Computer Tips From A Computer Guy

Free remote PC access and remote control software

Posted: 23 Jun 2009 03:34 AM PDT

Previously, I wrote about six free remote control and remote PC access software applications that work very well, such as CrossLoop, LogMeIn, and TeamViewer. However, there are still more remote PC support programs that have their plus and minuses.

Mikogo is a free screen-sharing and remote control program for both Mac and PC's that I recently came across and found to be fairly mature in terms of the GUI interface and feature set.

Overall, it's a very simple to use program. In order to share your screen, you need to first download the software and register for a free account. Note that the people you invite to view your screen do not have register for accounts.

Before I show you how to use it, here are some of the main features of the Mikogo remote PC access and control software:

Share your desktop screen with multiple people at the same time
Immediately switch presenters and allow them to share their screen
Remote control of another PC
File transfer between participants
Recoding of session with playback
Whiteboard for all participants to collaborate
256-bit AES encryption for security
Video conferencing service

Once the program is installed, you'll see a new "m" icon in your taskbar. To start a new meeting, click on the icon and choose Start Meeting.

After that, a Meeting Info dialog will appear, which contains all the necessary information for people to join your meeting, namely the Meeting ID.

For someone to join, they have to go to Mikogo.com and click on the Join Meeting link at the upper right corner of the website. They will download the EXE file and a login screen will appear asking for their name and the Meeting ID.

While in a meeting, the menu for the icon in your system tray will change so that you can use all the other features of Mikogo like the Whiteboard, switching presenters, remote control, sending files, and more.

One cool feature of Mikogo that I like a lot is the Pause Transmission option. Let's say you are in the middle of a meeting and all of a sudden you get a very important email that you must respond to. Well, instead of close the whole session down so that no one can see what you are doing, pausing the transmission will suspend transmission of your screen to others.

Another nifty feature is the Application Selection option. This lets you choose which applications you want to share with others and which ones to keep hidden. Again, most screen sharing apps will simply share your entire desktop and everyone can see all programs you have open, etc.

With application selection, you can only share the application that is relevant to the other viewers and everything else will appear blank to the viewers.

You can also schedule meetings and send the info to all participants via email. People will join the meeting in the same way by going to the main homepage.

Overall, it's got a lot of cool features and it works with Macs and with external programs like Skype, if you need high quality audio also. So definitely check out Mikogo if you are researching screen-sharing and remote control apps! Enjoy!