andycharger's Full Review: Symantec PcANYWHERE Host & Remote 11.0 Full Versio...
well, thanks to pcanywhere, you can now Control your computer from literally anywhere!
yep, one of the best remote controlling pieces of software on the market is a product called pcanywhere. it allows people to take control of a computer remotely and use it as if they were sitting in front of it.
pcanywhere has a rich history of providing this control for computer users and their latest release, 11, is better than ever.
firstly let me explain the logistics behind it.
there are normally at least 2 computers needed here. one is the computer that has the information you need. this is the machine you want to control but are not sitting at. this is called the host computer.
secondly is the computer you are using to connect to the host computer. we will call this the client.
basically, pcanywhere sits on both machines but used in a different way.
the host machine "listens" for the call from the client machine. when it gets the call, it authenticates that the client machine is allowed to use it and , if it is allowed, connects up.
you then have full control over the host machine as if you were sitting at it.
so what benefits does pcanywhere give you?
firstly, its ease and install to use. very easy to install. the onscreen prompts and very little configuring mean it is as easy as inserting the disk, choosing the right option and letting the computer do the rest.
you will need a bit of information such as the number you want to dial in on and/or the ip address of the host computer but that is basically it.
the new version has great security enhancements to prevent unwanted ?guests? coming along and taking over your network.
this means hackers and other rogues are blocked from accessing your data thanks to a better integrity check with improved encryption.
in fact, on the host computer, you can restrict exactly who can dial in. Accepting only certain numbers and blocking all others. This applies to accepting only usernames as well.
There are several wizards, as with most modern software, to make setting up and using much easier. This stretches to improving and accelerating the response times from the host machines and servers are reduce the ?drag? and ?hangtime? between your screen refreshing and updating the actual machine. There is nothing worse than sitting around wating for the remote computer to update the screen with what has been performed on the host. One of the wizards is solely for optimising response time.
There are also wizards for creating new connections and users.
Connections are easy to configure and set up.
You must think about how your Host computer is going to be accessed. Unfortunately, it can only be set up to "listen" for one form of connection at any one time which is a draw back.
The 3 main types of connections are:
Analogue Modem.
TCP/IP
ISDN
So if you are literally ?dialling up? using a modem, you will need a phone number you are dialling into. This means a dedicated line for the host machine. A typical usage of this would be home users who want to take over their machine remotely to use programs or access email.
TCP/IP is used if you are using Virtual Private Networking or Local Area Networks. This is great for system administrators who want to log onto machines on their networks to help desktop users or update machines.
Both of these require the HOST machine to be set to ?listen? for the call. This can be set up to start when someone logs on or run as a service in the background. This saves a user manually remembering.
It has a great interface that is easy to understand and use. Big icons help the user understand what is going on along with a great help section.
This is shown with a great file upload/download application very much like windows explorer. It beats most FTP managers!
What is also great is that it compliments the great range of Symantec virus protection products and it totally cross compatible. Handy if you want to run one type of protection from one company .
So if you are wondering what you need to run it, heres a little helping guide:
Runs on XP Home/XP Pro/Windows 2000/Windows ME/Windows 98/ Windows 95
It varies on Hardware requirements from one operating system to another.
Here is the very basic level.
Intel Pentium 150 Mhz
32 MB Ram
30MB Hard Disk Space
VGA Monitor
CD Rom Drive.
Overall it is a great product with lots of great security and options. It makes an ideal tool for any administrator once properly configured.
However, it has a couple of drawbacks.
Setting it up to work With ISA server (firewall and server management software) can take some fiddling to get going. Be prepared for some headaches.
Listening for only one type of connection means you can only connect one way at a time. While it can have different types of connection set up, it can only wait for one at a time.
Other than that, give it a try.
Alternatives to this software to compare it to are:
VNC (remote accessing software but less secure)
Dameware Mini remote Control (remote accessing software, not as good security, more options for sending controls such as CTRL-ALT-DEL to the remote machine, more expensive)
Price?
About £30 ($40) with a 1 user licence. Not bad but not as cheap as VNC (free) but cheaper than Dameware (£75) ($100)
Quickly resolves helpdesk and server support problems Remote utilities: Regedit, Task Manager, Command Prompt, and NT Event Log Work uninterrupted whi...More at Amazon Marketplace
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