Questions about remote access software

From time to time I need to help friends and family with there computer problems and I'm trying to simply the process of gaining access to their desktops. I've used different apps, such as CrossLoop and more recently Team Viewer and they've worked fine. The main problem is actually getting the software installed on the remote computer. It is often a nightmare walking people through the process of downloading and installing the app over the phone. Lately I've started emailing a download link, but even that is problematic since people can't even see the drop down bar in Internet Explorer that needs to be clicked on to actually start the download. Is there a web based service so I could just email a web address and simple logon? I wonder how others are dealing with this scenario and I'm open to suggestions. TIA

 

Have you tried Join.me?

 

RealVNC, UltraVNC, any other VNC, LogMeIn, etc.

 

Thanks, I'll have a look at this today.

 

This is the level of simplicity I've been looking for. Are there any downsides to using Join Me in terms of privacy/security that you're aware of?

 

From the FAQ:

I've never used Join.me, but I've seen it mentioned elsewhere as well as at http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-remote-access-software.htm.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm definitely going to use Join.me for a while and see how it performs. I did a quick test with JM and one thing I noticed is it doesn't drop the color depth and make the wallpaper solid black like some remote access tools do. Replacing the picture wallpaper with black during the session does seem to improve performance.