Remote Desktop Viewing via CrossLoop
August 2nd, 2007 by DavidY
“Long distance look over the shoulder” at someone else’s computer
A free new software program called CrossLoop helps you get assistance or give assistance quickly and easily over long distances by sharing your or your friend’s computer desktop. This program connects your two computers together so that the two of you are looking at one computer.
For example, when I taught OVI President Fern Grauer how to blog, I connected to her computer so that I could watch her blog, as if I were right behind her. In real-time, I watched her every mouse movement and could point out where she should click and what to click. I was in Fort Lauderdale and she was in Chicago. This took a total of 10 minutes.
You can use CrossLoop to look at documents together or pick out pictures for a brochure. And if you rely on a family member or friend for tech support, here’s the perfect tool for the job. No more vague phone calls where one person wonders what the other person sees.
I have used CrossLoop from here in Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles and Long Island, as well as to various places in Miami. It requires a small program installation and you can be up and running in a matter of minutes. Here is a tutorial on how to use CrossLoop:
http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10877_11-94059.html
CrossLoop prevents unattended sessions through the use of a unique passcode. It requires a person at each end in order to complete the session. Once the session ends, the passcode is invalid.
Feel free to ask more questions here on this blog by registering and responding.
If you’re adventurous, you can also try http://logmein.com and http://yuuguu.com. Logmein.com is more for controlling a remote computer without someone there and yuuguu is the only one of the three to be cross platform between Macintosh and PC.
David - this post was a real pleasant surprise for this small team! Thanks a lot from all of us to bringing us to your readers and volunteers in Opera. Opera is certainly unique to us and the first from an application ‘industry’ perspective
If you or anyone has questions, please feel free to email me anytime.
BTW - our latest version, 1.11, allows one to transfer documents, pictures, device drivers etc from one desktop to the other. No limitations - as many files and folders one wants and it is drag and drop.
Thanks and have a good weekend
Mrinal
Thanks for dropping by. I’m happy to report that in our recently-concluded conference in Denver, I dared to do a live demo of CrossLoop connecting to a computer on Long Island.
As we all know, live internet-based demos are akin to presentation suicide. But I didn’t fall on the sword that day. I was both host and client, and each time, CrossLoop worked flawlessly in front of the audience. Wow!
Volunteers of every stripe work on shoestring budgets, so a free tool is very welcome. The concept of real-time collaboration is still quite new, but I know that every time I do a CrossLoop session, it never fails to impress.
Our board is spread out all over the country, so I know that both its simplicity and versatility will raise our intra-board communications to a new level.
Shortly before your post, I concluded yet another successful CrossLoop session with a board member in Colorado.
We all belong to different groups, so the multiplication potential is tremendous. I will surely assist the board in this program and look forward to the new features you’re introducing.
Why don’t you use a web-based remote control tool? I’ve tried one — Techinline Remote Desktop — and was satisfied with it. You’ll only need an internet connection and a browser. No need to install anything on your PC. And right away you’ll have a ready-to-use remote desktop access environment. You can easily use it to get access to Remote Support. And no fuss about…
Does anybody have long time experience with this Remote Support tool? We’re going to use it for technical support and I’m concerned how is it reliable?
Biggest difference, especially for those of us in the volunteer world, is that CrossLoop is free while Techinline Remote Desktop is not free.
Since CrossLoop is a recently released product, nobody has long term experience with this as a Remote Support tool. However, my initial experience with it as well as its simplicity and cost, namely free, makes it worth recommending.
I recommend you establish a list of criteria for your remote support tools, regardless of which product, then use it for a month or some agreed-upon amount of time, then evaluate its performance.
For us here in the opera world, “free” is an important criteria.