Remote Access/NetMeeting

There are times you wish to operate another computer without moving off of your desk/computer. That is no longer a wish but a reality, so many technical support specialists use remote desktop access to trouble shoot computer problems or to conduct demonstrations in remote locations by using computers remotely.

Given that fact, I was recently asked by a friend who owns a small business and has a home office too. Being his own IT support for his company, he wanted to know if there was a way he can cheaply and remotely control some of his computers.

The first answer that came to my mind was Yeah, Microsoft Netmeeting could be used to remotely control a desktop. I also know that there is lots of tools out there that you can choose from if you want to Remotely control another computer in your Local Area Network - LAN or WAN environments, a good example of commonly used tools are PC Anywhere, GoToAssist, and WebEx.

For the purpose of this article though am going to explain how to remotely access a computer in your Home office small office LAN by using Netmeeting, a tool that is free & Preinstalled in most Windows XP computers, all you need to do is to activate it and start using it! But before you activate Netmeeting you need to find out the computer name of the PC you want to access remotely by going to that particular computer and then right click on start, select Explore (not Internet Explorer) scroll up to My Computer, Right click on my computer and then select properties Click Computer Name Tab on the system properties window you should see Full computer name: "TheNameofYourComputer". Alternatively if you want to use IP address instead, go on remote computer, fire up Microsoft Netmeeting and then click on Help + About Windows Netmeeting at the very bottom of the about Netmeeting window you will see an IP address (a number in this format 1.0.0.127) Copy that computer name or IP address on a piece of paper because you will need it later when you connect to a remote computer.

To activate Microsoft Netmeeting,

Click on Start and then

Select Run,

in the open box Type in conf and then

Click OK.

Click Next on Netmeeting window, Type in all the info,

Click Next do not check on anything related to Directory server,

Click next

Click on Local Area Connection Radio button and then

Click Next,

Check Put shortcut meeting on my desktop,

Click Next, Click next again, click Test if you want, then

Click next, Click next,

Click Finish to finish the activation process.

Please Note: Microsoft Netmeeting must be activated on both the PC you want to access remotely and the PC you are going to use to access a remote computer.

Now that Netmeeting is activated on both computers, you need to set up Microsoft Netmeeting so that you can connect to a remote computer. To do this you need to launch Netmeeting by clicking on Netmeeting shortcut on your desktop, Type in the computer name or IP address of the computer you want to access remotely (You copied them earlier didn’t you) then Click on Call menu, Select Host a meeting, fill in all appropriate information don’t forget to check Sharing under Meeting tools, Click OK

Place a call by clicking o the Phone Button and control a remote desktop!