I have been using TeamViewer 6 (TM6) for years to connect to client computers for remote support. Recently TeamViewer automatically upgraded all licenses to TM9. They also stopped supporting TM6 on their servers.
TM6 was great. It was a small executable that I could put on my website and give customers a link to. It was very easy to walk the customers through getting it running because there was no install, just download the .exe and double click, then give me the “partner ID” and password and bam! I’m in their computer. It worked no matter the browser, through firewalls, etc.

Then I started trying to use TM9. Apparently it has to be actually installed on the client (host) computer. There are LOTS of options and check boxes and such. A lot (most) of my support clients are older with little exposure to technology. It turns into an exercise in frustration for everyone involved.

I went to the TeamViewer website and found a phone number. It directs me to the “community” on the site. Well, it ain’t SIGForum. I have found it to be useless.

Those of y’all that do remote support, what do y’all use?

I need to be able to walk some through the setup process quickly. That’s the main thing.

I don't have a suggestion for you, but I too am very interested in suggestions for alternatives.

A few months back TeamViewer "detected" that I was using the software commercially, even though I wasn't. I went through the hassle of getting it restored to the free version but didn't use TeamViewer for over a month afterwards. My very first use resulted in another detection of commercial use. I've been looking for an alternative since.

JP

I actually bought a license for TM6. It was over $800.00 ten years ago. And it was well worth it. It has made me a lot of money and saved me (and my clients) a lot of time, money, and frustration.

If they had just left well enough alone!

We have TeamViewer at work & use TeamViewerQS on the client machines.
Much lighter weight & just gives the id/password without needing to install anything, just a small executable file.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
We have TeamViewer at work & use TeamViewerQS on the client machines.
Much lighter weight & just gives the id/password without needing to install anything, just a small executable file.

What version? That is what I had on the client (host) side...v6. But TM no longer allows v6 to connect to their servers.
I’m using this across the internet, not on a LAN or WAN.

I'm not sure how it works for a commercial license, but Quicksupport or Portable are free/no install. I think they're up to version 15, so you might be looking at an upgrade. I haven't found anything better than 'open this file & tell me the #' so I can fix grannys facebook.

I must have hit the limit on the free version, they 'detected' commercial activitity - I just sent an email to TV, no response & nothing has come of it for more than a year. I have a bunch of older family 'clients', but I think it hit when I started using TV on a VM (unraid media server w/Win10 on top) that triggered it.

Ok, so I just noticed that I’ve been typing TM_, should be TV_

And

I have upgraded from v6 to v9. Because TV forced me to.
I’d rather not pay for the upgrade to the latest if I don’t have to...I don’t make that much real money from it these days. Mostly I get paid in homemade pies, canned fruit/veggies, honey, etc. (did I mention I had a lot of older clients?)

I use team viewer also, the free version.

I have not done it in a while but you can push a client to a remote computer.

Logmein is their biggest competitor.

I am not sure if they still have a free version. I have used it with a paid commercial license at work. It works ok, but I prefer team viewer.

Windows RDP is also something I have often used. I have walked people on the phone to turn in on and have logged on. It's built into windows since XP

I tried TeamViewer, but it was too "heavy" on resources. I currently use NoMachine, which is free. Supports Windows, Linux & Mac.

https://www.nomachine.com/

quote:

Originally posted by hudr:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
We have TeamViewer at work & use TeamViewerQS on the client machines.
Much lighter weight & just gives the id/password without needing to install anything, just a small executable file.

What version? That is what I had on the client (host) side...v6. But TM no longer allows v6 to connect to their servers.
I’m using this across the internet, not on a LAN or WAN.

v15.2 paid license for business use.

Ours is over internet as well. QS might be worth a try to see if it will connect, since it's no install & pretty lightweight (4.1MB file).

Check out showmypc. My company uses it to connect to clients all over the country and many of them are not tech savvy. There is a free version or you can pay to have a private one that I think was under $100 a year.

Crossloop is great but was cost prohibitive for what we do.

Thanks guys. I’ll look into these alternatives. I’ve also sent TV an email, we will see if it’s even answered.

I used ConnectWise.
https://info.connectwise.com

It is great for both an enterprise, WAN, LAN or single private user computers, and all can be done from the same control panel.

You can connect to your control panel from anyplace you have internet since it is now a hosted app. (Originally, required your own web server)

It was formerly ScreenConnect, and began as a clone of Logmein before LMI went "photobucket" and priced themselves into stupidity. Then it gained a large following, was bought by a bigger firm and they have been adding very good utility to the product.

It has quite a few good features.


You can install agents on machines and then connect to them at anytime, WOL power up machines that are off (most of the time), transfer files work in both a "remote GUI session" or as a background console so you can work on some things in the background while the user is working on something else.

You can run commands from a command line, or run scripts without ever joining to a computer with an agent, so you could transfer a file(s) to a remote computer and then run a command to install/update apps and such.

You can create a "join to" session and email, or simply provide a link to the website for connectivity. You can leave this session in an "passive" sate after disconnecting if you need to reconnect again, but do not wish to install an agent on a machine.

All connections are encrypted and security is very good.

If you have specific questions, let me know.