Options for personal remote access software to help elderly parents?

February 6, 2022 8:40 AM

My family has been trying to keep connected to our octogenarian parents, by they are not able to remember how to work Zoom. Are there good, secure, reasonably-priced options for remote access PC laptop software or iPad apps that would allow us to remote into their devices? We don’t need an enterprise-level solution, but price, security, and ease of use are critical - the last because not everyone in the family has expert tech skills.
posted by Silvery Fish to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

TeamViewer has been excellent for me helping out my mom.
posted by MonsieurBon at 8:42 AM on February 6, 2022 [4 favorites]

Best answer: For connecting from one Windows PC to another Windows PC, I've always used the free version of TeamViewer. It works well, and I used it for a use case similar to yours. TeamViewer has to be set up for unattended access when you install it on the remote computer. I haven't tried it with an iPad, but apparently it's possible. When you connect to the remote computer, your parents will not have to do anything, except make sure that the computer is turned on.
posted by alex1965 at 8:43 AM on February 6, 2022 [5 favorites]

Chrome remote desktop is pretty straightforward.
posted by majikstreet at 8:48 AM on February 6, 2022 [4 favorites]

Chrome Remote Desktop is indeed pretty good. LogMeIn works well, too. It was better back when they had a free option, but a license for a single computer isn't terribly expensive for a one off. It does add up quick when you're doing remote support at scale, though. Enough so that my boss who does the desktop support stuff is slowly moving everyone over to Splashtop.
posted by wierdo at 8:59 AM on February 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

Another vote for TeamViewer. I use it to help my father with his ancient windows PC.
posted by Zumbador at 9:37 AM on February 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

I use the free version of Anydesk for this exact purpose. Remote control works great on Mac's and PC's. You can't control an iDevice, but you can see what they are seeing. This has made support with my older parents much easier.

I used to use LogMeIn but gave up after they kept doubling the price for their product every few years. Anydesk has given me everything I needed for free.
posted by rsclark at 9:42 AM on February 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

An alternative to TeamViewer is:

https://www.islonline.com

Very reliable remote login software.
posted by jacobean at 12:29 PM on February 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you everyone, from my family, for your suggestions. I think we’re going to start with TeamViewer and if that doesn’t fit the needs of the collective, try the others on this list. Your input was very helpful for the family discussion.
posted by Silvery Fish at 2:13 PM on February 6, 2022

Windows has built in remote desktop support. The PC you're connecting to needs to be the Pro version, rather than Home.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-use-remote-desktop-5fe128d5-8fb1-7a23-3b8a-41e636865e8c
posted by dbx at 5:18 PM on February 6, 2022

ConnectWise Control is also great, and has up to 3 unattended connections you can just leave on a PC or Mac to jump on quick.
posted by deezil at 8:46 AM on February 7, 2022

I'm using DWService for this purpose. Client machine has to have DW client running in the background.
posted by gakiko at 12:53 AM on February 8, 2022