Tech support, now it's personal!

I kid you not when I tell you that here at Zolved we're all very excited to launch Zolved Remote Control. Well, officially it's in "alpha" but we're not keeping it to ourselves. Check it out and let us know what you think.  It'll takes only 30 seconds from start to “use” (go ahead, time it with a stop watch). If you come up with some cool way to use it, let us know that too. Oh yeah, it's free.

Zovled Remote Control allows a person on one computer to view or control what's happening on another person's computer, from anywhere on the planet.  So if you have a problem, you can run Remote Control and let somebody you trust see exactly what is going on, and directly make the fix.  No need for a long list of instructions or explanations of explanations of tech terms. Run it, share the PIN and watch your buddy do their magic. Oh yeah, it's free.

The tech-savvy out there refer to this as VNC. Zolved Remote Control is an open source software, based on the UltraVNC and UltraVNC SC flavors of VNC, and includes Jari Korhonen's repeater to allow it all to work through firewalls. Oh yeah, it's free.

So why are we sooooo excited?  Well, first off we've tweaked it a bit with an eye to the end-users' experience. More importantly, here at Zolved we are dedicated to simplifying technical support and we think Remote Control will be of immediate use to our users, our gurus and everybody else. We've already given the average consumer access to a vertical search engine for technical support, a venue to get advice from tech-gurus, and a directory to find local technicians for face-to-face support. But what if you already know somebody who can help you? At Zolved we call those people "trusted advisers." Zolved Remote Control allows these two to connect in a quick, painless way.

Of course, it's helpful the other way too.  Are you the "techie" of your family? Does every family get-together start with someone asking you to sit at their computer and get it working again? We want to eliminate that painful experience also. You can send an email to all those needy relatives (you taught them how to use email, right?) saying "Go here and download this." When they need help, they run that program and tell you the randomized PIN.  You connect and fix the machine, from the comfort of your home, office, or dorm room.  For me personally, I'll know I don't have to worry about my parents anti-virus program being out of date ever again.  Now I'll just call up Mom and walk her through the three steps (double click icon, tell me the PIN, click "My friend is ready to connect").

Well, that really is only one way to use Remote Control (fixing a computer).  We know there might be a bunch of actually fun things to do with it. We had friends test is out and they're starting to send in ideas.  We're looking for more input, so help us out and give it a try.

Problem not solved? Ask a Zolved Guru... Friend needs help? Try Zolved Remote Control... rate the article del.icio.us   stumble print