Mikogo Tip: Instantly View and Control Participant’s Computer
In a regular Mikogo session, your client/participant will join your session and see your screen. But for remote support purposes, you are more likely to want to view and control their screen without them initially seeing your screen.
This is the purpose of Mikogo’s “Initial Viewing Direction” settings. Without having to switch presenter, you can immediately see the screen of your participant when they join your session. Ideal for remote support. Read below for more details.
Configuring the Viewing and Remote Settings
The Initial Viewing Direction settings are available in the Windows version and can be found by:
- Clicking the M icon in your system tray (before starting a session)
- Click on Settings (make sure your username and password are saved in the Account area)
- Start Options tab. You’ll find “Initial Viewing Direction” at the bottom of this tab, as shown in the screenshot to the right.
As you can see, there are 4 options.
If you sometimes use Mikogo for presentations (sharing your own screen) and other times for support (viewing another’s screen) then it might be best to select the 4th option i.e. select the viewing direction at the start of the session. Then you will see the “Initial Viewing Direction” window (shown at the very top of this blog post) when you start your session. - Once you’ve selected your preferred option, click OK at the bottom of the window.
Now let’s say for example, you select “View & control another’s screen”. Now start a session and invite a participant to join. When they join, they will receive a notification (see screenshot below) asking if they are willing to let you view and control their screen – this is for security. Upon the participant accepting this, you will then be able to view and control the participant’s computer – without them initially seeing your screen and you having to switch presenter.
We hope this helps you for when you are looking to remotely support a client. The next time you are about to initiate a remote support session from your PC, try selecting one of the options under “Initial Viewing Direction” and save yourself from having to switch presenter after your client/participant has joined your session.
Just made the switch to Version 4, but unfortunately cannot see anywhere this feature that would still be useful. Will this become available in an update, or am I being blind and it’s already there?
Yes you can still do this in Version 4. To do so, you should save a new profile using the new Profile Manager. When you go to add a new profile, you will see two tabs: Preferences and Features. The Initial Viewing Direction area can be found under the Features tab: http://www.mikogo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/profile-manager-features.jpg
Then save that profile. Perhaps you’ll call it the “support profile”. Then when you next start a session, select that profile and click “Start session” – you’re session will start with the Initial Viewing Direction settings that you selected.
For more info, please refer to the Version 4.0 user guide here: http://www.mikogo.com/download/documents/
So it looks like in Version 4 we have lost the ability to choose our own unique session ID. Can you confirm this is the case? I need a quick and easy way to start a support session on a users windows PC. The user will not have the admin rights needed to install an application. How can this be done with a minimum of user input to join the session?
Jim
@Jim,
Regarding setting your own session ID, yes this is the case which was for security reasons. Please read the explanation here: http://www.mikogo.com/support/faq/#Q13
For your quick support session, ask the user to download the “Participant (Windows)” download from here: http://www.mikogo.com/download/new-version-4/
To set up your support profile with the “initial viewing direction” settings please read this blog post: http://www.mikogo.com/2011/04/12/profile-manager-customize-mikogo-use-cases/
Hi. Can we share files between pc’s?
Thank’s
@Pedro, yes please take a look at the features list: http://www.mikogo.com/product/features/