Posted on Saturday, 1st December 2007 by Casey
PCHelpWare is a free remote assistance application for Windows that allows you to easily take control of remote computers. This application is great to use when needing to connect to computers in remote offices or when helping out family and friends. With PCHelpWare, you don’t have to worry about the remote users firewall like you do with UltraVNC or other remote assistance applications. Connecting to the remote computer is as easy as having the end user double click a single executable file. In the following tutorial, I would like to walk you through installing, configuring, and using PCHelpWare.
Step 1: Download PCHelpWare and extract the zip file. Open the folder and double click PCHelpWare_viewer.exe.
Step 2: Enter an “Alias” which is what you want to call these particular connection settings and enter a password. Set your “Listen Port” to 5500. Make sure this port is open on your router or firewall. If your router supports UPnP then checking this box will automatically forward the router ports. Leave “Direct Connection” checked unless you are using the Repeater service to bypass your firewall. All of the other settings can stay the same.
Step 3: Click “Save” and then click “Create Server”. You will be prompted for your IP address. If you are going to be connecting to computers on your network then just enter your internal IP address. If you are connecting to computers over the internet then you will need to enter your public IP address. If you are not sure what it is, go to WhatIsMyIP.com. Remember you will need port 5500 open on your router or firewall.
Step 4: Next, you will be asked “Does the user need to enter the password”. Click “No”.
Step 5: You will then receive a dialog box with the IP address and password. Click “Ok”.
Step 6: If you receive a Windows Security Alert, be sure to click “Unblock”.
Step 7: Click the “Start” button in the bottom right corner to start the viewer service.
Step 8: Open the folder that you extracted your PCHelpWare files to and navigate to the “myservers” folder. In this folder you should see a folder with the name of the “Alias” you created. Open that folder and you will see a single executable file called PcHelpWare_server.exe. This is the file that you will need to send to the remote user.
Step 9: The remote user will then double click the file and see a login screen. Since you didn’t require the user to enter a password, (see step 4) the user will only have to click “Connect”.
You will now be controlling the remote user’s computer. For maximum screen size, click the “Full Screen” button at the top. You will also have the ability to to chat with the remote user.
If you have any experience with PCHelpWare or any other remote assistance applications feel free to share.
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Posted in How To, Software, Tools | Comments (7)
January 15th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
i am setting up everything as you mentioned, but i cant get it work.
please help me more.
January 18th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
I’m not sure which part you are stuck at but most problems occur when port 5500 is not open on your router or firewall. PortForward.com is a great site for helping you do this. Also make sure you are using your public IP address too.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:56 am
I don’t know if you’ve seen this or not, but Crossloop is basically zero configuration remote desktop utility. It does require there to be a person on either end for it to work, though. You basically just install it, execute it, share the passkey with your friend, and connect. And btw registering for an account is OPTIONAL. But you wouldn’t know it by the first screen that pops up when you fire it up, asking to login or register. Just click the big red X on that first screen and it will just skip that part. Then you’re good to go. http://www.crossloop.com
July 14th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Problem with CrossLoop is if you have to support someone who does not have admin rights. With the UltraVNC solution as it’s a stand alone exe anyone can launch it. Otherwise…. CrossLoop is excellent.
August 28th, 2008 at 1:01 am
Please help in the project that i am doing research onhow to control computer using remote i am stuck only in creating senser that control the computer
September 20th, 2008 at 11:52 am
how do you send an exe. file by email. I have tried gmail and hotmail and they both won’t let you send and exe file
September 20th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Hi Marc,
Most e-mail will not allow you to send .exe files as they are being blocked for virus protection. The following are two options I have used.
1) Put the .exe in a .zip file. Even easier change the extension from .exe to .zip. The either tell the receipent to extract the .zip file or tell the other user to rename the file when they receive it.
2) If you have a website you can just send the link to the file in your e-mail pointing to the file that you have uploaded to your web site.
Those are probably the easiest work arounds.