[charliec]

Hello
I can connect remotely to my brothers laptop which runs vista using a program called 'instant house call'.
I can see his desktop and move his mouse pointer , start applications etc but whenever I try to do anything like defrag his hard drive or try to install a program the connection is dropped , (looks like vista kicks me out) , any suggestions on how to stop this from happening?
Thanks
Charlie

[progunr]

I would suggest he look at his fire wall settings, and if he can, enable you to get past it.

That is probably the issue.

[agoodwin]

Hello
I can connect remotely to my brothers laptop which runs vista using a program called 'instant house call'.
I can see his desktop and move his mouse pointer , start applications ect but whenever I try to do anything like defrag his hard drive or try to install a program the connection is dropped , (looks like vista kicks me out) , any suggestions on how to stop this from happening?
Thanks
Charlie

Installing a program on a computer running Vista generally causes the UAC prompt to come up, which may be what is kicking you out. Remote access programs tend to have a real problem with UAC in Vista. Try it out: access your brother's computer remotely and try to install a program. When you get kicked out, look at his computer, is there a pop up box that looks like this?

If you are on the same network, you may want to consider using Remote Desktop
Click here for directions on how to enable it in Vista.

I am assuming that your computer is running Windows XP. Click here for directions on how to use Remote Desktop in Windows XP.

Hope this helps.

[Zizzle]

Hello
I can connect remotely to my brothers laptop which runs vista using a program called 'instant house call'.
I can see his desktop and move his mouse pointer , start applications ect but whenever I try to do anything like defrag his hard drive or try to install a program the connection is dropped , (looks like vista kicks me out) , any suggestions on how to stop this from happening?
Thanks
Charlie

Hey Charlie. I've been using Instant Housecall for the past couple years. Awesome tool.

It works fine with UAC enabled on the Vista machine. You just make sure you've got the right settings:

- Go to the administrator control panel in Instant Housecall
- Make sure your download setting is "Hotline"
- Ask your brother to re-download the software

That will fix the problem.

You can run a test when you connect if you want: go to start, run, regedit. You should be able to see (and click) the UAC prompt remotely.

The Remote Desktop thing that agoodwin suggested will require some network configuration if your brother doesn't live in the same house as you. Instant Housecall will make it through the firewalls and routers without any trouble. Good luck!

[ScottGem]

I would not try to defrag remotely. Defragging would definitely interrupt things that could cause a remote connection to be dropped.

Looks like you've gotten good help on the other issues.