Free Tech Support Just Got Easier

If you are, I believe the lay term is, “good with computers” then you are always getting a neighbor or family member or friend of a friend calling you when their monitor displays some rude message about Windows having to shut down or something has performed an illegal something. As you ask more questions about the exact content of this message that has so adversely impacted their life, do they ever exactly remember what it said? No. Did they write the message down? No. Did they really read the message? No. They just hit “OK”. D’oh!

Now you are expected to work your magic and, *poof, fix it (you know, just like that guy on the CDW commercials :)). Chris at Solo-Technology has the same problem and wrote a post about a possible solution to this for we who are cursed with the “good with computers” label: Crossloop.

Mrinal at CrossLoop introduced us to this sleek little app a few days ago. I went to the free download page, downloaded it and installed it. The interface is simple and sweet. I was pleasantly suprised at how simple it is, even a “non-technical” person (Hi mom) can set it up. As Chris explains:

CrossLoop is based on the opensource TightVNC, but adds all the connectivity stuff to make it easy to get through firewalls and such. Much more user friendly too. The person you want to help downloads, installs and invites you to help which generates a code. They give you the code. You download and install (if you haven’t already) and go to the Join area of the software. Enter the code and you’re off and running. Painless and easy for all involved. Their Help page lays it out very nicely with screen shots.

I am sure I will be testing this soon as my parents are 5 hours away, my wife’s family is 7 hours away and my accountant is 10 hours away. If it allows me to remotely support these people, believe me, it passes the test.

As Borat would say: “Very Ni ice”. As this year winds down and more “non-technical” people are home from work with tons of free time to use “playing on the computer”, you should keep CrossLoop handy. You will probably need it… if you are “good with computers.”