Remote Control vs Remote Assistance

[klh456]

Does anyone know what the difference is between Remote Control and Remote Assistance? I have been asked this question and I don't know the answer.

We have almost all WinXP machines and it seems most of the recommendations is to use Remote Assistance instead of Remote Control. Are there substantial reasons for using one or the other?

 

[tbrennans]

Remote assistance is built into the XP boxes and require quite a bit less resources (network bandwidth) than the SMS remote tool. It also considered to be more secure. In itself SMS remote is not going to bring the network to its knees but if you had 100 helpdesk people using it at the same time it would stress it quite a bit.

It like the sms remote tool allows for the remoter to access the remotees computer desktop with full interaction....meaning the user does not have to log off.

 

[tbrennans]

By default remote assistance requires that a user request help, and its a bit cumbersome but, although I havent done it, I understand you can change that to not need a request and an ok from the client (dont know that for a fact though)

 

[klh456]

I have used remote control extensively with SMS 2.0 and find it invaluable. Have not used remote assistance at all. In fact we disable it in our group policies so users can't assist/request assistance from each other. Is there a way in SMS to limit who can offer remote assistance or use remote assistance. Sometimes we have to use it when no one is at a computer.

Another issue we have are the remote sites. How great is the difference in bandwidth usage? We have a very slow connection to one of the sites and I don't know how remote control is going to work there. It almost sounds like remote assistance may be the better choice for that site.

 

[tbrennans]

Just off my memory (scary) If I remember right there RA uses about 1/4 the bandwidth

If you have it (RA) disabled its not going to work through SMS either. Take that away and I would think you could make a RA group for limitation.

RA is part of the OS and really isnt associated with SMS at all, other than SMS "calls" it