Website: Join.Me

You've all been in this situation: a friend/relative/parent calls you and asks "how do I do this on my computer?" or "what does this message/pop-up on my screen mean?"  And then trying to help them makes you wanna pull your hair out because you can't see what's on their screen and they aren't describing it as you need them to.

The solution is easy!  Tell them to open up their web browser (at which point they will probably ask you what that is so just say "the internet" instead) and tell them to type join.me in the address box - that's it.  They will see the following:

Tell them to click on the orange triangle button beside the word share.  It will ask them to download and run a little tiny program.  Tell them it's okay to do so, and when they do they'll get a 9-digit number at the top of their screen.  YOU go to the same website, punch in that same 9-digit number into the green join box, and voila!  You can see their screen in your web browser.

You won't be able to take control of their computer, but at least you can tell them exactly what to do.  It also has a nice chat feature to type to each other in case you can't talk through the phone or some other way.  There's some kind of phone to computer conference feature but I haven't tried that yet nor needed to.

It's absolutely free with no sign-up required, and has already helped me tremendously.  The other alternative I use is LogMeIn but you need to have that pre-installed on their computer in order for that to work.  Gone are the days of pulling my hair out.