Windows 7 : Getting Help and Giving Others Assistance

Windows 7 offers two similar features for getting help and remotely accessing computers: Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop. When you have a problem with your computer, you can use Remote Assistance to ask an expert for help. You can also use Remote Assistance to give others assistance. Remote Desktop is a feature you can use to connect to a computer from another location and then work with the computer as though you were sitting at the keyboard.

1. Getting Help from Another Person

When you want to get help from others, you must create a Remote Assistance invitation and then make this invitation available to the person from whom you want help. Although there are multiple ways to create and send invitations, the easiest and most reliable way to do this is to create an email invitation. As long as you’ve installed and configured an email program, such as Windows Live Mail or Office Outlook, you’ll be able to send an email invitation.

You can create a Remote Assistance invitation and send it to your helper by following these steps:

1. In Control Panel, under the System And Security heading, click “Find and fix problems.” In the left pane of the Troubleshooting window, click “Get help from a friend.” Alternatively, click Start→All Programs→Maintenance→Windows Remote Assistance.

2. If the computer is not configured to send invitations, click Repair. After Windows Network Diagnostics analyses the problem, click “Try these repairs as an administrator” and then click “Close the troubleshooter.” You will then need to repeat step 1.

3. On the “Use Remote Assistance” page, click “Invite someone to help you” and then click “Use e-mail to send an invitation.”

4. On the “Choose a password” page, enter and confirm a secure password that is at least six characters long. This password is used by the person you are inviting and is valid only for this Remote Assistance session.

5. When you click Next, Windows 7 starts your default mail program and creates an email message with the invitation.

6. In the To field, type the email address of the person you are inviting and then click Send.

Once you’ve sent the invitation via email, the Windows Remote Assistance dialog box is displayed. This dialog box provides the following options:

Stop sharing

Starts or stops sharing control of the computer with the helper.

Pauses

Pauses or resumes sharing with the helper.

Chat

Opens a chat window for sending messages between you and the helper.

Settings

Allows you to configure the session settings.

Troubleshoot

Allows you to troubleshoot Remote Assistance.

Help

Allows you to open Windows Help and Support.

As long as you’ve allowed remote control of your computer, the helper will have a similar set of controls and will be able to access your desktop and Start menu, allowing the remote helper to fix your computer much as if he or she were sitting at the keyboard. If you haven’t allowed remote control of your computer, the helper will only be able to view your desktop and guide you through chat.

NOTE

For Windows Vista and Windows 7, Remote Assistance has been enhanced in several ways. First, two people can now simultaneously connect to a computer for troubleshooting. Second, if troubleshooting requires that the computer be restarted, the Remote Assistance session is reestablished automatically after the computer reboots.

2. Giving Other People Assistance

Just as you can use Remote Assistance to get help, you can use Remote Assistance to help other people. Have the person send you a Remote Assistance invitation via email. When you receive the email, double-click the invitation attached to the message. You’ll then see a Windows Remote Assistance dialog box with a view of the other person’s computer. As long as the person has allowed remote control, the view will have a similar set of controls as previously discussed, and will provide complete access to the person’s desktop and Start menu, allowing you to fix the person’s problem much like you could if you were sitting at the keyboard.

If you know that a user is having problems with his or her computer, you can follow these steps to offer remote assistance rather than waiting for an invitation:

1. Click Start, type msra, and then press Enter.

2. In the Windows Remote Assistance wizard, click “Help someone who has invited you.”

3. Click the “Advanced connection option for help desk” link.

4. Type the name or IP address of the computer you want to assist, and then click Next to connect to the computer.

3. Connecting to Your Computer Remotely

Sometimes you may want to be able to connect remotely to your computer. For example, if you are at home, you may want to be able to access files on your work computer. Or if you are at work, on vacation, or out wherever, you may want to be able to access files on your home computer. To access your computer remotely, you can use Remote Desktop, as long as you’ve configured port forwarding on your router for the port 3389 and opened this port on your firewall for Remote Desktop connections.

You can make a Remote Desktop connection to your computer by following these steps:

Figure 1. Connecting to a remote computer

1. Click Start→All Programs→Accessories→Remote Desktop Connection. This displays the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box, shown in Figure 1.

1. In the Computer field, type the name of the remote computer or its IP address. For a connection over the Internet, in most cases you’ll need to use the IP address (when connecting to your home computer from other places, this is the public IP address assigned by your ISP).

2. Click Connect. Your screen will go black for a moment except for a title bar at the top.

3. When you see the logon dialog box, enter the username and password of an account that is a member of the Remote Desktop Users group, and then click OK.

4. If the account is already logged on to the remote computer, the desktop on the computer will lock and you’ll then see the current desktop as though you were sitting at the keyboard.

5. If someone is already logged on to the remote computer, you’ll see a prompt telling you that the other person will be disconnected. Click Yes to continue. The user will then see a prompt asking if he or she wants to allow the connection. If the remote user clicks Yes, he or she will be logged off similar to what happens when you use fast user switching. The user can resume that logon session later.

When you’ve connected successfully, you’ll see the Remote Desktop window on the selected computer, and you’ll be able to work with resources on the computer. Although you are using the remote computer, the remote computer shows the welcome screen with your account listed as being logged on and locked. A person with physical access to the remote computer cannot see what you’re doing at the local computer. Keep in mind that firewalls and Network Address Translation (NAT) can prevent successful remote desktop connections. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) port 3389 must be open to any firewall between your local computer and the remote computer.