Free remote programs

[Alphabyte]

Are there any decent free remote desktop programs that do not involve the client installing anything on there PC. Rescue Me from logmein I believe is very good as it sends them an email and connects you that way, but its a little costly for me at the moment since I am only just starting out.

Also do you think its right that I charge less per hour for remote help?

Thanks

 

[e2346437]

I use http://www.showmypc.com. It's free.

Eric

 

[SThompson86]

I use http://www.showmypc.com. It's free.

Eric

Their $14 monthly plan looks nice, first RS company I have seen that did not want $30.00+ a month.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Not free, but at $3/session if you buy 20 sessions for $60, Techinline is almost free, as I mentioned in another post.

 

[Alphabyte]

Thanks for the info and the link to the other post, I shall check it out

 

[Xander]

TeamViewer has a portable option but isn't intended for commercial use.

@Larry - I wrote those guys last night asking if they have a reconnect-on-reboot option. I currently rarely do remote but want to bump it up a notch and consider R-on-R a necessity.
edit - hadn't noticed their reply in my inbox. It's a feature they hope to have worked into the product by year's end. :/

 

[Alphabyte]

Just thinking how do you make people pay you if they are miles and miles away, what is to stop them once you ended that connection and fixed there PC from not paying you?

 

[Xander]

Just thinking how do you make people pay you if they are miles and miles away, what is to stop them once you ended that connection and fixed there PC from not paying you?

Once upon a time, I was advertising in the wrong ways and getting the cheapest possible customers. Post-dated cheques are not usually a problem ... for existing customers but I don't like them with new ones. (Edit: especially when those cheques bounce)
So, I wrote a little program that would run briefly on startup and compare the date with the date I did my housecall (in reg). If 30 days went by, it would stay resident and start to slow the computer down (just hogging the CPU). The plan would be, once their cheque cleared, I would email them a simple Start-Run command that would remove the program and all would be well. I only ever used it once and can't find the script from which I wrote it.

Not an ideal option in anyway but, well, an option.

 

[Larry Sabo]

In the 13 years I've been in business, I've accepted cheques and only had one honest-to-goodness deadbeat. (Honest-to-goodness and deadbeat don't belong in the same sentence, but what the hey.)

@Housecalls, I was told they (Techinline) expect it sometime this spring, but they may have been optimistic. BTW, that came from their Canadian Tech Support in Toronto, I believe. If you really need unattended or automatic (re)connection and Safe mode startup, by all mean, use another product. For someone who doesn't do a lot of remote support yet, and mostly residential support at that, I find it hard to beat. I have no vested interest in them, by the way; just a very satisfied customer.

 

[Alphabyte]

I am not sure if I could cripple someones computer till they pay though, but I see myabe why you did it. I think I may be cheap by my area standards as most seem to charge £30 to £50 an hour while I charge £25 and £15 for remote, maybe because I am desperate for people to pick me which is bad in its self as I feel I have good customer and tech skills to bring to the table. So many cheap guys out there that people go to because no one likes to spend money these days.