What is the best method to troubleshoot my 93 year-old mother's iMac over the internet?

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Level 1

77 points

What is the best method to troubleshoot my 93 year-old mother's iMac over the internet?

My 93 year-old mom lives 100 miles away and is always calling me with increasingly difficult iMac problems to help her solve.

She's a good sport, but when things get complicated, she can understandably get frustrated. And problems are increasingly getting too complex for her to even describe them clearly enough for me to be able to figure out how to solve them and talk her through it.

I want to be able to take control of her desktop and fix problems rather than walk her through them.

What's the best way to set this up?

One would think that this need to help parents would be so widespread that the app to make it happen would be one of the most popular apps on the market.

Steve

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), Safari 8.0.8, Mail 8.2, Contacts 9.

Posted on Sep 15, 2015 6:01 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 15, 2015 6:12 PM in response to nevets2

TeamViewer

https://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/mac.aspx

https://www.teamviewer.com/en/help/384-Personal-Computer-Support-Help-Friends-an d-Family-with-Computer-Problems

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Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Sep 15, 2015 8:39 PM in response to nevets2

Messages (Yosemite): Share your screen

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Answer 3

nevets2 Author

Level 1

77 points

Sep 15, 2015 8:56 PM in response to Linc Davis

Need to be able to quit apps, restart the computer, shut down the computer, etc.

Can Messages let you do that kind of support work?

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Answer 4

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Sep 15, 2015 8:58 PM in response to nevets2

After a restart, the person at the other end would have to re-establish the connection, but otherwise, yes.

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Answer 5

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Sep 15, 2015 8:58 PM in response to nevets2

Teamviewer

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Answer 6

nevets2 Author

Level 1

77 points

Sep 15, 2015 10:04 PM in response to Csound1

Teamviewer for $749.00??????

Comeon! Who's kidding who? Not exactly a family friendly price.

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Answer 7

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Sep 15, 2015 10:08 PM in response to nevets2

TeamViewer is free

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Answer 8

Sep 16, 2015 7:13 AM in response to nevets2

Did you even click on my links above for TeamViewer? TeamViewer is free.

Maybe you should have let your 93 year old mother do the research 😝 Just kidding.

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Answer 9

nevets2 Author

Level 1

77 points

Sep 16, 2015 7:18 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

I'm on it. I'm on it.

I'm waiting from a response from their support department for essentially the same questions I have raised here.

If they convince me to try it - and it works without my even having to drive the 200 miles round trip to install Teamviewer on her end (dream on) I will give all who advised me to look at Teamviewer full thumbs up.

But please be sensitive to the trepidation and complexity involved. I'm trying to be a good son even though I am a very busy son. I'm trying to accomplish 50 other tasks even while finally trying to make some progress with this issue that's been gnawing at me for some time.

Steve

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Answer 10

Sep 16, 2015 7:22 AM in response to nevets2

Glad to see you have a sense of humor. Regardless what product you select it will need to be installed on her machine. There is no other way for you to connect to and control her computer.

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