TeamViewer

For many years I've used tools such as VNC, RDP and the loathsome WebEx for remotely assisting people with computer issues. Some months back I stumbled upon TeamViewer. I was reluctant at first as this is a closed source commercial program. And, be forewarned that your connection is running through their servers - not something to be taken lightly by any security conscious users out there.

However, that said, this program is a welcome breath of fresh air compared to the traditional options listed above. It's very straight forward. It can be initiated in minutes on a windows machine with restricted user privileges. The obvious benefit of using their servers as the middleman is the ability to create a connection when both parties are far behind firewalls, routers or most any other gateway device. And on top of all that it runs natively on Windows and OS X ... without the challenges or bugs posed by VNC and WebEx. I have also successfully run the viewer (assistant role) on Linux through Wine.

All in all, a nice addition to the IT Tool Belt.