Best free software to remotely access and fix things on an elderly relative's pc

I'm sure lots of us have this issue, so hopefully you can help with this.

My 82 year old father loves his laptop, but when things break (usually user error) I can't always be on hand to fix things as I'm a 7 hour drive away and he isn't the best at explaining things over the phone.

As such, it would be ideal if I could install some free software on his pc and my desktop at home so I can remotely access his laptop and fix things for him.

Can anyone suggest the best free software for doing this?

Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions made.

Spud

Teamviewer

Teamviewer here too. It's exactly what I use for that purpose.

Teamviewer, I have it on my Grandads PC with a shortcut on the desktop, and logged him into my account. So all he has to do is click the icon, and then I can connect!

Thanks everyone, i'll set that up at the weekend and hopefully i'll be able to fix things more effectively in the future.

Is there anything I need to be particularly aware of when setting it up?

Not really. It should all be self explanatory if you are computer literate

Look through the settings though, there are some useful options you might want to enable for this sort of thing. A trust relationship with the PC so you they don't have to give you a passcode each time for example.

You could even set it to always run in the background and open on startup in the system tray. That way they have to do nothing apart from shout "HELP!" and you can remote on with a couple of clicks!

teamviewer QS ( Quick support)

Doesn't allow for the trust relationships, account logins, and other things that can be done in the background and left, to make it easier.

For this application, the full version, implemented correctly, will be better

teamviewer (ideally whitelisted to your account only, or those you truly trust)

I have Teamviewer installed on my mother's, mother-in-law's and brothers computer so I can fix all three from the comfort of my home rather than having to arrange times to go over etc.
Does the job.

Yep! Teamviewer, installed on my Dad's, Mother-in-Laws, Home and Work PC's with the viewers (windows 10 apps) installed on my Tablet and Phone.

Lets me access any of the PC's from any of the other PC's or the 'Web Interface' anywhere in the world!

TeamViewer here too.
Not all of my family are nearby, so it makes remote support much easier.

One of the best things I did recently though was to revoke admin rights for their machines. They only browse the internet and answer emails. No need to install much.

It's reduced the amount of help I need to provide in removing PUA and other guff tremendously.

Chrome Remote Desktop.

Another vote for Teamviewer.

Install QS version on the remote machine and the full version on your machine.

I would say Teamviewer as well. Grant easy access as well.

Big thank you to everyone who replied. Teamviewer installed and tested and hopefully this will save a great deal of time and effort in the future

Spudgun said:

Big thank you to everyone who replied. Teamviewer installed and tested and hopefully this will save a great deal of time and effort in the future

Click to expand...

http://www.howtogeek.com/257376/how-to-lock-down-teamviewer-for-more-secure-remote-access/

^ Haven't looked at it but definitely check articles like the above OP.

Mainly be aware that programs like teamviewer are huge targets for attack. Make sure it's locked down where possible, kept up to date, behind NAT, not used on public wifi, etc. It might be more convenient for you but real world exploits for it are not uncommon.

https://security.stackexchange.com/...ecure-is-teamviewer-for-simple-remote-support