Mac to PC help from far away

October 24, 2009 3:29 PM

I bought a used iMac G5 and I'm getting ready to send it to my mom as a gift. She hasn't used a mac since like 1995.What is a good program to install on here so that I can help her remotely? I'm on a PC. Free would be the best. I don't have a lot of money for this project.

I'm thinking she might need a little help getting used to the whole OS X experience, and I may need to install things for her later on.

The computer is a G5 with OS X 10.4 with a PowerPC chip. I've found that this combination is nearly impossible to find software for. Neither of us has a webcam.

Any other suggestions for free software would be great. I've got iLife and iWorks 08 already.

posted by amethysts to computers & internet (14 comments total)

Logmein Free appears to work as long as you have Tiger installed. It's cross-platform and I use it to remotely control my home and work computers all the time.
posted by calistasm at 3:53 PM on October 24

That seems to work! Any other suggestions are also welcome!
posted by amethysts at 4:10 PM on October 24

The iMac G5 has a built in Web Cam. Set up iChat. You can also use Skype to do some view only screen sharing. No control, but at least yu can see the screen and talk her through it
posted by Gungho at 4:17 PM on October 24

I've used Logmein Free to administer my friend's G5 from across the country. Overall it was good, but I did run into some trouble later on with logmein not loading at startup (possibly user error on her end) and then not being able to login into her computer. CrossLoop was a nice backup. It requires a little more activity on her end (she has to click connect and give the code for each login-- the code changes each time the app is run) but I've also had very good sessions with it.
posted by sharkfu at 4:24 PM on October 24

I'd say Crossloop, but that's apparently Intel-only. The best alternative might be some kind of VNC-based solution, which is what Crossloop uses in conjunction with a bit of trickery to make the connections. Alternatively, Fog Creek's Copilot is cheap, Mac/Win-compatible, and offers free promotions on a fairly regular basis.
posted by holgate at 4:26 PM on October 24

holgate: "I'd say Crossloop, but that's apparently Intel-only."
Oops. I also administer their PC laptop, so I guess I mixed up the tools I use on each. Nevermind.
posted by sharkfu at 4:34 PM on October 24

OSX has built in VNC (as "Remote Desktop").
posted by ConstantineXVI at 4:54 PM on October 24

PS: if you can load Leopard on it, iChat has built in screen sharing. Technically the same as the built in Remote Desktop in Tiger, but without the hassle with port forwarding and etc.
posted by ConstantineXVI at 5:24 PM on October 24

I wish I could update the OS but I can't find a version that's either inexpensive or non-frightening/illegal.
posted by amethysts at 5:28 PM on October 24

Um, that should be "non-frightening/LEGAL". I dont want to mess with pirated stuff.
posted by amethysts at 5:29 PM on October 24

I have only used Copilot (mentioned above) for Mac to PC help (I'm on the Mac, my mom is on the PC), and it works fine for that case. It's free to use on the weekends.
posted by bluefly at 8:14 PM on October 24

I've used the free Team Viewer successfully to control mum's PC from my Mac. Don't see why it wouldn't work the other way around.

A small download and sharing of an i.d. and password and I was easily controlling her desktop.
posted by Ramo at 3:44 AM on October 25

I've never used it, but a lot of people swear by LogMeIn for this kind of thing.

Also, as many others said, OSX has a built-in VNC server that is probably worth enabling regardless. You can do this by going into "System Prefs", "Sharing" and enabling the "Screen Sharing" options.You might have some issues with port forwarding with VNC (or might not), but seems like a good backup option in-case.
posted by ranglin at 7:06 AM on October 25

If you have to get through NAT firewalls on either or both ends, Teamviewer makes it seamless. She starts her (tiny, server) copy and reads you a couple of numbers. You enter those numbers into your helper's copy, and you're up. Just know that 1) if you set it to suppress her desktop background image (for performance), it will change her background and leave it changed (not deleted, but she'd still need to re-select it); and 2) as it exits, it will launch Safari on her machine, so let her know to expect it. Those two warts aside, it's convenient and works well.
posted by TruncatedTiller at 7:33 AM on October 25