Cannot see remote computer's full screen in LogMeIn

February 4, 2013 10:38 AM

I'm trying to remote control a Windows 8 PC with LogMeIn. The end user is not there and would not understand anything I told them to do anyway. I can connect, but I can only see the upper left corner of the screen. The PC is set at some large resolution (for her poor eyesight) but I cannot change this since I cannot see the entire dialog box for the graphics properties. I cannot scroll around. I cannot zoom in or out. I need to be able to view the whole screen.

Things I have tried (per the forum posts on LogMeIn):

- Using Chrome, IE, and Ignition.
- Changed the resolution and view size within LogMeIn
- Changed MY resolution
- View LogMeIn at full screen
- Disabled user interfaces and display acceleration in the LogMeIn preferences

What I need to be able to do is help Grandma with her PC. My mom was at the PC and requested my help, and it was agonizing because I basically had to tell her what to type and where to click (since I couldn't see it). An hour long conversation with my mom would take four hours with my grandma. If I can just see the entire screen, I'd be fine.

The end user will NOT be able to install any other program, and I am 1500 miles away, so I really need to get LogMeIn to work.

(Bonus: Is a tremendous lag time normal? I have cable internet and she has DSL yet it takes 30 seconds for any mouse click on my end to do anything on her end.)

posted by desjardins to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

I've had various such problems with Logmein. I was going to say you might have better luck with TeamViewer, but it would require her to do an installation, which you said you don't want to try. Maybe you could try Joel Spolsky's (FogCreek's) Co-Pilot. The site says there's nothing to install.
posted by Dansaman at 11:04 AM on February 4, 2013

Response by poster: Problem solved - the text and icons on the remote computer were set to the largest setting. I fumbled around using the tab key to select the smallest option and I can see the entire screen now.
posted by desjardins at 11:29 AM on February 4, 2013

Teamviewer is similiarly unable to cope with increased text size. Why would that be?
posted by Tzarius at 12:36 AM on February 6, 2013