Microsoft SharedView
There really is more than one way to skin a cat, and when it comes to doing things on the computer, that is most certainly true. Most Windows users have at least heard of Remote Desktop for accessing their computers remotely, but what happens when you want to share your computer with other users for presentations or for assistance—especially when they’re not on your network?
Well, if you use the built-in Windows Messenger tool on XP there is a Remote Assistance option that worked but not very well and was never very widely known or used, so third-party tools have been released over the years like pcAnywhere, WebEx, GoToMeeting, Bomgar, and many many others. Even Microsoft has released LiveMeeting and recently they’ve released Live Mesh synchronization tools that also include a better version of Remote Desktop. Of course, except for Live Mesh (which still isn’t multi-user friendly), all of these third-party tools are expensive.
However, there is finally a tool from Microsoft that’s worth its weight in gold as a WebEx/GoToMeeting replacement, and it’s entirely free! The tool is Microsoft SharedView.
This tool makes presenting information incredibly easy—as long as you have a valid Microsoft Passport account, which if you have a Hotmail/Live/Microsoft.com account registered, you already do. SharedView is useful as a presentation tool—share a specific application for training or demonstration purposes—but it also makes for a good remote assistance application so that you can help other users with problems.
Here’s how it works…
First, download and install the program from the link above, then use the shortcut on the Desktop or Start menu to load the program.
Second, sign in with your Live ID passport account. If you’re the presenter, click Start Session; otherwise, click Join Session (you can also click the link from an invitation email if you’re joining a session).
Once you’ve started a session, you’ll see the SharedView toolbar:
As you can see, it shows that I’m the participant. If I click that button, it shows a menu where I can invite other people, or I can click the Handouts button and share a document with my viewers, and I can even communicate with the members using a simple chat tool.
The important tool, however, is the Share button. When you click the Share button, it gives you a menu with all the programs running on your computer along with “Desktop” if you want to share multiple applications or allow remote access. Once you share a program, the SharedView menu adapts to include very simple tools that allow you to either stop sharing or shift “control” to another viewer.
There are a glaring limitation with SharedView by comparison with WebEx or GoToMeeting. Specifically, you’ll still want to consider LiveMeeting as an Enterprise solution if you need voice/video sharing in addition to screen sharing. Of course, you could just sign in to Windows Live Messenger and start a voice/video conversation, but that does require all members use Messenger, and they may not have it installed or may prefer a different messaging client like AIM or Yahoo.
In spite of that limitation, it’s a very simple but effective tool for remote presentations and remote assistance. I will definitely be using this at work and for family members.