Windows 7:- Improvements to Remote Assistance

Remote Assistance in Windows 7 builds upon the many enhancements introduced earlier for this feature in Windows Vista. These earlier enhancements improved upon the earlier Windows XP implementation of Remote Assistance and included:

1) Connectivity improvements with transparent NAT traversal using Teredo and Pv6.

2) An improved user interface that is easier to launch and use

2) A standalone executable (Msra.exe) that accepts command-line arguments and can easily be scripted

3) Improved overall performance with a smaller footprint, quicker startup and connect times, and optimized bandwidth usage for screen updates

4) Enhanced security with mandatory password and integration with UAC

5) New Offer RA via IM scenario and an open API for integration with peer-to-peer applications

6) Additional Group Policy settings for improved manageability

In addition to these Windows Vista enhancements for Remote Assistance, Windows 7 adds the following new enhancements to Remote Assistance:

7) Easy Connect, a new method for soliciting RA that uses the peer-to-peer collaboration infrastructure to simplify RA user interactions.

8) An improved RA connection wizard that makes it easier than ever for users to solicit or offer help.

9) New command-line arguments for the RA executable (Msra.exe)

Remote Assistance in Windows 7 and Vista deprecate the following features that were available on Windows XP:

10) No more support for the MAILTO method of solicited Remote Assistance

11) No more support for voice sessions

For information on interoperability between the Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 versions of Remote Assistance, see the section titled ?"Interoperability with Remote Assistance in Windows XP" later in this chapter.