New tools—particularly Remote Assistance—make life easier for you and your Help desk but come with a few frustrations
Managing desktop clients and supporting end users can be an expensive proposition in PC-based networks. Microsoft apparently heeded the cry of corporate America and has attempted to relieve this financial burden through improved features in Windows XP. In addition to delivering many features designed to benefit Help desk personnel and systems administrators as well as end users, XP removes the necessity of purchasing some expensive add-on solutions that previous Windows products have required. Let's take a look at how XP's new Help and support features—particularly the new Remote Assistance feature—can benefit you in your network environment.
The Help and Support Center
XP's most prominent Help and support feature, accessible from the Start menu, is the Help and Support Center, which Figure 1, page 36, shows. Microsoft designed the Help and Support Center to hold in one centralized location all the Help and support tools (e.g., how-to guides, a searchable Help database, system-maintenance and diagnostic tasks, remote control features) that a user might need to access. The window groups tools and topics under five headings.
- Search. This keyword search lets you type in a topic that you want to learn about.
- Pick a Help topic. This section provides a list of general Help topics. For example, you can learn about what's new in XP, basic system use, networking, remote system operation, printing, and security. This topic also incorporates access to Microsoft's Knowledge Base.
- Ask for assistance. This option gives you a link from which to launch XP's Remote Assistance feature. You can also access the Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) Web site and XP-related newsgroups.
- Pick a task. This option provides links from which you can launch important support-related tasks. For example, you can access the Windows Update feature (with which you can update the OS with patches, updates, and up-to-date versions of accessories, drivers, and other software), searchable hardware-compatibility and software-compatibility databases, XP's System Restore feature, and diagnostic tools. The Tools option provides a comprehensive menu of links to various system-maintenance, diagnostic, and information tools, including utilities related to disk administration, network diagnostics, remote assistance, system backup, Group Policy, services, and event logs. You can even access optional tools, such as the XP CD-ROM's Support Tools and the Microsoft Windows XP Resource Kit's utilities.
- Did you know? This dynamic menu contains links to common support topics and XP-related FAQs. On Internet-connected computers, XP automatically updates this section with data from the PSS Web site.
The Help and Support Center isn't the only home to these important information resources, support utilities, and links. You can, for example, execute many of the Help and Support Center tools as standalone programs, wizards, and Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-ins. But the ability to access all the tools and resources from a central location is extremely convenient. Administrators and Help desk staffers can now easily instruct users where to find essential system information and how to run various system utilities.
Introducing Remote Assistance
The lack of built-in remote support tools in previous Windows OSs has been a source of frustration for many systems administrators. Because Windows is a GUI-based system, the ability to properly support remote desktops and servers often requires direct access to—and control of—a remote system's desktop. To fill the gap, many IT departments implement third-party remote control solutions, such as Symantec's pcAnywhere32, Computer Associates' (CA's) ControlIT, and AT&T Laboratories Cambridge's freeware Virtual Network Computing (VNC) utility. Depending on the chosen tool and the number of involved systems, these solutions can be extremely pricey. In XP, Microsoft has incorporated remote control features—including a support-oriented interface replete with invitation-and-acceptance mechanisms and a handy chat feature—directly into the OS.
If you've ever used Windows 2000 Server Terminal Services or Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition, you understand the convenience of built-in remote control features. Think of Remote Assistance as terminal services for XP desktops, with additional support-oriented features. For example, you can configure Remote Assistance so that XP notifies the assisted user about the incoming connection and prompts the user for authorization. You can also choose between view-only and view-and-control capabilities on the host system.