Remote Adminstrator
By Rick LaBanca

 

When connected, there are some more options as shown here. The screen can be seen in normal view, in a window with scrollbars if it's too small. Second is full screen, but if it's too big, no scrollbars appear, bummer! Finally stretch will scale it up or down depending on the window size.

The Options... screen allows you to shut off the encryption (why would you!), and also reduce the color palette, which is good for slower connections. The updates per second option lets you decide how much you're going to flood your network. I didn't measer that, but there is a status screen so can see the amount of data flowing. I would imagine this being handy on a modem connection

The Server

The server is very simple to configure even after installation. It contains a list for permitted addresses, and you can change the default port. To be really stealthy, you can hide the tray icon, and nobody will know your server is running it.

I had no problems running it as a service, and it was active for the login screen on my NT 4.0 box.

Conclusion

A great bargain of a tool, and it's about time PC Anywhere had some competition. I've only been using it a short time, but felt compelled to write a quick review on it. I have a lot of junk running on my home machine, and it co-existed perfectly... (HomeSeer, HomeSeer phone, two webcam feeds, VNC still running, BlackIce).

When I call in, often I find Blue and Steve on my screen because kids have taken over my system! No problem, it can handle any resolution. In fact, resolution changes are not a problem. With VNC it disconnects if you switch screen resolution, but not here.

You many wonder why leave VNC running when I have this? Well, it does one thing that Remote Administrator won't, it can be viewed with just a browser. So if my system gets hosed and I'm at a friends, I can still use a browser with VNC to see if I can recover.

It's available from FamaTech, and you can get a fully functional trial here. Using this link helps support the site. I'm not positive about it for that reason, but the other way around... I think it's a great bargain.