Remote Assistance with TeamViewer

Viewing Page 1 -- Go To Page 1 - Introduction, Requirements & Getting ConnectedPage 2 - Remote Desktop Quality & TweaksPage 3 - Communicating with TeamViewerPage 4 - File Transfers & Extras

Remote Assistance with TeamViewer

In this guide we will look at using the popular TeamViewer software to provide remote assistance over the Internet to another user running TeamViewer. In this guide we will see how to change Remote Desktop settings, dictate what the remote user can and can't do during the session, open up communications via VoIP, Video chat and Text chat, transfer files between machines and more. TeamViewer can be a wonderful software application when you get to use it for a while. It can easily become one of your most used applications. The best part of it is its free for non-commercial use. So let's take a look at how it works.

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Introduction & Requirements

Download TeamViewer and install it on your computer. It must also be installed on the remote computer that you wish to connect to and control. TeamViewer is free for non-commercial use. Obviously both computers need to be connected to the Internet and a decent connection speed is suggested as you will be viewing the entire remote computer's Desktop from your computer.

TeamViewer Interface, I.D. and Password

Run TeamViewer. It will look something like the image above, only your I.D. and password will be different. You need to ask the person at the remote computer, or somehow retrieve the I.D. and random password that TeamViewer assigns to it. You need that I.D. and password of a remote machine to connect to it (you don't need the I.P. address).

When you have the correct I.D. and password, type the I.D. into the ID field under "Create Session" as shown in the picture above. Make sure Remote Support is selected and click Connect to Partner.

Password Prompt

You will now to prompted to enter the password for the remote machine. This is usually a 4 digit number that is randomly generated between sessions and between instances of TeamViewer running.

NOTE: If you want a password to be kept indefinitely for a remote machine, you will need to right click on the random password in TeamViewer when you are physically at the remote machine and click "Set user defined password").

Remote Desktop - First Look

The picture shown above (click to enlarge if needed) shows the Remote Desktop on display. The remote desktop is from a laptop with a widescreen, which explains how it is displayed in the center of my screen, but we can change those settings later if required.

Take note of the menu bar on the top of the Remote Desktop window. You have a red X to close the session at any time, Actions menu, View menu, Audio/Video menu, File Transfer button and Extras menu. Over the rest of this guide we will go through these options and see what they can do for us.

NOTE: How responsive the remote desktop will be largely depends on how good the connection is between both. Both Internet connections (for each computer) count when it comes to connection quality. There are a few settings we can change that can help with either speed or quality, but there is no substitute for a decent connection. Additionally, if there was CPU and RAM intensive tasks running on either computer (particularly the remote computer which is capturing and broadcasting its Desktop), that will also have a negative effect on performance.

Remote Desktop - Actions Menu

In the Actions menu there are some interesting Options to look at. Most of these options to have to do with controlling the remote machine or the user in front of the remote machine.



That covers the Actions menu. Now it is time to move on to Remote Desktop quality settings. For that you need to move to: Page 2 - Remote Desktop Quality & Tweaks

Remote Assistance with TeamViewer

Viewing Page 1 -- Go To Page 1 - Introduction, Requirements & Getting ConnectedPage 2 - Remote Desktop Quality & TweaksPage 3 - Communicating with TeamViewerPage 4 - File Transfers & Extras