How can i provide remote assistance behing NAT by using NetMeeting

[O'Brian]

How can i provide remote assistance behing NAT by using NetMeeting ?
Please help..

[Steinbach]

Providing remote assistance behing NAT by using NetMeeting is the best way.It's FREE and included in Windows XP, and 2000. Lets find out how it works...

Just click on Start>Run and type: conf

First, set up NetMeeting on your PC, and on the remote PC.

Then option 1:
Get yourself a dynamic DNS account at www.no-ip.com

Or

Option 2:
Go to www.whatismyip.com and write down your ip address. This is the IP you'll give the remote user to contact you with.

Then set up your router's DMZ to point to your PC, but make sure you protect yourself by using a software firewall like ZoneAlarm.

You can always disable or enable DMZ on your router later--it only takes 10 seconds.

You can also use port forwarding, but I've found it doesn't work as well. DMZ works great.

Have the remote user start NetMeeting, and place a NetMeeting call to your computer using your DNS name or IP address.

On your computer, click Accept to receive the NetMeeting call.

Then just ask the user to click on Share Program>Desktop>Share>Allow Control>Automatically Accept>Close.

That's it...you'll be able to control his PC--and it works better and smoother than pcAnywhere or VNC (because NetMeeting is a native Microsoft product). And it's cool because you only have to configure your router and not theirs.

The only drawback to this setup is that the remote user has to activate the connection for you to control his computer.

I use this approach to provide remote support to offices with 15 workstations. And I can support ALL workstations: NT, 98, ME, 2000, and XP.

This may seem complicated, but it is NOT.

Once you've done it the first time, it will only take 30-45 seconds of interaction by the remote user to give you control of his computer.

Give it a shot, I think you'll really enjoy this setup.

[aalbaiz]

Remotely controlling another PC is one of those things you think you’ll never need to use. Once you’ve found a use for it, however, you’ll be surprised you didn’t need it sooner, and it can make life a lot easier. If you have two PCs in your home connected via a simple network, it’s useful to be able to perform tasks on one machine while sitting in front of another. If you have a PC downstairs as a general entertainment machine and another tucked away upstairs for more serious work, it’s useful to be able to treat them both as one. Having machines networked means you can, of course, access files from one machine on another, but it doesn’t provide any kind of control.

Here’s a hypothetical situation for you. Windows networking relies on the principle of shared resources, and when you attach your PC to a network, you specify which files, directories or drives should be accessible to the rest of the network.

If you’re choosy about this kind of thing, you can lock off most of the files on your PC and only enable network access to a smaller area where you know there isn’t anything you want kept private. Now – what happens when you’re connected over a network where some distance is involved, and you realise that the file you want is outside of the drives and folders you previously designated as shared? Worse still, the building that houses the shared PC is physically locked? Normally, you’d be up the creek, but what if the PC in the locked building had NetMeeting installed and was set up for Remote Desktop Sharing? You could simply fire up a connection and take control of the machine, and then it would be as if you were sat in front of it. After just a few minutes you could move the files you needed into the shared folder, making them available for normal network access. It's a simple problem, but one that would have been insurmountable without NetMeeting’s ability to control one PC from another.