Machines are using XP Pro SP3.
There are times when my users will ask me to do something and I use
Remote Desktop and do it for them. Is there any way to set up Remote
Desktop so they can see what I'm doing? I use VNC for my servers but
I rather not install that on all my workstations.
Thanks!
Phil
Instead of you running "Remote Desktop", they could initiate a request
for "Remote Assistance", which you could then respond to. This way, they
stay logged in as themselves (instead of you logging in remotely and
locking them out), and can allow you control while they watch what you
do.
They can request this through Start Menu/Help and Support, or it can be
done through Windows Messenger. For something similar, Windows Messenger
can also be used to share a single application instead of the entire
desktop.
You could also use one of the flavors of VNC that is set up to be run
remotely, so that it does not need to be permanently installed on the
workstations. One of these is called GenControl (I haven't used this for
a long time, and don't remember for sure where it came from). I once
wrote a script package that would push a copy of VNC onto a remote
machine, installing and running it, connecting, and then removing it
again when finished - this does something similar and was easier to set
up.
I found that VNC usually runs slower than Remote Desktop on XP/2003/2008
(it was faster on NT4/2000 than on XP). One "advantage" of VNC was that
it could be set up (with a bit of tinkering) to run without being
visible, allowing "monitoring" (spying?).
