Best choice if you got into the circle
April 03, 2017
Best choice if you got into the circle
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Screenhero
One case is my consulting company: I guided one of my fellow developers remotely. Another case was helping a software engineer student with his project (also remotely). Screenhero comes in handy in remote work/telecommuting situations. When someone is using only a conventional video chat application it can be lengthy and cumbersome to explain to the other end where to click and what to do exactly. With a tool like Screenhero you can take control of the inputs (mouse, keyboard) of the remote end, and while you are demonstrating you are performing the changes as well, drastically cutting down time.
- Works on all platforms. I used it successfully on Windows and MacOSX as the remote end.
- Easy to set up, the installation was seamless.
- If you got an invitation before it was acquired by Slack you can have the account for free.
- I'm not sure how to sign up right now. I guess until it's integrated into Slack as a full-blown feature it'll stay like that.
- Most probably it'll be monetized as an extra feature.
- This is true for most of the remote management solutions: security concerns. Slack had some break-ins in the past, giving remote control to your computer can be dangerous.
- Another issue which is problematic for similar product too: watch out if there's an extra remote server is involved. Say you and your client you want to guide with Screenhero both log in to a remote server through RDP. Both the RDP and Screenhero capture hotkeys, and depenfing on if your other peer logs into screenhero on the server itself or his machine, things like copy-paste won't work because the RDP is interfering with the remote management software.
- It allows cutting down required meeting time to solve an issue.
- Makes it very easy to debug problems on the remote end which could otherwise take forever.
- If you got in, it's free.
- Remote Desktop, VNC and TeamViewer
Remote Desktop is a Windows platform specific feature. There are viewers for Linux and OSX, but the remote end (which needs to be managed) primarily needs to be Windows (I know there is xrdp and servers for Linux but there are better options in that case). VNC is a good open source alternative to RDP, but it's uni-directional also: only the end with the server can be managed, the peer running the viewer software cannot be managed.
In case of ScreenHero, both peers can decide and offer to be managed by other connected peers, so the connection in terms of managibility is bi-directional.
WebEx, LogMeIn and TeamViewer are proven solutions for small or large support teams to remotely help clients struggling with some problem. It can be used for personal purposes too, like accessing a home server while on the road. I don't have extensive experience with those, but they understandably monetized so it's hard to beat ScreenHero, which also works well, multi-platform (not all of the above work well with Linux) and free (if you could get in before the lock-out).
In case of ScreenHero, both peers can decide and offer to be managed by other connected peers, so the connection in terms of managibility is bi-directional.
WebEx, LogMeIn and TeamViewer are proven solutions for small or large support teams to remotely help clients struggling with some problem. It can be used for personal purposes too, like accessing a home server while on the road. I don't have extensive experience with those, but they understandably monetized so it's hard to beat ScreenHero, which also works well, multi-platform (not all of the above work well with Linux) and free (if you could get in before the lock-out).