I created some Access databases for some of my remote colleagues. I would like to find out how I can help my colleagues by looking at what they have done incorrectly online so that I can fix it without having to ship the database back and forth.

Access Remote solution

While access has replication and synchronization features that you might consider adopting, I’m wondering if a remote solution might not be the easiest option. There are all kinds of remote technologies available that allow you to sit at your desktop anywhere in the world, log on to your colleague’s computer, and take control of their desktop. Not only can you explore their Access database as if you were sitting at their workstation, you can also show your colleagues exactly what they did wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. Instead of fixing the problem on your end, you will be helping your colleagues learn the ins and outs of using your database the way it is meant to be used.

Try Windows remote first

Depending on the various operating systems involved, you may be able to use the remote capabilities of Windows to accomplish this. For example, if both users have Windows Vista or XP, you can use Remote Assistance. This involves a little cooperation on both ends. First, your colleague will need to enable Remote Assistance connections on their computer which is done by going to the Control Panel, clicking System, clicking the Remote tab, and enabling Remote Assistance.

Sending invite for Remote Assist

Next, they need to “invite” you to help them. This is done by opening Remote Assistance and issuing an invitation, usually in the form of an e-mail. Once you receive the invitation, you can act upon it and establish a connection. Both you and your colleague will be able to see the desktop while you control it. When connected, give your colleague a phone call so that you can talk as you work.

Remote Connect products

If Windows Remote Assistance isn’t an option, other remote connection products are available. For example, I used to use Symantec’s PC Anywhere to connect to computers located at branch offices. Both computers need a copy of the PC Anywhere software installed and, again, there’s a bit of coordination involved to establish remote connections. Once connected, you see the remote desktop and can control it as if you were sitting at the workstation. Your colleague can see what you’re doing. A text chat feature is handy, too, though you may prefer talking over the phone.

Other online tools allow for collaboration as well though they may not be suitable for a large, multi-user Access database.

It’s happened to many of us. Mom calls up and says that Dad just got a new computer, and he’s gotten online, but he can’t get his email set up and he needs your help.

Or Cousin Dave just got a brand new iPod and needs help getting music onto it from his massive CD collection. Or you’re at work, and you left the link to the website you really needed for your early meeting on your desktop. Or maybe you’re at home, and suddenly remember that you left the document you created on your desktop at work. Variations on this theme drive thousands of us to frustration, and thousands to use remote access solutions. 

There are quite a few remote access solutions, both built-in to most current operating systems, and as stand-alone applications, or as network-based products. Windows, for instance, includes “Remote Desktop Access” in current systems. You can enable it from the desktop, by right clicking on “My Computer” and selecting the “Remote” tab. Simply place a checkmark in the “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer” box. Note the computer name provided. You can then selectively enable the feature for users by clicking the “Select Remote Users…” button and adding the users you want to have remote access.

To access such a system from a Windows box, you can go to Start->All Programs->Accessories->Communications->Remote Desktop Connection. You’ll get a dialog looking for your login information and the computer name. You can substitute the IP address for the computer name, as you can in most cases.

If you have a Macintosh, you can download the RDP software from Microsoft that will allow you to access the Windows computer remotely.

If you are using a Linux system, you can use rdesktop ( a command line utility ) or Gnome-RDP - a front-end for rdesktop and several other remote tools. The problem with this approach is that it’s complex and insecure to make this solution available for people not on our local network.

If you have a Macintosh computer, you can enable remote access in System Preferences. Click on the “Sharing” icon, and put a checkmark next to “Screen Sharing”. You can click on “Computer Settings”, and put a checkmark in “VNC viewers may control screen with password:” and put in a password. Once you have this set up, there are several ways to access your remote desktop. You can use any VNC client on a Windows, Linux, or Mac system. If you have the most recent version of Mac OSX (Leopard), you can use the Screen Sharing program for remote access - select the computer name in your Finder Sidebar, then click on the button that says “Share Screen”. It will prompt you for your login credentials for the other system, and then you’ll get the remote desktop. On Linux, you can use tightvnc or RealVNC, or vncviewer.

On Windows, you can use TightVNC or any other VNC capable viewer. In addition to the solutions above, .Mac (Dot Mac) and Leopard, when combined, offer a “Back to My Mac” solution that allows you to engage screen sharing securely to any Mac you have authorized on your .Mac account for Back to My Mac.

If you have a Linux system you want to access remotely, you can use X11 on the local network. This is non-trivial to configure, but it offers some interesting possibilities. The software you would run on your remote system is called an “X Server”, while the machine you’re accessing remotely runs “X Clients”. This can be confusing from a terminology perspective.

There are X Servers for Windows and for Mac OS X (it’s built in to OSX, in fact). X11 was designed to make the display experience as location-agnostic as possible, which means you can actually have, say, just a browser window from the remote linux machine show up on your local machine. Again, this is complex to configure securely, and certainly nothing you’d ever want to make available from the Internet. The second solution is VNC. You can use vncserver to start a VNC session on your Linux box, and access it from your other machines with a generic VNC viewer.  VNC Viewers are available for nearly every platform in the world. For remote GUI access on Linux, VNC is a good solution provided you use SSH to encrypt the session by tunneling your VNC Client’s connection through an SSH tunnel. That’s enough to tie up an entire article; it’s sufficient to say that if you don’t know that those terms mean, you don’t want to try it based on what information this article has room to provide.

All the solutions discussed so far are for local access. This means that you can connect to the other machine from the same physical network - like your house, or your job. What if you need to access your home system from work? Well, then we turn to other solutions. If you’ve got the hardware and expertise, and your IT department allows it, you can configure a VPN between your work computer and your home system, and then use the same methods listed above to access your computer. But presuming you don’t have that kind of access, there is a solution - or three. In fact, a Google search for “Remote PC access websites” turned up a list of quite a few, ranging from extremely expensive to free. The first such service most people think of is GoToMyPC.com; you can get a 30 day trial if you want to experiment. 

Most only support Windows on the remote end. An exception to this general rule comes from LogMeIn.com, which supports both Windows and Mac clients. There may be a similar solution that supports all three (Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX), but not easily accessible. Logmein.com provides remote access via web browser, with many very nice features. One example is the way it handles desktop resolution. If you are connecting to a machine with much higher resolution than the system you’re connecting from, the desktop will appear small and shrunken. With logmein.com, you can select the desktop resolution of the remote system from a drop-down menu, bringing the remote desktop to a viewable size. The really important thing about this change is that it’s non-permanent. When you get back to work after setting your work resolution to 1024×768 so it would fit on your laptop’s screen, you’ll discover your setting unchanged. It supports clipboard synchronization and many other conveniences. Plus, you can walk Cousin Dave through installing it on his computer, then (with his approval) take over his desktop and show him how to rip a cd and put it on his ipod. Remote access allows ‘family support techs’ to help their relatives and friends with technical problems rapidly and with a lot less frustration than trying to “talk them through” troubleshooting on the phone. 

As we become more mobile, remote access becomes more useful to more people. When you have a desktop and add a laptop, remote access might just become critical to the way you work. The information provided here will help you sort out your remote access needs and how to approach your customized solution.

Are there Tech Support forums that work well as well?  

I have had mixed results with forums. I like being able to search and browse through past posts to see if others have had the same problem and if so how it was resolved. Over the years, I have solved many computer problems thanks to the help of tech support forums. But I’ve also been frustrated too. Sometimes the information is too technical for me or irrelevant. Plus, it takes a long time to wade through the posts.

I’ve also been hesitant to jump in and ask a question. The few times I did, involved signing up as a member and waiting for a response.

That’s not to say that there aren’t forums that work well. Forums are a terrific way to get computer help. In fact, one of the first things that I do when I have a computer error is Google the exact error message. More often than not, I’ll find dozens of resources covering that exact error, including forum posts.

When searching for tech support forums, look for an active community. You can tell how active a community is by looking at the dates of the most recent posts and seeing the number of replies to messages. If you don’t see any current posts or if you see tons of posts with zero replies, chances are good that you won’t get much help.

Forums are also only as good as the users using them. Look for forums that have a balance of technical types and regular users and have categories covering your needs such as operating systems, programming help, or Internet issues.

A few you might try include TechSupportForum.com, SupportFreaks.com, and TechGuy.org. When you find a community that meets your needs, bookmark it and get involved. Not only will you have a valuable resource for troubleshooting your own problems, you may also help someone else with your experience.

What are remote tech supports best used for and what are they no good at?

Remote tech support teams can handle a variety of tasks well. For example, they are terrific at tuning up and optimizing your computer, virus and spyware removal, securing your computer and network, data backup, updating your operating system, removing unnecessary programs that start up automatically with each reboot, setting up networks, basic computer maintenance such as defragging the hard drive, and helping you learn how to use connected peripherals.

They can do these tasks thanks to advances made in remote control technology. Once they are connected to your computer, a screen on their computer shows them your computer’s screen. Their keyboard and mouse also controls your computer. In effect, it’s as if they are physically sitting in front of your PC. You sit back and watch as the remote technician takes charge.

In addition to being able to control your computer, the remote technician can initiate file transfers. Depending on the services you have purchased, the technician may send and install an anti-spyware application, schedule an automatic backup, or configure your wireless network. Anything that a technician can do via the mouse and keyboard, a remote technician can do.

However, there are limitations. One of the biggest limitations is connection speed. If you don’t have broadband service, some tasks can take a long time. While dial-up access is okay for basic screen sharing, if large files need to be transferred, the process could take a great deal more time than expected.

Another shortcoming is when physical problems arise. If the problem is hardware related, the remote technician can’t remove the hardware and reinstall another device. While many remote support Web sites offer network setup help, they can’t physically install the network adapters and plug everything in.

Software support also varies. While you may find a company that can help you diagnose and troubleshoot issues with Microsoft Office, finding help with lesser known applications may be difficult.

Remote Tech Support: What are the privacy issues associated with remote support techs?

If I let them look at my computer via remote desk top will that compromise my privacy?

Let me remind you that dropping your computer off at the local electronics store and allowing them to keep it for several days potentially compromises your privacy. Surfing the Internet potentially compromises your privacy. Allowing a stranger to remotely control your desktop also has the potential to compromise your privacy. These are all valid concerns.

Fortunately, you have control over the decisions that you make. When considering a remote technical support company, you should definitely read their privacy policy, terms and conditions, and End User License Agreements. The privacy policy will tell you exactly how they plan on using your information. While reviewing these different policies and agreements, look to see how accessible the company appears to be. Do they list contact information? Do they have a policy for handling complaints? Do they state that they respect your privacy and have safeguards in place to protect it?

In addition, most remote tech support Web sites have FAQ pages or an area discussing how their remote software works. Read these pages as well. When your computer is remotely controlled by a technician, the technician controls the mouse and keyboard and sees everything you see on the screen. You can, and should, be present watching what’s happening on your screen. If you see anything going on that you are concerned about, you can disconnect. For example, if the remote technician is supposed to be running a virus scan but starts peeking in your Microsoft Money file, then you might have a problem. It’s best to shut down all applications before allowing a connection so that sensitive data isn’t inadvertently seen. Otherwise, if you had Microsoft Money open when the connection was initiated, the technician may need to close it. In this case, he wouldn’t necessarily be prying but he might see sensitive data.

Is it better to have a paid service or should I just use a free site?

Why not do both? I’ve reviewed quite a few technical support resources both free and paid. What I found is that you can buy blocks of time and use them as needed, kind of like a prepaid calling card. Once you find a reliable free site, you can use that site as a first step. If you find your answer, great! If not, then head over to the paid Web site and use your prepaid minutes. This strategy allows you to save your minutes for more difficult problems.

On the other hand, you may not want to deal with the hassle of juggling two remote tech support sites. When I’m in a hurry or have more pressing concerns, I’d rather just pay someone to handle my problems for me. If you’re this type of person, consider a paid plan and let the experts do what they do best.

When I’m not in a hurry and have time on my hands, I’m more of a do-it-yourselfer. Free tech support sites vary in their offerings and often come in the form of a forum or community. This means that you may not get answers right away. Even then, the answers may be requests for more information about your problem. This back and forth takes more time than having a technician control your computer remotely in search for a solution. Plus, unless you are a hands-on type, you may find the free sites require too much technical ability.

Knowing your abilities and attitude toward having service work done will help you decide whether to use free or paid tech support services. For example, if you know how to change the oil in your car but find that it’s more cost-effective and convenient to pay someone else to do it, you’re likely to appreciate the services offered by paid tech support sites. If you’d rather change the oil yourself and save a few bucks, then you owe it to yourself to explore the offerings of free tech support sites. You won’t get grease under your fingernails but you may have to do a bit more work.