Simple, Free Web Remote PC Control?

MeatballCB writes "Hey folks. Being the 'technical' guy of the family, I often get calls from friends and family members when they're having PC issues. Most of these folks are not technical, so trying to troubleshoot problems over the phone can often be a challenge. Anyone know of a simple-to-use and (preferably) free service that would allow for remote viewing/control of their PCs? I know there's WebEx and GoToMyPC, but I hate to pay for something I'd use once every two months. I also know about VNC, but trying to walk someone through opening up ports on their router that thinks their Internet is broken when their homepage gets changed is not realistic. Anyone know of anything that would be easy to set up and use?"

Comments

Re:$125.00 per hour

[vlm]

What if I like my family?

Then you would have forbidden them from buying a PC, and required they buy a mac, which basically "just works".
Apple support is pretty good, assuming your family members don't smoke.

Also, realize that some people (mostly of the XX chromosome variety) literally live off of drama, they love it. For them, there is no higher calling than buying the cruddiest PC they can get, and then complaining about the inevitable, easily foreseeable disaster. Trying to explain penny-wise and pound foolish is literally a waste of your time, because success to them, is the drama, and success to you, is it works, and those don't match up... They enjoy it, so don't feel bad about it. When you understand this situation, you are liberated from it, like its a lesson of Buddha or something. You know how some old people are compelled to tell you about their health problems, well some folks are compelled to tell you about their (self induced) PC problems. Don't make the mistake of thinking they want you to "fix the problem", they just want to talk. I have several decades of experience with this, going back to the 80s, I am not kidding about this.