Everybody Helps

Behind Every CrossLoop Session Survey - Lurks Dmitry

Many of you probably have received an email from Dmitry. If you haven’t, try addressing the survey after a CrossLoop session, to him. He joined us recently as our User Advocate.

If we have not said this enough - we love to hug and delight our users ..... wherever and whenever possible. Parallely, listen and learn from you, be available as individuals and not a faceless corporation - Dmitry joined the team to do exactly that.   

He discovered CrossLoop just when he was about to start his M.B.A program a couple of months ago. He claims it is the best thing to have happened to him since birth! By practice, he is a software engineer and not a marketer - so I am tempted to believe him .. what do you think? :)

Dmitry started his career in the software industry when he was 16 years old. He worked at Parametric Technology Corporation as an intern at the testing/integration department. He then moved over to SolidWorks and interned there as a software developer intern. After finishing his Bachelors in Computer Science degree he ended up working full time as a software engineer for about 3 years. A total of 9 years of software development experience and now here he is - toiling hard with us and in class. If he tries to sign you up for a cause, in that Session Survey response email, to request his professors to give him an A+ since he works so hard at CrossLoop, I would think twice.

Good Night, Good Luck and here's to a wonderful Thanksgiving to all in the US.

CrossLoop 1.20 and Partner Link

Here is more information on the new version, especially for those using versions prior to v1.14 and a small link that we added on our homepage:

• Faster Sessions with control of color quality: This started with 1.14 but many users were not aware of it since we did not automatically inform them of the new version. Initially we did not want to be intrusive with the notification but based on the awesome feedback of the new feature, continuous requests for that feature (by those not using the upgraded version) and by those who did not want to manually check for updates, we decided to make it 1.2. This allows us to automatically notify its availability. The details of this feature are here.

• We also added a small link here to our homepage for people and organizations in the business of technical computer support, software application support or training to submit their information and work more closely with us.

We are seeing a huge spike in businesses adopting CrossLoop to support their customers (Yes - you can do that for free) and reaching out to us with a lot of feature requests that would add value to their business - we love that. For example, here are just a few businesses that are using CrossLoop to support their customers:

• GeeK Tech Support
• Computer Courage
• APTtek

So if you are in the business of helping people, I would definitely urge you to submit your information there so that we can be in touch with developments relevant to your business. We are working on some very exciting stuff for you - sssshhhh :)

If you are using CrossLoop to support customers and have added our link and logo on your site, I would love to hear from you too so that I can share your stories down the road on this blog. You can reach me at mrinal [at] crossloop dot com

Good Afternoon and Good Luck

CrossLoop Troubleshooting Guide

Based on our tech support expert, Joe Stark's, interaction with some of our users, here is his compiled list of solutions to questions he encounters:

1. Firewall/Security software could block CrossLoop or VNC files from running or accessing the internet which can cause many problems including the following symptoms;

a. Failure to launch the VNCViewer on the computer accessing the contact’s desktop to display after the user ‘sharing’ their computer clicks on the Allow button on their end. 

b. Error message "Failed to Execute the Command Line: winvnc.exe" This message could appear on the computer that is ‘sharing’ and indicates that something is blocking TightVNC files from running. This might also happen if the user does not have Admin rights on the computer in the ‘share’ mode.

c. Error message "Failed to connect to web service." This message indicates that something is blocking the file CrossLoopConnect.exe from accessing the internet or on very rare occasions the CrossLoop server could be experiencing a problem. 

To prevent or remedy the above problems please configure your Security software to “Allow” CrossLoopConnect.exe, WinVnc.exe and VncViewer.exe to run and access the internet. Some security software might list groups of programs to allow or block. The CrossLoop, TightVnc, Remote Control and VIPTunnel groups should be allowed.

2. If either or both of the computers have a VNC program already installed it could conflict with CrossLoop.

CrossLoop installs and uses TightVNC which will conflict with any other VNC software if installed on the same computer. All VNC programs use the same registry keys and could overwrite each other’s settings. If you are being asked for a password from a VNC dialog box when trying to run CrossLoop, it is not a CrossLoop message. The best thing to do is to uninstall CrossLoop and the other VNC program on your computers and start fresh with CrossLoop.

3. You must be logged in as a user with Admin rights.

CrossLoop installs and uses TightVNC which must be able to write to the Windows Registry and to a configuration file. You must be logged on as a user with Admin rights to install and to use CrossLoop. If you do not have admin rights you will receive the error message “Failed to write to config file”.

4. CrossLoop disconnects and closes the VNC Viewer.

Crossloop does not have a time out period.

These are the known reasons CrossLoop would disconnect in the middle of a session;

a. The helper, "Access" end minimizing the VNC Viewer for more than 1 minute. This is a characteristic of Tight VNC that we can't do anything about.b. One of the computers going into Hibernate or sleep mode after being idle for the set amount of time.c. Some screen savers might cause CrossLoop to disconnect when they come on. Windows screen saver will cause it to disconnect if you have it set to "Display welcome screen on resume"d. A prolonged interruption in internet connectivity on either end of the session.

5. Computers that use a Proxy server to access the internet present a problem for Crossloop performance.

An optimal, and normal, connection for CrossLoop is a Peer to Peer connection in which data is transmitted directly between the two computers having a session. If you use a proxy server a Peer to Peer connection is not possible so obviously, CrossLoop performance will not be as robust as with a Peer to Peer connection. When possible, you should have a direct connection to the internet when using Crossloop. 

6. UAC on Windows Vista   

According to Vista's Help file: "User Account Control (UAC) is a feature in Windows that can help prevent unauthorized changes to your computer. UAC does this by asking you for permission or an administrator password before performing actions that could potentially affect your computer's operation or that change settings that affect other users. When you see a UAC message, read it carefully, and then make sure the name of the action or program that's about to start is one that you intended to start."

Unfortunately, this message and request for approval displays even if you are logged in as a user with Admin rights. When this message is displayed CrossLoop is immediately disconnected. 

A workaround for this problem is to turn off User Account Control when using CrossLoop. To do this go to; Start button/Settings/Control Panel/User Accounts and Family Safety/User Accounts/Turn User Account Control on or off. You will need to restart the computer for the change to take effect.

Good Afternoon and Good Luck!