Should i allow remote assistance on my computer

As I explained in this post , Microsoft will never call you from out of the blue to tell you that your PC has a problem. If someone ever does call claiming to be from Microsoft, an antivirus provider or any other company, you can safely assume that the person on the other end of the line is a hacker, NOT an employee of that company!

For added protection I recommend that you disable Quick Assist until you actually need to allow a trusted remote technician or support rep that you contacted first to use it to help you solve a problem. Never miss a tip! Is it any safer to bring your PC to a local support shop for repair, when you know nothing about them either? I looked at it this way. When you give access to a technician remotely, of course there is the risk they may access more than you hope.

Yes, you have that much control over the entire process, thanks to todays standard of connectivity. You have to actually say yes to it before they actually connect to your PC, and can stop the process anytime. However, what about the process you can only control to a point when you bring your PC to a local repair shop.

You bring your PC in, you gave your information to someone could be a technician , and then was told to come back the next day for pickup. They could be next door, they could be on the other side of the planet.

I totally understand the appeal to the technicians themselves — they, of course, know who they are and know that they are trustworthy. About a year ago I had some issues with Macrium Reflect. I contacted them and they responded quickly via email. A tech requested remote access and I granted. As stated by others I could see everything he was doing.

He quickly fixed the issue. I then of course shut off remote access. But as Leo said make sure you trust them. I did, do and cannot recommend them higher.

No matter what the software problem is, an image backup from a bootable CD should be possible. Great defensive computing, Leo. Let me also suggest using an external hard drive for storing all your sensitive files. Its an external 2. You enter a password into the device by pressing buttons on it.

Your computer is oblivious to the hardware encryption, so it should work with any OS. But, if you have sensitive files, its a great way to go. For many computer users dealing with TrueCrypt is too much. And, there is great safety in not having any sensitive files on the computer at all, encrypted or not.

Making a system image backup before taking a computer in for repair is a good idea but only restore from it in case you discover some installed malware or are having problems after the session.

Restoring it will reverse any repairs done on the machine. A technician, yes. Anyone else that is not family, no! A comment on the other side. I do computer consulting out of my home, and remote access is one of my handiest tools. Will I misuse this? Could I? I realize that most of these people actually know me, which might make a difference….

I have extensive experience from both ends of this issue. It allows me to solve client issues rapidly, efficiently, and cheaply. Even when a physical button needs to be pushed I can call them and tell any non-technical employee to do what needs to be done. Having said that, the other end of the stick is that I often need to let vendors have access to client systems. My advice to the general user is not to allow this type of connection unless you know enough about how your computer works to be SURE that you are in control.

If they want you to download and install something, make sure you know how to uninstall it when that support session is finished. Even the reputability of a company is no guarantee. Especially with offshore support as in from India , that tech may be under influences you have no inkling of. Besides any other agenda they may have their first move is usually to uninstall any and all software from any competitor.

I had one insist that a disk imaging program from another vendor had to be uninstalled to repair their AV software, which was total bullhockey.

Ask a LOT of questions and make sure a few of them have to do with how to kill that remote software and uninstall it when they log off. That means the faster they can fob you off so they can mark your call resolved and get on to the next call the more money they make.

This is a main reason why they want remote access also, so they can fly through the call as fast as possible. I now routinely insist that they tell ME what to do, and if they want me to change anything, I have an opportunity to record prior settings. He says he can watch while the remote guys do the job but some of theier work can be hidden. I know a guy who calls to people to fix computers and he told me how he can get behind any password and laughed at how people password protect files.

When a laptop hard drive died on me i went to shop and watched while the guy put in a new one and took away the old one. What about the guy that comes to your house? He can do the same damage. You folks are paranoid. You are supposed to be hiring someone who does the job; who you trust no matter how the repair is done — remote or on- scene. I use a remote utility that asks for a code at each end.

When the connection is cut, and can be by the client at any time new codes must be generated. There is no way for me to go back in later. Again, the same damage could be done with their PC in my lab. As far as changing settings- the same could be done back at the lab.

Those who hire me, trust me. I have a reputation to uphold and would like to stay in business. You call someone because you want an issue resolved — watch them.

But trust them. I have not noticed anything wrong with or strange with the computer since then, but I have been concerned that my computer may still be in some kind of danger.

At this point, would you recommend running some kind of anti-virus or spyware program to make sure that nothing malicious has been installed? Or am I in the clear if everything has been okay since the remote session? So, their procedure is that once both of you are connected, he brings up a page on your screen containing a blank space in which you type the five digit number he dictates to you over the phone from India. After that, you can watch your cursor being moved about on your screen by the Indian tech guy….

I had no qualms, because my email account as well as banking, etc are all password protected…. I have had a few problems with my VISTA and as I was not willing to pay a tech a lot of money, I chatted with a tech of microsoft always the same. He took over my laptop and within short time the problems small for him to resolve, impossible for me to do it myself were gone. You can save it and therefore use it each time you need help.

We will also look at the steps turn on remote assistance on a server manually as well. This is applicable when you want to turn on remote assistance on a single machine. However the easiest way to enable remote assistance on your domain computers is by using the group policy. We will enable Configure Offer Remote Assistance setting. This policy setting allows you to turn on or turn off Offer Unsolicited Remote Assistance on this computer.

If you enable this policy setting, users on their computer can get help from their corporate technical support staff using Offer Unsolicited Remote Assistance. Most of all Remote Assistance is a Windows feature. To initiate the remote assistance, the user has to accept the request of the administrator.

A machine cannot be remote controlled when no one is logged on. With the help of Remote Assistance feature you can invite someone to connect to your computer. After he or she is connected, that person can view your computer screen and chat with you about what you both see. With your permission, your helper can even use his or her own mouse and keyboard to control your computer and show you how to fix a problem. The Remote Assistance feature will not work in cases when the outbound traffic from port is blocked.

Hence you have enable the feature manually before using it. Remote assistance can also be used with Configuration Manager. If you enable Configure Offer Remote Assistance setting, you should also enable firewall exceptions to allow Remote Assistance communications. I would recommend creating a new group policy to configure remote assistance. Do not edit the default policy because it is not the recommended method.