WinXP Pro Remote Assistance

[ghoti]

I am moving away from the town where my 80+ year old mother and her computer live. I was going to put Win XP on her computer (I've now got Win XP Home on her machine) so I can use Remote Assistance to help her.

I've got AVG free and Kerio free on her machine. She's got a cable modem and NIC.

Any tips, 'bewares', etc.

How tough is this to set up?

Thanks much for any help.

 

[RebateMonger]

Actually, Windows XP Home Edition can also accept Remote Assistance. If you mean "Remote Desktop", then, yes, you need XP Professional on your mother's PC.

For Remote Desktop, if you have a router in place (separately, or part of the Cable Modem), you need to forward TCP Port 3389 to her PC's IP address. You'd probably want to give her a Static IP address on the local network (if there's a router), to make sure she always has the same private IP address.

 

[Noema]

There's also a 3rd party application that let's you remotely control another computer, and it's very easy to set up. It's even browser-based so you can do it from any computer, even if they are not running Windows (though a small client must be installed and running in the computer to be remotely controlled).

The program is called Logmein, and the trial version gives you almost full functionality.

 

[ghoti]

Thanks Monger,

I didn't realize there were TWO options until you alerted me. I guess that since I've already got Home on her computer, I'll try Remote Assistance.

Any security issues I should worry about (on either computer), and any problems I'm likely to encounter in setting it up?

Thanks again, and thanks also to Noema for the info on 'Logmein', though if I can get by with software already on the machine, I'll go with that.