Monday, February 11, 2008

Microsoft Live Meeting - Easy Assist Tech Support



Microsoft LiveMeeting





Prior Post:
Computer Support - Adventure (Rated PG): Computer Remote Support Software


LiveMeeting Demo:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us?ql=3

LiveMeeting Trial Download (registration form) :
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us?ql=3

LiveMeeting is more than a conferencing and collaboration application. Hidden inside is online software application is computer remote support software for computer remote support.

I have used Microsoft's professional service, ie. technical support, on more than one occasion. I use heir per incident feature and have had decent experiences most of the time. The tool that Microsoft's tech support almost alwys has used to get remote access of the server I was working on has been their own product. That product is Easy Assist. Although there was a time that their support person used Live Meeting.

Although I have been, as many of have, around Microsoft and their products for so many years, it was the first time I saw their Live Meeting product at all. I believed at the time it  was for conferencing and collaboration online only. That day however I saw that it's a viable remote support tool as well.

Microsoft's easy assist computer support tool is one which I am much more familiar with. It works very fast and unfortunately because I deal with so many computer problems, I know where to go and what to do before the Microsoft technical support rep even has a chance to tell me. That product is less in features than Live Meeting but then again. It was not intended to be a collaboration and conferencing tool, providing technical support remotely is it's primary goal and purpose. The features I saw in Live Meeting, a product that is under the Microsoft product category of Office Online, was unbelievable. The current release is still Live Meeting 2007 which very much signals how advanced the product was at the time. I suspect there have been some cosmetic changes and back-end server bug fixes, and updates, etc., but the functionality in my opinion for even remote support over the web needed no updating.


Desktop remote support can be accomplished with Microsoft's LiveMeeting. The attendees are in a session with the presenter can optionally allow access to their applications (1 or more) for viewing or for remote control. This is useful feature and built-in tool of LiveMeeting as for demoing feature of a program of for online training and guidance. Tech support can use this feature too as they can access the desktops of the remote computers to show users how to perform specific task within an application, correct configuration errors or even install/upgrade new software.

The benefits are far reaching and the benefits out-way any of the negatives which there was only one that I saw. Microsoft LiveMeeting needs to install using the windows installer which in itself is not that bad. Where is can be come complicated, especially in regards to presentations. is that if a remote computer has a problem with the windows installer service on their computer desktop then Livemeeting will not start. This problem is present for many online apps. One of the ways to circumvent it or to overcome the possibility of this occurring is to have another method for the software, in this case computer remote support software that is imperative that it downloads and connects, is to download and install. Many applications use activex to add features to the browser or to give online access to more features for the desktop to utilize for the duration for the duration of the time the connection persists.


Remote Support Software

For fast access to clients' remote desktops, computers and servers there no better choice than remote support software. Remote support software helps technical support departments, support groups and companies get to the problems faster by using the web rather than traditional means for access computers for support.

Remote support on the web


Remote support on the web for remote computer access and desktop remote control support.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

LiveMeeting is a useful tool for online meetings and awesome for presentations. I tried using it for remote support of some friends computers but I found that if a computer has even the slightest problem with windows installer, livemeeting won't install. There needs to be a backup method for accessing the target computer. If all is well and good then the computer will connect.

Also a problem, if the computer's browser has active-x controlled in a manner that the browser doesn't allow every activex control to be installed then that is also a major problem. the download to the client is kind of slow, although the technology used implements the install in the best manner, I thought is was little time consuming for strictly a remote control session. The long install or delay in setup for online meetings really doesn't matter as the participants prepare for the meeting and have extra time to download and install the necessary components.

Anonymous said...

although it works for remote control, for a user that is setting up for a meeting or just needs some basic help during a conference. I'd find it a little cumbersome for remote computer support - I don't believe that's what Microsoft had in mind for this software it's not really geared for remote computer support.

Anonymous said...

pricey.... just like many of the other big names in this type of software.

Anonymous said...

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413036&postID=6657968007948279180&page=0