Have a Remote Support Session with Us
 

Remote Support using "UltraVNC Single Click"

• You must first telephone us, so that we can set-up things at our end to be ready for you.  (We need to temporarily open a hole in our firewall, and launch the specially configured VNC viewer program that will be listening for you to initiate the session from your end.)   The phone number for this is Auckland 262-2010 (unless we give you a different one).



• When we instruct you to do so, click on the following hyperlink to download the specially pre-configured UltraVNC program file:

Download Adminsoft Remote Support Program (EXE - 170 KB)


• Run this program when it has downloaded, and follow our instructions

Remote Support using "Ammyy"

• Once again you must first telephone us, so that we can work together to establish the connection.  The phone number for this is Auckland 262-2010 (unless we give you a different one).



• Click on the following hyperlink:  www.ammyy.com/en/downloads.html



• When the web page comes up in your browser, click on the hyperlink:   " Ammyy Admin.exe"   (It is approx 650KB.  If you anticipate that you will use this regularly, then you can save this to your desktop by right-clicking with your mouse on the hyperlink, and selecting "Save Target As..." (Microsoft IE) or "Save Link As..." (Firefox), and specifying your Windows Desktop.  Then you can run it from there, without needing to download it each time.)



• Ensure that the "Client" tab is selected, tell us your "ID" (which is usually a 6 digit number), and click on the "Start" button.



• Click on the "Accept" button in the ensuing pop-up window (for added security you can first ask us to tell you our own ID).  Note:  If you plan to just leave us to it, (while you head off for lunch or something), then it is a good idea to tick the box that says to "Remember settings for this operator".  (This will let us reconnect if the connection is dropped for some reason.)
  

Problems with Vista (and Windows 7 to a lesser extent)

Vista may cause problems (yawn) for remote support.  If this occurs we may ask you to progressively try the following suggestions (in the order shown):

1. Use Windows Classic Theme:  Please follow the instructions below:
   • Right click on a blank space in you Windows DeskTop
   • Select "Themes" and then "Windows Classic"
   • Note:  It is sometimes helpful to set the "Wallpaper" to "None".  You may as well do this too, at least until the remote support is working.
   
   
2. Adjust for Best Performance
   • From the Windows Start Menu, right-click on "My Computer" and select "Properties"
   • Select "Advanced" > "Visual Effects" > "Adjust for best performance"
   • Click on the following hyperlink to view a screen shot:   Setting Vista Visual Effects
   
   
3. Disable Auto Tuning:  Please follow the instructions below:
   • Open up an elevated command prompt.  (i.e. Run the Command Prompt as Administrator):
     1. Click on Start button
     2. In the Search box, type in Command Prompt. (Command Prompt will show up in the search results)
     3. Right click on Command Prompt icon, and select "Run as administrator"
     4. Enter the "Admin" credentials
   • Enter the following command to disable auto-tuning:
       netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled
   
   
4. Disable Vista's Aero:    Use the following hyperlink to download a special Zip file, open it, and run the batch file that it contains:     Download Zipped up batch file to disable Vista's Aero
   


5. Turn off User Account Control (UAC)
   • If all else has failed so far, then we can try one last thing.  Click on the following hyperlink for some background reading and instructions:   Microsoft Help on 'User Account Control'
   
   
6. If we still encounter problems, such that we are not able to get UltraVNC working, then we can try one of several alternative products.  We can cross this bridge with you, if you come to it.

Background Understanding

UltraVNC is an "open source" product that can be used free of charge.  (Donations to support ongoing development and project administration are always welcome.)  It is a very efficient remote support package that runs happily on all versions of Windows (with a caveat on Vista (sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't) - but will work fine on Windows 7 and Windows XP platforms, and has all the functionality we need for most training and support requirements.

The Adminsoft remote support program which you download is a pre-configured version of the very nifty UltraVNC facility (called "Single Click").  Because you initiate and establish the remote VNC session with us from your end, it gets out through your fire-wall, without a VPN connection or having to open any ports (i.e. expose yourself to any potential security risks).  You don't even need to install VNC permanently on your computer.   A remote support session is therefore very easy to implement at your end:  you just download the small support program from our website and run it.  It will temporarily load itself into your computer's temporary memory (RAM), initiate the session with us (we have configured it appropriately so that it knows our IP address etc. and can only work with us), and then remove itself (completely) from your computer's memory (RAM) when the remote session finishes.

From our 2011 version onwards, the "Help > Remote Support..." menu selection in our software checks to see if it can find our support program (in the \Adminsoft folder, or on your Windows Desktop.)  If found, it uses this directly.  If not, it launches the appropriate web page, so that you can download it.