We all hear them advertized, and millions of people use them. Are remote access sites a blessing or a curse to user support professionals?

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At one time, computer support folks usually found the remote access sites more of a problem than a help. Keeping users from utilizing such services to access either their home computer from work or their office computer from home has often presented us with a challenge.

I recall an instance when a friend of mine at another company had a user who would log in to his home computer to initiate stock trades. In short, he was a stock day trader, and he monitored and traded stocks all day long — from his home computer via a remote access site. Besides being a huge loss in productivity (which may or may not be a user support issue), he presented a security risk that certainly shouldn’t be overlooked.

Lately, however, I’ve heard of more and more support pros using them — actually preferring those sites for their own remote access.

Are they a blessing or a curse? Or a double-edged sword?

Take the poll:

And share your thoughts and experiences with those remote access sites.