11 Tips For Using Team Viewer – The Best Free Remote Desktop Connection Manager

By Aaron Couch. Once upon a time, LogMeIn was the go-to remote desktop service. But TeamViewer has always been the superior alternative, even more so since LogMeIn ended their freemium model. If you’re new to TeamViewer, it is an excellent, feature-rich, and free program (for private use) with an intuitive interface. Granted, they do have premium features you can upgrade to, but as we explore the ins and outs of TeamViewer, you’ll discover the “basic” free program has all you need in a remote desktop client.

TeamViewer Is Cross Platform

It’s very rare that one program works for everything across the board, but TeamViewer does just that – Mac, Linux, PC, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Windows 8/RT. So whatever you and your clients/friends/family use, TeamViewer is all-inclusive.

Multiple Simultaneous Remote Sessions

Whether you need to help several people or want to access a second computer while helping someone else, the multiple sessions feature enables you to do that. In the top left corner, you’ll notice a “+”, which launches a new tabbed session within the same window.

Record Sessions For Later Viewing

Often times you might wish to review a session in order to remember something or to refer back to when you helped someone with tech support. While connected, go to “Extras” and “Record” in the toolbar at the top. Then you’ll see three options: Start, Pause and Stop. While a recording is in progress, a “REC” symbol (like on those old-fashioned video tapes) will appear in the top right corner of the window. Upon stopping the recording, you’ll be prompted to save the session file.



The video file is opened and played by TeamViewer and can even be converted to other video formats.

Seamless File Transfer

Though there are some excellent ways to share files, having a constant medium to do so makes it so much simpler, especially when working with folks who are “computer illiterate”. To do this, go to the TeamViewer toolbar, then “File Transfer”. You’re presented with two options: “File Transfer” (access files to share from your PC) and “File Box” (drag and drop files to share).



Need to send a file, but don’t want to hassle with connecting to another machine? Go back to the primary TeamViewer screen as if you were to remote connect, but instead check the “File Transfer” option, then click “Connect to partner”. Simply move the files by dragging and dropping.





The third option is to go to the Computers & Contacts windows, right click the user/computer you want to send a file too, and click the “paper clip” icon.

Adjust Visual Settings

Various visual settings can be modified to bring in the feel of actually using the computer you’re remote connecting to, or to optimize the speed and decrease resolution for slower connections. You can do this by going to “View” in the TeamViewer toolbar (while connected). You’ll be presented with several options: “Quality”, “Scaling”, “Screen Resolution”, as well as “Show whole desktop”, “Remove wallpaper” and others. Also note the “Full Screen” button below the “Extras” menu.

Text, Audio And Video Chat For Quick Communication

There’s no reason to download a 3rd-party chat client or call the person – TeamViewer’s integrated chat feature takes care of the hassle. This will appear on the top right side of the screen, and may be minimized on default. Just click the small “arrow” and the chat window will expand. From here you can immediately use text chat or audio/video call the person.

Remote Access Via Phone Or Tablet

You’re in a jam. You don’t have your laptop, but you need that file now! t’s never been easier with TeamViewer’s apps for almost every mobile platform: Android, iOS, Windows Phone and Windows 8. You can use it to access files and control your or someone else’s computer. In addition to being versatile and accessible, mobile interface is simple and intuitive to operate.

TeamViewer Remote Control app for Android
More TeamViewer apps for Android
TeamViewer Remote Control app for iOS
More TeamViewer apps for iOS
TeamViewer Remote Control app for Windows Phone
TeamViewer Remote Control app for Windows 8/RT

Share Only One Window

Perhaps you want to do a presentation, or need help only within a specific program. If you don’t want to show your whole computer off, you can click the double arrow in the top right corner of any window while TeamViewer is running and select the contact you want to share the window with.

Create An Account

Sounds basic, but one of the most useful ways TeamViewer can help you is if you create an account. Can you use TeamViewer without one – of course, that’s the beauty. But with an account, you are able to set a personal password, log into any of your TeamViewer-enabled devices and so much more.
To do this, go to “Connection” in the upper right corner of the TeamViewer window and click “Setup unattended access”. Follow the directions to for a Computer name and password and you’re done!

Use Your Browser

Can TeamViewer get any more accessible? Yes it can – through any browser. Simply sign in and you can access any of your contacts’ or your own devices. You get the same remote control functionality, but all within your browser – super helpful if you need to access your device or help someone from a public computer or while at work.

Explore The Options

Though TeamViewer works great with its default settings, to get the most of it, you should really take a look at all of its options. Go to Extras > Options and scroll through the various side tabs from General to Advanced.

Bottom Line: Give TeamViewer A Try

Whether you’ve been using TeamViewer for some time, but didn’t know about some of these features, or you’ve been searching for a solution to your remote control needs, TeamViewer is one of, if not the best remote access service available. Hopefully these tips will help you get even more out of TeamViewer.

Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/11-tips-using-team-viewer-best-free-remote-desktop-connection-manager/

Get Windows 10 Virtual Desktops in XP/Win7/Win8

The Windows 10 Technical Preview includes a new feature called multiple virtual desktops. This has been a free utility for any Windows version for a while using Dexpot. Any linux user already is familiar with this feature. Glad it is coming  to windows users. Below is information on this and where to get it. Enjoy.

Review: Dexpot makes virtual desktops feel like a native part of Windows

Large desktop workstations often have more than enough screen real-estate: One or two 24-inch monitors afford plenty of room for a mission-critical application, plus several chat or email windows alongside. But if you're a laptop user squeaking by with a single 15-inch monitor (or perhaps something even smaller), a virtual desktop might be the next best thing to an extra monitor. Dexpot (25 Euros, which is $33 on 2/21/12; free for personal use) is a great way to get yourself one. Or five.

Dexpot's taskbar plugin lets you control virtual desktops without having to use a special window.

If I had to describe Dexpot in one word, I'd pick "customizable." I can't think of a single aspect of Dexpot you can't customize: the animation (or lack thereof) used to switch between virtual desktops, the number of desktops, hotkeys and hot corners for switching desktops using keyboard and mouse, whether or not a virtual desktop spans all your monitors are just one, and the list goes on.
When an application decides to go all-out on customization, the result is usually bloat. Dexpot tries to let you eat your cake and have it, too, by compartmentalizing features into plug-ins you can enable or disable as you prefer. Disable the animations plug-in, and sure enough, the animations go away—and so do the options for controlling them. So not only can you customize the options to your liking, you can customize whether or not the options are even there to begin with.
Using virtual desktops productively is a learned skill. That's because it's a paradox: A GUI assumes being able to see your applications. Hide them in an imaginary desktop, and you might well forget to come back to them later. To overcome this, Dexpot includes visual hints keeping the virtual desktops and the applications they contain in view. True to form, Dexpot offers several such features, ranging from a tiny indicator in the system tray showing the number of the desktop you're on, through a compact desktop switcher built into the Windows taskbar, all the way to an Exposé-like feature that tiles your screen with scaled-down versions of all windows from all desktops, so you can easily click the one you want without having to think what desktop it's on (you can't get to it by typing its title, though). There's also a full-screen preview mode, subdividing the screen into separate desktops which you can then drag windows between.

The Full-Screen Preview mode zooms out so you can see all virtual desktops on one physical screen and drag windows around.

When relegating a window to another virtual desktop, some users prefer to have it disappear from the Alt-Tab task switcher and taskbar; others prefer to have it stay there. Dexpot leaves this up to you, making it easy to experiment.

The Window Catalog is similar to Exposé on the Mac, putting miniatures of all of your windows on the screen at once.

Dexpot's staggering array of plug-ins and fine-grained configuration options means that to benefit from the application you need only agree with its basic premise, that virtual desktops can be a useful thing. The rest is negotiable, flexible, and adjustable.

If you've got a keyboard shortcut obsession, Dexpot would be happy to oblige your every whim.

Being able to customize everything means you might have to experiment with Dexpot for some time, until you hit a combination of settings that make sense for you. But if you take the time to do this, you might realize that a single 15-inch monitor is not so small after all.
Note: The Download button on the Product Information page will download the software to your system.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2028958/review-dexpot-makes-virtual-desktops-feel-like-a-native-part-of-windows.html

You can download Dexpot here:http://dexpot.de/?lang=en