For me, the free Windows Quick Assist is the new go-to-remote-assist-app instead of Teamviewer.
I found out the hard way (During a call from my relative) that Teamviewer now requires an account on both ends to do basic troubleshooting and had to look for an alternative…
Microsoft includes ‘Quick Assist’ on every Windows 10 & Windows 11 device
You and the person in need *should* already have Quick Assist installed. (If not, it can be installed here, via the Windows store)
How easy was Quick Assist to help my aunt?
✅ She had it installed by default as well, so no need for download/installation. Just find & open the app. (you can even use the shortcut CTRL +WIN + Q)
✅ She only had to fill in the single-use code I shared with her to give me access to see her screen
✅ I could also ‘request control’ through Quick Assist and take over after her approval.
It was by far the easier procedure. Obviously -for future use- I pinned the Quick Assist app in her taskbar as soon as I took over.
Basically: All my aunt got to see was this screenshot.
How was my experience?
- First I had to click the “Help someone” button.
- Next, I had to log in with my Microsoft Account.
(Just entering my e-mail was enough, since it recognized it was the same account from my PC. If you are not signed in with a Microsoft Account, you might have to enter your password as well) - I shared the security code and I was in. Now I could easily request control in the top of the screen.
Quick Assist is way easier ànd safer than Teamviewer for 3 reasons
You’re helping a non-tech-savvy person over the phone… This holds risks and annoyances:
- Misspelled words and ‘Sponsored’ links can easily hijack the top results in google and case a lot of confusion/risks.
Especially with non-english speaking people… I’ve seen them all: “Okay I installed ‘themeviewer’ / ‘dreamviewer’ / ‘demevever’… now what?” - You won’t have to go through the whole finding/downloading/installing/running ordeal. Oh my God, we’ve all been there…
“Where do I download it?” “What’s a 64bit?!” “It says click to save the file, do I have to save it?” “Where did it save the file?”… “It says ‘do you want Teamviewer.exe to make changes?’ Is it a virus!?” - It doesn’t leave any additional bloat and gets updated automatically.
Oh man, every. bleeping. time. “The version of your Teamviewer is more recent than… please install a different…”
Long story short: Teamviewer, you’ve been very helpful in the past but I’m happy I found an easier alternative!
