MIKOGO – An easy way to share your desktop with others

There is a great software tool that is fsktop connectionsree, and can be easily installed on your computer , that allows you and others to connect to someones desktop (whether it be a laptop computer or a desktop computer). Before telling you how to install it and use it, lets answer the real question. Why? Why would you want to do this. I’m sure there are numerous reason that can be found as to why you would want to do this, but here are two that I’ve used already.

1) Connecting to a friend or family member because they were having an issue with thier computer. My mom’s computer had a weird mesasage that was poping up that I could not comprehend. So, allowing me to connect to her desktop also allowed me to physically ’see’ the error message, and also to see what see was doing to make that message appear.

2) Connecting to someone to show them how to do something. In this case it was one of my grandsons. He connected to me, and I was able to help him with his homework. It was similar to using a whiteboard that we both could write on to.

I’m sure you can think of other stuff to do with it. One would be to allow a computer support company help solve an issue you would be having on your comupter (obvious self promotion). Anyway, the software I am talking about is named, Mikogo. You can down load it here.

This next section explains how to install it. If you feel you can install without any further directions, then jump down to the next section, Using Mikogo.

Registering, Downloading, and Installing Mikogo

When you first get to the MIKOGO web site, you’ll need to click on the “Register Now” button.

You should now see a screen that has some fields that you will fill in, such as name, and email. The email address is important because this is also your username.

After you complete the form and click on REGISTER, you’ll have to wait for them to email you the account information. While you are waiting, click on the DOWNLOAD item at the top of the page. The Mikogo guys have down a great job of telling you how to install thier software, so I won’t repeat it here.

I assume at this point that you have Mikogo installed. Great!. Now what? You’ll need someone to connect to. As a demonstration, I am going to start up Mikogo, and have my laptop connect to it. To start this, when Mikogo is running, there is an icon in your TRAY that uses the letter M. Right click on it, and select START SESSION. You should then see this screen

As you can see from the image above, there is a Session ID that has been assigned to our session. What we would now do is call (or email would work to) whoever it is we want to connect to us. That is, it can be one, or many people. Just call them, give them the Session ID, and they will use Mikogo to “Join a Session”. When asked for the Session ID, they’ll enter what you gave them and soon they will “connect” to you. You get notified of this, along with them. What they see is a window that is an image of your desktop. As you move your mouse around, they will see it. As you open programs, or close windows, they will see that too. I suggest you call a friend and have them load Mikogo too. Then practice connecting to each other. Don’t worry. There isn;t anything that can go wrong. If you have trouble getting it to work, contact the Mikogo support team, or post a question on our FORUM. If you post there, we’ll do our best to resolve the issue with you. Hey! Maybe we’ll connect via Mikogo.