If you are a geek like me, you are called upon often to help family and friends when they encounter computer malfunctions.

This has given me the opportunity to try different remote tech support tools.

I have used older products such as Microsoft SMS Remote Control and Netmeeting to troubleshoot technical issues while employed at a local government agency.

Microsoft Systems Management Server is a massive software package with multiple uses designed for managing software on large networks. It includes a remote control tool which was useful when needing to take control of a client’s machine to fix a problem or configure a program.  I also remember it was a bit quirky because it relied on a remote agent service installed on the client’s machine. There were times when remote control didn’t work at all and we had to navigate SMS’ bulky configuration settings to get it working again.

Microsoft Netmeeting is a program found on many earlier versions of Windows that allowed interaction directly with another client. I had forgotten it was also a remote tool until a colleague used it a a local consulting job. It worked fine but the network configuration required to make it work was not for the novice. Not ideal for ease of use.

I have also tried PC Anywhere by Symantec, which works decent and is secure and easy. It is not free though and is subscription based. The same goes for Rapid Assist by nTeras although Rapid Assist is designed to be used by the tech support specialist. I find these subscription-based licenses to be too restrictive and expensive for helping friends and family.

I recently discoverd the perfect remote technical support tool  for assisting friends and family. It’s free for personal use so it won’t cost you to help Grandma set up Skype so she can talk to the grandkids. It’s called Teamviewer and it can be found at http://teamviewer.com.  Easy to use just download and install it on both computers and then the client reads off their unique info and password so you can connect and take control.

Which free antivirus do I recommend most? In my experience, I have had good results with the free home edition of Alwil’s Avast antivirus program. One of the main benefits of this program is to run a full scan of the computer before windows boots up. If a computer is infected with certain viruses, they can mask themselves as windows processes and avoid detection or removal because of the operating system protecting itself. Avast effectively finds and removes these viruses before they can protect themselves by scanning before windows starts. I have also found Avast to be very effective in protecting against and removing trojans which are some of the nastiest bugs around. It is ranked second on PC World’s Free Antivirus Software rankings.

Which other malware protection would I recommend? Unlike antivirus programs, you can have multiple spyware and adware protection programs installed at once on a computer. The best programs to have are Spybot Search and Destroy and Malwarebytes anti-malware free version.

Spybot Search and Destroy allows you to detect a wide variety of malware programs and other files and also gives you a tool that notifies you of any registry change. The registry change notification can be a useful tool but to the average user it may be more of an annoyance better left turned off. I usually use Spybot to scan periodically and leave the notifications off.

Malwarebytes anti-malware is a program I have found effective at detecting and removing phony security programs that claim you have a virus so they can install malware on your computer. After you allow such a phony program to install itself, it installs other malware and usually slows the computer to a crawl. Malwarebytes has a free version which will detect and remove these fake security programs.

If you have an Internet Security suite you have subscribed to and it hasn’t significantly slowed your pc down then you may decide to keep it installed until the subscription runs out. If you want to increase performance I would recommend going with these free and effective tools for your home computer. The general trend with these security products is to offer free protection for home use because it benefits home users as well as internet service providers and the overall security of the internet.

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