Mac HelpMate 2.1

caches, remove unecessary trash files, ASR multicast server, support for Growl notifications and much much more.

Mac HelpMate remains a free and useful program, but can be enhanced with a Mac HelpMate Professional account subs cription that enables zero-configuration screen sharing. Its sister products, also currently included with a subs cription are: Mac UserMate (Mac HelpMate with a simplified interface), Win HelpMate to control Windows Computers, and Auto HelpMate which allows a subscriber to initiate a screen sharing session from a web page.

Many consultants have asked over the last year months about personalized copies of Mac HelpMate and Win HelpMate for their customers as well as the ability to initiate screen sharing with no one logged into the computer, and I’m happy to say it’s now a reality — desktop control/screen sharing through firewalls with no extra router configuration. Help anyone, anywhere, even behind routers. The client, user or customer just downloads a subscriber’s personalized copy, shares their screen, and in less than 45 seconds, they can control the remote computer.

In recent tests, Mac HelpMate easily handled remote control of a 30 inch Cinema Display over a DSL connection. To share or control a Mac there’s nothing to install on the client machine outside of Mac HelpMate itself (you can even run it off of the Disk Image) and no admin password is required to initiate sharing or control. An account subs cription is needed for the remote control/application and branding to work as well as the email alerts over an alternate SMTP port so that people who have ISPs that block port 25 can still alert you.

What’s New in this Version
- Mac HelpMate now give visual feedback regarding the state of preferences such as Dock position, pinning, minimization effect, and status of each preference toggle
- DHCP informatoin added to the diagnostics menu
- DNS information added to the diagnostics menu
- User and Volumes palette added to allow cleaning functions to be performed on any user account or any attached volume without loggin in as that user
- Added “Delete User’s Trash” cleaning item
- “Clean User Caches” preserves spotlight metadata and log-in pictures taken with Photo Booth
- Added “Clean Microsoft Office Font Caches”
- S.M.A.R.T Tests now use version 5.3.7 of the smartmontools to add support for Intel Macs
- Progress indicators now only display when active
- Preferences window now returned to Main Menu bar’s “Mac HelpMate” menu
- Mac HelpMate no longer depends on the Finder, so those running an alternate Finder like Path Finder do not have to have the Finder running
- Mac HelpMate now launches much more rapidly
- Cleaning tasks may now be performed on any user account on the boot volume, or on mounted volumes such as Firewire drives or Macs in target disk mode via the “Users and Volumes” palette in the “View” menu
- Addition of AutoActivation capability: AHM (Auto HelpMate) which allows for screen sharing even if no one is logged in
- Web-based HelpMate Connection Manager for Auto HelpMate allows for management of remote sessions
- Registration of Auto HelpMate computers with the HelpMate Connection Manager from the Mac HelpMate GUI
- Auto-population of active sessions in the Mac HelpMate control window
- URL support for initiating screen control with two clicks
- Growl notifications when a machine is ready to control
- User-initiated screen sharing to control in under 30 seconds
- Optional Mac HelpMate Quick Connect (MHMQC) status item in Menu Bar
- Single-click screen sharing from the MHMQC status item in Menu Bar
- Authentication information now “automagically” appears instantaneously in a popup list in the Mac HelpMate GUI, no email is necessary to transmit authentication codes
- Support for the free Chicken of the VNC Viewer for full-screen mode and all Mac OS X keyboard commands and shortcuts
- Support for the commercial Vine Viewer allows for VNC screen scaling so that larger Desktops may fit completely inside smaller displays as well as all Mac OS X keyboard commands and shortcuts
- Control Session log keeps a record of sessions for billing or auditing purposes
- Mac HelpMate now stores the screen control password in the keychain
- “Email my Tech” now gives the same detail level (including serial) number when sending System Profiler report as when emailing System Profiler report during screen sharing
- The “big branding” button now supports four subscriber-configurable actions: 1) open a particular URL 2) create a new email in the default email program 3) open the Remote Support Window 4) bring up the contact form to email to the subscriber

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