Guy Burns wrote:
Expert me
I have a mate who thinks of me as a Mac 'expert'. I'm no expert, but he is very limited in his knowledge of computers which makes me an 'expert' in his eyes. Trying to fix things over the phone is very time consuming because he barely has a grip on what menus are. He has a 27" iMac running Tahoe.
Remote Access for two computers miles away
When he rings with a problem, instead of me driving 10km to his place, I'd like to set up a system whereby I can remotely access his computer. He's happy for me to do that and I did try to set it up at my end, but couldn't do it. I did set it up at his end via the Sharing preferences.
So I searched for how to set up remote access. Apple's instructions came up near the top, but their meaning of 'remote' appears to be different from mine. I think they meant remote (other computer) on the same wifi network.
So I searched for how to set up remote internet access. Not of much use either, other than he'd have to get a static IP address ($10/month in Australia) and various other settings would have to be changed.
An easier way?
There must be an easier way. Reddit had suggestions about Messages and Screen Sharing. Messages isn't going to work for me because I'm running Mavericks, although I do have a MacBook Pro on my Desktop, running Ventura. I'm Screen Sharing on my iMac from my MacBook writing this.
So, given that I would prefer to run directly from Mavericks, but could do so from Ventura, what is the best way forward?
Questions1.
Find detailed instructions on how to set up direct internet access to his static IP address? Where could I find those instructions?
Use Screen Sharing1. under Ventura?
Use Messages1. under Ventura?
The idea is – he rings, I connect to his computer, and see what I can do.
I understand what you want to do. You basically want to connect to his computer and "operate" it as if you were there in person.
I don't believe the built in Apple "sharing" tools allow for full execution of software remotely, although they do allow you to see files, folders, move, save and delete things. Which might be helpful.
With the company I have worked for, their IT help department (which is you in this case!) always connected remotely via a commercial tool that had some security safeguards. For instance the user at the computer you want to control has to send back a security code to permit full remote operation of the computer.
If it's Adobe that is the issue here, years ago my daughter had an issue with getting all her presets migrated over (this was before switching to Adobe CC which handles that automatically now in the cloud) and I called an Adobe help line, with her Adobe subscription she qualified for online help and they did remotely connect to her Mac using a commercial tool for remote access and fixed her issue. To do that she created a temporary login password for him to use that was different from her normal one. The support person was in India and was technically very good, and we could watch what he was doing in real time, it's all visible on the screen. He basically moved some files and folders, which could have actually been done simply with the built in Apple Sharing setup, without allowing remote control of the Mac. One needs to be careful about this, never do it when someone has contacted you, but in this case we contacted Adobe support ourselves. Not sure I would be comfortable with that today, however.
Bottom line is that I think you will need a commercial tool.
Possible showstopper: you running something as old as Mavericks or even Ventura (which is very out of date) might not mesh well with his Mac being on a modern MacOS such as Tahoe. I would investigate the commercial tools others here have already suggested but make sure that whatever you select will work well with that odd mix of operating systems. I really don't think it will work at all with Mavericks and possibly not even with Ventura, but it does depend on the specific tool you select and its requirements.
Mavericks does not even recognize APFS drives, and all Tahoe drives have to be APFS. So I don't think you on Mavericks will even be able to see files, folders, and drives on a Tahoe Mac.
I would be leery about what you see on Reddit. Messages is limited in what it can do, as is Screen Sharing. You can do remote access using Unix command like ssh but that requires you to delve into that. And I don't know how the mismatch in MacOS versions will impact all this.
Sometimes low tech works almost as well. I help my daughter sometimes where she simply Facetimes with me and she props up her iPhone and then we work through what is going on with her Mac, and I walk her through different troubleshooting steps.
