Crossloop, a free remote assistance program that works!

27 CommentsPersonal, Software

[Update 2010-01-24:
It looks like Crossloop has gone more commercial and now makes it harder to find the free version of the program. Crossloop’s business model now revolves around enabling skilled people help others with computer trouble and to help those two groups of people find each other. Their main product is now no longer free, but an ad-supported version is still available for free on their site.

This post on my blog has been the single most visited post for an amazingly long time and has sent many, many people to crossloop. I make no money off of this post, and I’m not in any way affiliated with Crossloop, their business model or any other aspect of their operation.
End update]

I spent about three hours with my mom today. I helped her pick out photos from a trip we’d taken together this summer for a little presentation she’s going to give to her local community, printed out some information from the web and helped her burn the photos onto a CD. Not an unusual thing for a son to do for his computer-challenged mother, right?

Except my mom lives about 5400 miles away. How did it happen?

Crossloop. A free remote assistance program that even my mom can figure out. I helped her download it, and it worked beautifully. I ran Picasa, MSN Messenger, Internet Explorer, Email and even the installation of the .NET Framework 3.0 for her.

If you’ve been disappointed with the built-in remote assistance programs in Windows XP or Windows Vista, give Crossloop a try. It works very well, almost no matter what kind of firewalls and proxies are between the two computers that are trying to connect.

Highly recommended.

27 Comments

  3. Mrinal

    A HUGE thanks from this small team @ CrossLoop for sharing your story for your readers and us – it is very inspirational especially when it comes from someone in a big tech firm. We seem to be in the neighborhood, btw 🙂
    There is something special about being able to see people help!
    Please feel free to contact me for any questions.
    Thanks and have a great weekend.

  4. GeekTieGuy

    You’re very welcome. It’s a great product. I’m a bit flabbergasted, though, that you found my story. I guess that’s what search engines are for. Neighborhood is a bit of a stretch, but I suppose it’s kind of true.

  5. dilip

    I want to use this software with my website and i also want to advertise your website at my website so is it that ok .let me know
    thanks
    reply me at my email id….

  7. Craig

    Why does your story talk about you giving your mum assistance for fre.

    Yet the download screen talks about having to choose from 10,000 helpers and a 48hour money back guarantee.

    If it’s free how can there be a money back guarantee and why do I have to choose from 10,000 helper, I already know who i want to connect to and they certainly are nothing to do with your 10,00 helpers.

    this smells big time!

  8. GeekTieGuy

    Craig, I posted this in 2007. Crossloop changed their business model since then. They are now providing software that lets computer experts help others with problems through “remote assistance”. Their model is to have a network of experts that help others for a fee, using their software, and then crossloop gets a cut of the fee.

    Unfortunately I get no cuts whatsoever from the traffic I send their way. Funny enough, this post and the link to crossloop are some of my most popular ones.

    You may think it smells, but I wish I had a penny for every time someone clicked through to crossloop from my blog. I don’t. I was just happy to find a piece of software that worked through all kinds of networks and firewalls.

    I believe the software is still free, and you don’t have to sign up to be a “helper” to use it. At least I didn’t when I last used it a few weeks ago.

  9. Tim

    Crossloop is still free. You and the person your trying to help have to have an account. You don’t have to have your account upgraded to be a helper, that is only if you are going to be making a business out of helping other people and want to contribute to crossloop because they take a cut as was mentioned previously.

  10. GeekTieGuy

    Right. The one thing I’ve noticed is that it now starts up differently, asking you to create an account. You can, however, skip that step. If you do, you get another screen that has a timeout and a very dim Close link where it asks you to find a helper. If you simply wait or click the Close link (vary faint in the upper right), you are presented with the standard Access/Share tab interface that you can use to help someone for free with just an Access Code.

    So it is still free, but Crossloop is trying harder to get you to use the service they provide and make money on.

  11. Miroslav Schreiber

    Ok guys just one thing to say… This program is AWESOME!
    Same as the publisher I recently get a laptop for my mom back home in Slovakia and
    I was bit worried how is she going to deal with vista. After downloading this tool my
    mind is definitely set on ease… thanks a lot!
    And one more thing, the program is realy for free!

  12. jacko

    i don`t trust it ..and i will never trust such ..program…there others much much batter than this silly program

  14. coolcat

    pure brill…. after tryin loads of diffrent ways we got this and it works brill

  15. Sergio

    i have a few uestion for you guys that have tried this software, I currently live in Honduas and my mom lives in Florida and its kind of hard for e to help out with any technical prolems hopefully thi software may help. i was wonderingif i had to install this software on both the computers or jst mine?

  16. GeekTieGuy

    You need it on both computers. That’s the hardest part of getting started. After that it’s not too bad.

  17. Jeff Brewster

    I don’t see the Free product. Is this now a Paid service?

  19. Dragoon

    Don’t even bother with this pay service, it’s changed so much over the years. You should look at TeamViewer, though. It’s similar in terms of functionality and business model, but it’s very easy to use.

    Download the “full version” for yourself, it has the option to run without installing. You tell your friend to get the “QuickSupport” version and when he starts it there is a simple code and password he tells you about and when you enter it into your version it will connect instantly, no hassles.

    http://www.teamviewer.com/download/index.aspx

  20. Ken G

    I checked out the dpecs on this, and the free version is ok, but there are better options these days. For one, there is Teamviewer, its free to use for non commercial use. Also, since Vista, and now is a secondary remote app in Windows 7 is Windows Remote Assistance. It works excellent accesing XP/Vista/Win 7 systems. If you and the party you want to remote to are using Windows Live Messenger, the person can request assistance from you and allow you to have full control.

  23. IAN GOULDEN

    is it possible please to have free remote assistance please ,thankyou

  24. Gwen

    Yes I was very confused about whether Crossloop was in fact free. I find conflicting sources about the subject. It seems now that it does cost? Maybe with the above links you can still get it for free. But at this point I’d rather just go with LogMeIn or TeamViewer. They are free and easy. I doubt they will ever change their model as Crossloop has done. You should maybe do a review on those applications. For business use I demoed ScreenConnect and Techinline. They both were cheapers than Teamviewer or LogMeIn for business support.
    [Updated comment: removed links]

  25. Janet

    Could you demo one more GoSupportNow?
    it is cool to support video and audio conferencing in addition to remote support/access
    [Updated comment: removed link]

  27. Lance

    I do not like Crossloop’s new business model. Furthermore I’ve had some of my tech friend’s use it and find ‘hidden’ charges. They disputed Crossloop customer service and it took forever to hear back from them.

    Dealing with friend and family nothing beats Teamviewer. It is a great software and easy on the customer ends. For commercial use my colleague found ScreenConnect. I’ve used it a couple times and have had no problem. The thing was it was about ~$400-$500 price cut to that of Teamviewer depending on which features you get. So I think it is more worth it for the money unless you are doing tons of remote support or have a crazy budget.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.