Remote Support with Windows Remote Assistance

28 January, 2012

 

Before to Using Windows Remote Assistance

First of all, Windows Remote Assistance requires two parties: one to request help via this tool and another who will accept to provide it. In order for this to work, the party receiving assistance needs to have Windows Remote Assistance enabled in System Properties. How to view if this is enabled is shown here: Enabling Remote Desktop Connections in Windows 7.
The party in need of help, first has to request it via Windows Remote Assistance.





To request help, one can either send an invitation file (using any of the first two options: "Save this invitation as a file" or "Use e-mail to send an invitation") or use Easy Connect.



If any of the two parties involved is using a slow or unstable Internet connection, it is best to use one of the first two options. If both parties have a good Internet connection and they both use Windows 7, then Easy Connect is a good choice. This connection feature uses Microsoft’s Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP) and it works only for Windows 7 and above.
Even if you have previously connected to it, you cannot connect to another computer via Windows Remote Assistance if it has not requested help and is waiting for an incoming connection.

How to Request Help via Windows Remote Assistance

First, you need to start Windows Remote Assistance. The fastest way to do this, is to type the word "remote" in the Start menu search box. Then, click on the Windows Remote Assistance shortcut.



Another way is to run the msra.exe file found in the "C:\Windows\system32" folder.
Click on "Invite someone you trust to help you".



Select the way you want to connect with the person who will help.



If you send an invitation, make sure the person receives it and knows about it. The invitation is stored as a file with the ".msrcIncident" extension, which is opened only by Windows Remote Assistance.
If you use Easy Connect, you will first see a list with people who have helped you in the past (only if you received help).



No matter how you send the request for help, once sent, Windows Remote Assistance shows a long password and starts waiting for incoming connection. Make sure the person who is about to connect to your computer knows the password, otherwise the connection won’t work.

How to Provide Help via Windows Remote Assistance

Start Windows Remote Assistance using any of the methods presented in the previous section. Then, select "Help someone who has invited you".



Now you need to choose the connection method. If you received an invitation, download it to your computer, click "Use an invitation file" and select that invitation file.
If you will "Use Easy Connect", Windows Remote Assistance will start searching for the other party. This process can take a while, especially if you are not part of the same network or one of the two connections is slow (or not very stable).



Once the other computer is found and the connection is about to be established, you are asked for the connection password. Get the connection password from the other party, type it and press OK.



The remote party will be asked to approve the connection. Your computer will wait until the approval is given.



You are now connected to the other computer via Windows Remote Assistance and you can see its desktop.



In order to take control and use the mouse and keyboard on the remote computer, you need to first press the Request control button and wait for the other party’s approval.



A good recommendation is for the remote party to check the box which says "Allow... to respond to User Account Control prompts", especially if you will need to install applications or configure important aspects of the operating system.

Available Configuration Options

On the top of the Windows Remote Assistance window, there is a toolbar with several buttons. Their number varies depending on the party involved. For example, Request control and Actual size/Fit to Screen are available only to the computer providing help.



Both parties can access the Chat feature and use it to communicate.



On the computer which receives assistance, you can configure, in the Settings window, the way bandwidth is used. If the connection works poorly, don’t hesitate to move the Bandwidth usage slider to Low.



Unfortunately the computer who provides assistance cannot configure this. It has only two configuration options available.



The Help button is pretty self-explanatory and loads help information related to using Windows Remote Assistance.
If the connection cannot be established, the party receiving help has a Troubleshoot button available, which can be used to start a troubleshooting wizard which helps identify where the problem is and how to fix it.

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How to Use Remote desktop in Windows 7

20 January, 2012

 
The Remote Desktop(RDP) utility lets you connect to your work computer from home and access all of your programs, files, and network resources as though you were actually sitting in front of your own computer. Creating the remote desktop connection in Windows 7 is almost the same as in the older versions of Windows. This post will cover the following
things:

1. How to enable the remote desktop connection feature on a Windows 7 machine
2. How to Remotely connect any other Windows based machine from Windows 7

How To Enable Remote Desktop in Windows 7

First click the Start button on your desktop, now right click the Computer option from the start menu and select its properties.

 

Then click the Remote settings option in the next window.

Now make sure to enable the option Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop in the System Properties dialogue box.

Click Apply and the remote desktop connections feature will be enabled on your Windows 7 machine.

How To Establish A Remote Desktop Connection From Windows 7

Firs of all click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Remote Desktop Connection link.

The Remote Desktop dialogue box will be displayed, here specify the IP address of the remote machine to which you are going to connect.

Click Here to know about IP Address

Click the Connect button, now it will try to access your specified machine and if the machine is running and remote connections are enabled on it, then it will prompt for the username and password of that machine. I accessed my XP machine from Windows 7 via remote desktop.

 

Done!!!

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Sceduled Disk Clean Up

19 January, 2012

Windows includes some handy tools to help keep your machine operating smoothly. One such tool is Disk Cleanup that can remove temp and old files to help you reclaim some hard drive space. You might want to set it up to run weekly or monthly depending on what works best for you. To schedule Disk Cleanup to run on a regular basis we need to schedule a task. For this example we’re using Windows 7, but the steps are essentially the same in Vista as well.

Click on the Start Menu and enter task scheduler into the search box and hit Enter.

The Task Scheduler opens and you’ll want to click on Action then select Create Basic Task.

The Create Basic Task Wizard comes up and from here type in a name for the task and a description then click Next.

Now select how often you want Disk Cleanup to run…Weekly, Daily, Monthly, One Time etc. There is not right or wrong answer to how often you run it. It’s completely up to you and you might want to try out some different schedules. In this example we’re going to select weekly.

Since we set it up to run weekly we need to schedule it when to start, how often it reoccurs, and which day of the week to run it.

Next under Action select Start a program

In the Program/script field type in cleanmgr.exe

Or you can hit browse and select Disk Cleanup which is in C:\Windowssystem32\cleanmgr.exe

Under Program/script you’ll see the path to Disk Cleanup as C:\Windows\system32\cleanmgr.exe

Then you’re shown a summary of the scheduled task and if everything looks correct click on Finish.

For this basic setting we scheduled it for a time when we know the computer will be in use. When it’s time for the Scheduled Task to occur it will pop up and you can run it by selecting the drive to clean up.

Disk Cleanup starts its calculations

Now the results and you can choose the files to delete.

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How to Setup Voice Recognition in Windows 7

15 January, 2012

Speech Recognition technology allows you to control your computer by speaking. When you talk, the software will intelligently decide whether to convert your voice into text, such as to allow you to dictate documents and e-mails, or whether you have given a command that requires it to take an action.

How to Setting Up in WIndows 7

1. Plug-in your microphone.
2. Click Start
3. Search for “speech recognition” and click on Windows Speech Recognition
4. If this is your first time using Speech Recognition (it likely is, since you’re reading this), a Microphone Setup Wizard will pop-up, asking you to do some stuff

 

1.  Follow the instructions, and after your microphone is set up.
   
   Warning: This might take 15 mins – 30 mins. But if you’re new to this, don’t worry, Windows will walk you though.
2. Try to pay attention during the tutorial, it’ll tell you everything you need to use Window’s Inbuilt Features
3. After you’re done the tutorial, just click the microphone on the Windows Speech Recognition Bar, and watch the Microphone button glow blue. Now you’re ready to speak… to your computer!

That’s all there is to it. A few words of caution though:

• Dictating to your computer might sound easy, but you’re computer certainly isn’t a human, and chances are that it will only understand you most of the time, missing difficult to interpret words.
• Be careful when you are talking to someone else and your microphone is turned on.
I find that composing your dictation in a program such as Wordpad or Microsoft Word is better than composing in a program like outlook or in a web browser.  You can compose things in Wordpad and then just copy and paste them wherever you want.
• Make sure you use the correct command instead of typing things on your own, windows learn from it and become better.

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How to Create a System Image in Windows 7

10 January, 2012

We can take a backup image of our machine without the need for a third party utility like Ghost or True Image. You just just finished installing a fresh copy of Windows 7 on your computer and have it set up to your liking. One of the first things you should do now is create an image of the disc so in the event of a crash you will be able to restore it to its current state. An image is an exact copy of everything on the drive and will restore it back to its current state. It’s probably best to create an image when everything is clean and organized on your system.

This will make the image file smaller and allows you to restore the system with a smooth running set up.

Creating an Image in Windows 7

Click on Start go to Getting Started and then select Back up your files. 

Next click on the Create a system image hyperlink.

Decide where you want to save the image. You can choose an external drive, burn to multiple DVD’s, or store it on a network location.

You can include other drives if you want as well but remember that will add to the size of the final image.

At the confirmation screen notice the amount of space the image may take. If something doesn’t look right you can still go back from this point and make adjustments.

A progress meter is displayed while the images is created and backed up. In this example a disk of about 15GB in size took under 20 minutes backed up to an external drive. Times will vary depending on your system and where you’re backing it up to.

After the process is complete you get the option to create a system repair disc which you should do and make sure to save it in a secure location.

 

When it comes time to restore the image, you will be able to use the System Recovery Options to get the system back.

Reference Link: Click Here

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