Setting Up a Remote Computer for a WebEx Meeting

By Nancy Stevenson from WebEx Web Meetings For Dummies

You scheduled your WebEx meeting and prepared attendees. There's one more thing that you might need to do before the meeting starts: Set up access to a remote computer.

Imagine you're in Tallahassee for a convention, and you have to run a project team meeting. You'd like the team to see something in your project management application, which is saved on the desktop of your computer back at the office. No problem. If you want other people attending a meeting to view applications or a desktop located on a remote computer, you can. All you need is the WebEx Access Anywhere Agent installed on the remote computer.

Your minimum requirements

Before you go to the trouble of downloading Access Anywhere, you should verify that both your computer and the computer that you want to hook up to meet the minimum requirements for using it. Here they are:

Microsoft Windows 95, 98, Millennium Edition (Me), XP, NT, or 2000

Intel Pentium 166 MHz or faster processor

32MB (64MB recommended) of RAM

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x or later, Netscape Navigator 4.x or later, or AOL 5.0 or later

JavaScript and cookies enabled on the Web browser, and ActiveX enabled if you are using Internet Explorer

A dedicated broadband Internet connection, such as digital subscriber line (DSL), cable modem, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), or a T1 connection

If you want to install Access Anywhere on a computer running Windows NT or 2000, you must have administrator privileges on the computer/network.

Downloading Access Anywhere

Follow these steps to download the Access Anywhere Agent:

1. Click the My Computer link on the left side of the My WebEx screen.

2. Click the Set Up Computer button.

The Setting Up WebEx Access Anywhere window displays a progress bar as Access Anywhere downloads to your computer. (This could take as long as 10 minutes.)

Setting up Access Anywhere

After the download in the previous section is complete, a WebEx Access Anywhere Setup Wizard window appears. Click Next to begin the wizard, and then follow these steps to set up Access Anywhere:

1. Enter a name for the computer, as well as WebEx account information including the URL for your WebEx account, User Name, and Password in the Account Information form. Then click Next.

2. Select the various check boxes to adjust the settings for your remote session (especially the settings for how the remote computer will perform when it is being accessed) on the Options page that appears, and then click Next.

You can also make changes to these options while running an Access Anywhere session.

Seriously consider leaving the Disable This Computer's Keyboard and Mouse option selected in the Session Options. This ensures that nobody at the remote computer can start to play around with it while you're in control. It's also a good idea to enable the Disable Pop-up Messages option because if a pop-up appears while you're working, you can't control it (that is, close it) from a distance.

3. In the Applications window that appears, select the radio button for either the Entire Desktop or for Specific Applications. Then click Next.

If you choose Specific Applications, click the Add button, and choose the application that you want to be able to access from the list that appears. Then click Select to place it on the list before clicking Next.

4. In the Authentication window, choose the authentication method: Access Code or Phone.

• Choosing the Phone option causes the remote computer to call you whenever you try to access it remotely.

• Choosing Access Code displays settings in which you can enter an Access Code that you supply whenever you want to access the computer remotely.

5. Set your phone number and pass code or your access code and then click Next.

The final dialog box appears confirming that the computer has been set up for remote access.

6. Click Finish.

A progress box appears indicating that Access Anywhere is being set up on the computer.

Now when you click the My Computers item on the My WebEx Navigation bar, the computer that you just set up is listed. In addition, a WebEx Access Anywhere icon appears on your computer taskbar.