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Support users with Remote Assistance

Brian M Posey Tech Republic

Published: 01 May 2002 13:55 BST

A few years ago, I had a job that required me to support offices all over the country. One day, a user called me with a fairly simple problem that I could have fixed myself in under five minutes. But since I couldn't get my hands on the system, I had to spend the better part of the day trying to walk a particularly clueless user through the problem. I ultimately had to drive 650 miles to perform a five-minute repair.Sound familiar?

We could have avoided all that travel expense and lost productivity--both mine and the user's--with the new Windows XP Remote Assistance feature. In this article, I'll introduce you to the Remote Assistance invitation process. Once you see how simple it is, you may never want to troubleshoot without it again.

Windows XP coverage

To learn more about Windows XP's new features, check out these other Tech Update articles and columns:

An end user SOS

When users require assistance, they must generate a remote assistance invitation and then send the invitation to someone who can help them, preferably the help desk. (To learn more about who can get invitations from end users and why this can be a concern, check out my previous article.) To do so, users select the Help And Support command from the Start menu. Next, they click on the Invite A Friend To Connect To Your Computer With Remote Assistance link.

At this point, users may either View Invitation Status or create a new request by clicking on the Invite Someone To Help You link.