right-click button so I want to be sure you didn't get stuck with one of those."
"Let's try something here, I'm going to have you go slowly just one step at a time. Even if you think you know what I'm going to have you do, please don't do it until I ask you to, OK?"
"First, let's check your mouse. If you look at it, does it have just one big button area or does it have a line that divides it into two areas plus a scroll wheel between them? OK, great, you have the right kind. Those two button areas actually make it do different things so now we're going to give that a try. Now, on your screen can you see your desktop wallpaper? That's the picture on the background - a nature scene, or kids, or maybe even just a dark blue screen with a Microsoft or Windows logo. If you left-click on that picture nothing will happen, so I'd like you to try that now. OK, now, if you right-click on that it's going to pop up a little list of choices, so can you try clicking on that background picture with the other button? Did that list pop up? Great, don't do anything with it, just click somewhere else to make it go away."
"OK, now that we have some basic terms set up, in the bottom right corner of the screen do you see a picture of a blue-and-white 'B'? Great, I need you to right-click on that so a little list shows up. One of the items on that list should say 'Remote Assistance,' I need you to click on that. If it doesn't do anything you probably right-clicked on it, I need you to use the left button to click on it."

Remember, when going through this you have to sound bright and cheery, even if you're really showing your RBF while you try to make sure the user doesn't feel stupid, which will make them defensive and make everything harder.

Oh, and if you have a way for them to email you pictures, it might not be a terrible idea to have them use their phone and email you a picture of what they're seeing.

 

[GTP]

"OK, let's stop for a minute. Do you know the difference between what left-clicking and right-clicking do? I'm asking because some people (particularly Mac users) don't ever right-click on things, and some Mac mice don't even have a right-click button so I want to be sure you didn't get stuck with one of those."
"Let's try something here, I'm going to have you go slowly just one step at a time. Even if you think you know what I'm going to have you do, please don't do it until I ask you to, OK?"
"First, let's check your mouse. If you look at it, does it have just one big button area or does it have a line that divides it into two areas plus a scroll wheel between them? OK, great, you have the right kind. Those two button areas actually make it do different things so now we're going to give that a try. Now, on your screen can you see your desktop wallpaper? That's the picture on the background - a nature scene, or kids, or maybe even just a dark blue screen with a Microsoft or Windows logo. If you left-click on that picture nothing will happen, so I'd like you to try that now. OK, now, if you right-click on that it's going to pop up a little list of choices, so can you try clicking on that background picture with the other button? Did that list pop up? Great, don't do anything with it, just click somewhere else to make it go away."
"OK, now that we have some basic terms set up, in the bottom right corner of the screen do you see a picture of a blue-and-white 'B'? Great, I need you to right-click on that so a little list shows up. One of the items on that list should say 'Remote Assistance,' I need you to click on that. If it doesn't do anything you probably right-clicked on it, I need you to use the left button to click on it."

Remember, when going through this you have to sound bright and cheery, even if you're really showing your RBF while you try to make sure the user doesn't feel stupid, which will make them defensive and make everything harder.

Oh, and if you have a way for them to email you pictures, it might not be a terrible idea to have them use their phone and email you a picture of what they're seeing.

90% of my clients are Windows, 7% Mac and 3% Linux.
My Rmm (Kabuto) only works on Windows at present so the clients I'm dealing with are all on Windows. Yes, I agree that some people may have never used a right-click on their PC, so to that end I am patient. Of course I may get frustrated that they "just don't get it" but I would never reveal that frustration to my clients!
It's the one's that just try to preemt you by left clicking before being told to, or just assuming that a left click is needed. It would be great if access to the remote module could be redesigned in such a way that meant it was easier to get to. But it is what it is and left clicking the icon gives different options to right-clicking.
BTW, Kabuto has the option to send a screenshot directly from the "Request Assistance" window.

 

[fencepost]

Right, what I was getting at more was trying to defuse having the customer feeling stupid. People who feel stupid also feel defensive and less favorable towards you, and you want them happy to work with you because you teach them without that "duh" factor.

And yeah, there are click-happy people out there. Tell them that they're doing the equivalent of a kid actually poking you in the arm a bunch of times and saying "are we there yet? Are we there yet?" - then ask if that ever works out well for the person doing the poking.

 

[MudRock]

I wonder if we should do a poll again of what people uses.

My current tool I use, the self hosted server is not working 90% of the time now, the log in button is greyed out sometimes for minutes at a time; I end up leaving the window up all day or else suffer the wrath of not being able to remote in.

I want an affordable unmanaged platform mixed with a remote support platform. I don't mind using two different products. I'm a one man shop, so a lot of these platforms are just too costly in Canada (ie TeamViewer) or too scarce on features.

I like the pricing at AnyDesk; their alias system for managing unmanaged just sucks. Maybe if someone can give me some insight on how to manage that better.

I live in a town of 1500, service area of about 125km (,~100mi) with a service population area of 20,000, with my furthest clients being 375km (233mi). A good functional remote platform which is reasonable in cost would be wonderful.

Edit: The remote server and the box it is on is not the issue. The company providing the centralized log in/list management as well as the initial client negotiation is (imPcRemote). Worked well on our terrible internet connection. Just going to hell now.

Edit 2: Someone did a Google doc comparing RMMs before. I wonder the benefit of one for remote.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

 

[Larry Sabo]

I like the pricing at AnyDesk; their alias system for managing unmanaged just sucks. Maybe if someone can give me some insight on how to manage that better.

I don't use AnyDesk's alias feature. When I connect to a customer, I set them up for unassisted connection, then drop the thumbnail for that connection to the desktop, modify the name to be <customer lastname>, <firstname> and move it to a folder of AnyDesk Connections located on my desktop. When I want to connect for a session, I just double-click their shortcut sitting in that folder. Works a treat and there is no limit on how many shortcuts you can have in that folder, and also no extra cost involved.

 

[GTP]

I don't use AnyDesk's alias feature. When I connect to a customer, I set them up for unassisted connection, then drop the thumbnail for that connection to the desktop, modify the name to be <customer lastname>, <firstname> and move it to a folder of AnyDesk Connections located on my desktop. When I want to connect for a session, I just double-click their shortcut sitting in that folder. Works a treat and there is no limit on how many shortcuts you can have in that folder, and also no extra cost involved.

That's a great idea, but 99.9% of my residential and 50% of my business clients would backflip knownig I could access their computer at any time.
initially it was a struggle just to get them to allow access with their permission!

 

[Larry Sabo]

That's a great idea, but 99.9% of my residential and 50% of my business clients would backflip knownig I could access their computer at any time.

I don't believe the process depends on them having AnyDesk enabled for unattended connection.

Whenever you do connect, it creates the thumbnail I mentioned. So, create, rename and save the desktop shortcut as described. When you want to start a session, have them start AnyDesk (if it's not installed and therefore always running), then double-click your shortcut. It will pop up a request for the customer to accept or not. The other thing is, whenever I connect using unattended connection, it leaves the AnyDesk Taskbar notification that says "Larry was connected to your system". I explain to them that when I connect, they will see that Taskbar notification saying "Larry is connected" as well as a pop-up in Systray that says "Larry is connecting" (or words to that effect), so there's no way I can connect with out them knowing it. I also explain how to immediately terminate a connection, should they wish to do so. No matter what, it all comes down to whether they trust you or not.

 

[GTP]

No matter what, it all comes down to whether they trust you or not.

Agreed! And with the amount of paranoia that exists now I'm happier just to ask first.
Those businesses who are more savvy to remote connections have no problem with me logging in whenever.
I use Teamviewer, so clients do get a notification that "Greg" is now connected as well as the familiar blue/white "B" icon and my logo all over it.

 

[MudRock]

Agreed! And with the amount of paranoia that exists now I'm happier just to ask first.
Those businesses who are more savvy to remote connections have no problem with me logging in whenever.
I use Teamviewer, so clients do get a notification that "Greg" is now connected as well as the familiar blue/white "B" icon and my logo all over it.

I like the fact that SolarWinds that you can set up policies, including the ability to prompt with a timeout. IE:- You can set it to ask their permission, but if they don't respond in 60s, it will still let you in. Good for businesses, and gives them a fair warning.

Edit: Flipside, if they're not under RMM, it's pricey.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I wonder if we should do a poll again of what people uses.

My current tool I use,

The one built into our RMM, we run our own N-Central server right across the hall in the server room. We have our incoming ISP connections split up...main office and traffic, HelpDesk, local Exchange Server, and TSG/RDS and a few other services on our primary IP addresses going out Untangle. And I put a few other public IPs over on an EdgeRouter Pro 8....(a wicked fast low latency router)...which our N-Central server is behind. Our WAN connection is a symmetrical fiber pipe.

This gives us the best performance possible...since we control much of the equation. Dedicated high horsepower server, brutally fast router with no other traffic on it, low latency fiber pipe. Even back when N-Able was using their old NTR Global remote agent..that lots of people complained about for performance..it ran pretty good for us. With the new MSP Anywhere remote engine they adopted a while ago..it's been a treat. I've used pretty much every remote app out there..and this one is wicked fast and smooth.

We're 99.9% business clients.

All of our clients get a Windows Agent installed...so we can remote into their rig at any time, as well as see the other info the tool makes avail (asset/hardware info, etc).

For "1-off" clients (new clients, or home computers we remote into for something....any situation where we don't already have a Windows Agent from N-Able installed...we use MSP Anywheres "Start Control" for instance access. Just a website they go to, enter a 6 digit PIN..download/run a tiny installer..and BAM we're in.