Technical support representatives, specially those who have been on the job for less than 2 months, rely mostly on application emulators in guiding customers through the troubleshooting process. However, only a handful of websites or blogs cater to the needs of a growing population of technical support specialist or call center agents, in general.
Having been on the job for almost two weeks now, I think it’s the best time to post a definitive list of the best application emulators or simulators both for Mac and Windows Applications.
Temulator- The premiere go-to site for Windows OS simulators. It carries and almost complete and realistic simulation of Windows operating systems and common applications from Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. It also house simulatiors for other popular web browsers (Avant, Maxthon, Opera, Mozilla, and Firefox), mail clients (Outlook 2000, Eudora Mail, Incredimail, The Bat! and Mozilla Thunderbird), and security softwares (Norton Antivirus 2007, AVG 7.5, Symantec Antivirus and Nod32).
Oyah- Oyah’s database of Windows virtual desktop application emulators is also comprehensive. However, since it uses a slower flash technology which takes a longer buffering time, it comes only next to Temulator in terms of speed but makes up for it in the number of emulators available for use. You may need to register for free to access the protected simulation though.
- NeotechCC – Although it’s obvious that no one is maintaining this site anymore and it just uses the oldschool hotlinking of screen shots to simulate applications, it’s popularity amongh the tech savy population has remained constant. It’s got walkthroughs for oldschool applications and the likes.
- NetFAQs – If NeotechCC is oldschool, NetFAQs could then be considered premitive. It does not use any hot linking or flash simulators. It can’t even be called a simulator at all. It’s merely a collection of Frequently Asked Questions with detailed screenshots on every step taken to arrive at a given directory or problem resolution. It’s non-tech-savy friendly and loads faster than the rest. It supports Windows, Mac and even Lenux.
- CAISS, EZ Armor Emulators - Computer Associates Internet Security Suite, EZ Armor, and others
- Chasms - Updated and comprehensive collection of virtual applications and simulators including those for game consoles and latest browsers including Firefox 3
- VirtualApplications - Complete simulator for Mac and Windows. May take longer to load but worth the wait.
More reviews coming soon.
If you have a similar Virtual application site, just give me some link love and I will give you a backlink too.
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