Skype makes my life easier once again, and does it for free!  Most people know that it is a great tool for making free voice and video call from computer to computer, and that it allow people to make very inexpensive calls to land lines and cell phone around the world.  What most people don’t know, and what I didn’t know until recently, is that Skype will also allow you to share the desktop of your computer with other people.  So why is this so great?  Let me explain.

As someone who ends up helping co-workers, family and friends with computer problems, there are few things more frustrating than trying to talk someone through a series of clicks and windows on a computer that you cannot see.   Not only that, but I am also typically relying on rather sketchy description of a problem that more often than not is hazy at best.  That is where Skype comes in.  The person I am helping shares their desktop with me, and I can see what they are doing that triggers the problem.  At that point I can tell the person exactly what to do to fix the problem, and then correct them if they make any mistakes.  A win-win and time saver for everyone.

Here are some other potential uses for Skype Screen Sharing:

• Demonstrating Software.
• Collaborative Editing of Documents (especially if you insist on using Microsoft Word instead of Google Docs).
• Desktop computer support (as we already discussed).

Enjoy!