While I was assisting a friend and client with the setup of his new email account, I was frustrated that I couldn’t simply access his computer remotely.  “Whoa, hold on there”, he said.  “Go to LogMeIn.com”

I was skeptical because I was using a computer running Linux and sometimes weird web apps don’t play nicely with me.

No worries, everything worked like a charm.  I entered his email and password, and pow!,  I was controlling his computer.  It was a bit creepy, he later said, as he watched me control his mouse, keyboard - his whole computer.  I quickly set up his Thunderbird email client so as to send and receive using his new email address.

This service is available free, but only for Windows and Macs.  There are extra, paid versions if you need them, but personally, from what I could see, only advanced IT and network professionals would be interested.

GoToMyPC.com offers a similar service, but charges $25/month (as I recall).  LogMeIn.com is free!  And, as anyone who knows my miserly, nonprofit ways, I’m a big fan of free!