ok my dad lives up in Michigan and I live in Kentucky. how would i go about setting our computers up so I can take control of his computer (with his permission) so I can help him fix things on his computer that he doesnt understand?
I use a tool called Teamviewer (http://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx) for this. Once set up you can control the device remotely without having to set up port forwarding or anything like that. In this case both of you would download and install team viewer, he would read you the username and pass code generated by the program and you would have access just as if you were there.
I use this tool because it works on any OS and is easy to set up and use, I have used this to fix friends/relatives' macs and PCs.
If you set up an account (free) and add the remote computer to your list you can access it anytime, making quick changes easy.
If you both happen to have AIM (or Jabber) accounts in Messages, then Screen Sharing and/or Remote Control is built right into OS X. See: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH15056
Since your Dad is a new Mac user I highly suggest you get him the book OS X Mavericks: The Missing Manual. As an older person he will like this funny logical book that will make him a great Mac user.
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