pcAnywhere - if you live in a Windows world..
Written: Mar 20 '00 (Updated Mar 22 '00)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: fast, stable, result of many development years
Cons: Windows only, not free
|
|
|
| ptiemann's Full Review: Symantec PcANYWHERE 10.0 (07-00-03126) for PC |
pcAnywhere was originally an independent product, then taken over by Norton which later was taken over by Symantec. The complete package sells for $180.
I started using it when I worked as a contractor 5 or 6 years ago. Back then it was version 3.0 and without competition. Here are my comments about it. Make sure to read paragraph (4)!
1) What is pcAnywhere?
2) Making a connection
3) Functionality / tips
4) freeware alternative!
5) Conclusion/ rating
1) What is pcAnywhere?
pcAnywhere allows you to connect your computer to another machine and remote control it. Basically what happens is that it catches your keyboard input and transmits them to the remote machine. On the remote machine the keyboard input is played back and the screen output is captured / sent back to your computer. pcAnywhere is available for the Windows platforms only.
To save transmission time, pcAnywhere will not send the full screen from the remote computer to your local computer but only the rectangles that have changed. It hooks into the Windows messages for this purpose.
2) Making a connection
It's very easy. Install pcAnywhere on both machines.
Run one machine in 'host mode' by clicking on the 'be a host' button.
On the other machine, you then need to make a connection to the host.
A large variety of connections are supported.
TCP/IP
COM ports (direct serial connection),
Modem
other network protocols (spx, netbios, banyan vines)
ISDN and
even infrared!
I mostly make connections via TCP/IP. To set up a new connection, after choosing TCP/IP as connection type, you have to provide the name of the remote computer ('host' computer). This would be the computer's ip number.
If it is a static ip number (e.g. T1/T3 line, ISDN, PacBell DSL, @home cable modem) then it's easy. Just put it in. If the remote computer is connected to the internet via dialup or RoadRunner cable modem, then the ip number changes every time it connects. This case is a hassle, you need to call the remote party and have them determine the remote computer's ip number.
After providing the remote machine's IP number, you you will see the remote computer's desktop in a window on your computer. You have full control over the remote computer.
3) Functionality / tips
+ on your computer: make shortcuts to all the machines with fixed ip numbers and put them in a folder or on the desktop. Saves time.
+ if you run your own host: set up a password protection!!!
You do not want to allow the whole world to be able to remote control your machine, or???
+ you have the possibility to boot the remote computer. I have tried this on Windows NT machines. pcAnywhere has to be installed as a service on the host. After pressing button 'reboot', the remote machine will boot. Since it is a service, it will be loaded before you log in (that's why it has to run as a service). You will see the remote Windows logon screen on your computer, and everything works fine.
If you did not install it as a service, and the remote computer crashes/ reboots, then you will not get access again. You have to call the remote party (if someone is there) and ask them to log in, maybe even start pcAnywhere manually. Have fun telling them the computer password for the login!
Also watch out for boot managers that may require a key stroke (the NT standard manager does not require one). If you have multiple Windows installations on the host machine, make sure that the default installation includes pcAnywhere as well.
I've experienced it all.
+ for security/ privacy you can lock the remote computer's keyboard and blank the screen.
Nice feature.
+ to speed up transmission, you can tell pcAnywhere to transfer a 4bit-deep color palette.
This is cool! Unless you plan on something adventurous like remote Photoshop sessions, I would always enable this option. Transferring a full screen of 1024 x 768 pixels in truecolor means transferring 768 * 1024 * 3 = 2.3 Megabytes. (Ok, I know, compression will decrease this.) When pcAnywhere transfers a 4-bit color palette only, transferring a full screen means 768 * 1024 / 2 = 0.4 Megabytes. It is 8 times as fast!
+ scripting
If you do repetitive administrative work for a customer, then you may like the scripting feature. I have not exploited it to its fullest but it looked promising.
+ synchronization of folders (transfer newer files so that both folders have the newest version of all files)
I should mention that pcAnywhere comes with a mini-file manager. Synchronisation of two folders is one feature of it. I use this when I work at home where I keep a copy of the files from my office. I do not actually use pcAnywhere to work on my office computer, but I use it to synchronize my files at home and on the office machine
+ pcAnywhere as a bridge
If you 'pcAnywhere' into your office and your office has a private network, you will most likely get access only to one machine in the office. To connect to any machine you could pcAnywhere from the remote computer to the final destination computer.
This means: your computer HOME at home is connected to office computer SERVER and this computer SERVER is connected to your target office computer WORKSTATION. The disadvantage is that functions like folder synchronization between HOME and WORKSTATION are not available. pcAnywhere has a solution for this: Install it on machine SERVER as a bridge.
+ the last tip is really simple.
Run Windows on the remote computer in a screen resolution smaller or equal to your home computer's. Example: I run my office computer at 1280 x 1124 and my home computer at 1024 x 768. When I connect from the office to my home machine, I get a nice window (1024 x 768 pixels large) that fits comfortably on the 1280 x 1124 screen. In the opposite direction, I have to scale the big screen which renders the content unreadable, nice try by Symantec.. or to use scrollbars :-(
4) Freeware alternative!
This review would not be complete if I would not mention that there is a FREEWARE alternative!
It is called VNC ('Virtual Network Computing').
http://imk141.mb.uni-magdeburg.de/vnc/winvnc.html
Has more information about it. WinVNC comes with full source code and is available for Linux (pcAnywhere is restricted to Windows!)
I have tried it out between 2 Windows NT machines and found that it was as fast as pcAnywhere. The handling (e.g. set up dialogs) were not as shiny as pcAnywhere, but it worked reliable and fast. VNC probably supports TCP/IP only, but that is sufficient.
From what I understand, VNC allows you to control a Linux machine on a Windows desktop and the other way round. This can be a decision maker.
If you work as a contractor with several customers in Windows environments, you will end up using pcAnywhere. VNC is just not as popular and although it comes with full source code, people have security concerns against installing a freeware product. ('What? Free? It just HAS to be a trojan horse!'). But I see a good future for VNC especially as I think that pcAnywhere is strongly connected to the Windows messaging system (read: I do not believe that Symantec can easily bring out a Linux version.)
5) Conclusion/ rating
pcAnywhere offers everything that I need to work on Windows machines. However, the points listed in 4) do not allow five stars for pcAnywhere. I do recommend pcAnywhere for professional use (in Windows environments).
For the personal use, I recommend VNC.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
ptiemann
|
 - Top 10 |
|
Member: Peter Tiemann
Location: Capitola, CA
Reviews written: 260
Trusted by: 2797 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2008 Shopping.com, Inc.