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PC remote control software is becoming a common program for many computer
users as more and more people wish to access their PC's when they are away
from home or work. One such program is
Anyplace Control by Anyplace Control Software. Remote control software allows a person to control
a remote computer from another location.
Anyplace Control, like other remote control products, has two components, a host and a remote.
During the install of the small download, the installer prompts for a password that
will be used when a remote (client) connects to a host computer. Recommended is an 8 character
password, and as always, a mix of upper case, lower case, numbers and symbols make
any password harder to crack. To increase security, Anyplace Control also provides several
levels of encryption and IP filtering up to 320 bit RSA encryption. IP filtering denies connections from any
client system that does not come from an authorized IP address.
Options
Anyplace Control has several options of significant interest.
- Allow multiple clients to a single host
This is a very useful feature when more than one person is trying to trouble shoot a problem on a remote computer.
- The ability to change the port Anyplace Control listens on
This feature may help with issues arising from working behind a firewall
- Changing connection setting for low or high bandwidth
Choosing the appropriate connection will make more efficient use of resources
- Logging to a text file
Anyplace Control can create a log file in the program directory to record date and time of access, as well as
the remote address that tried to connect to the software.
- Installation as a service or a simple application
A service will run as soon as the computer finishes starting and usually does not require any user intervention.
Installing the software as a simple program requires the user to start the program, either from the start menu or by
placing a shortcut to the program in the startup folder (another option during the install). If the program software
is not run as a service, users will not be able to connect to your computer until someone logs in to that computer.
Performance
Anyplace Control places an icon in the system tray. When a client connects,
the host computer changes the icon to alert the user that another computer is
trying to take over the session.
Anyplace Control loads the initial screen very fast. I was quite surprised
on how quickly the first screen loaded having used various flavours of VNC,
pcAnywhere and Remote Desktop. Beyond that, the software was quite responsive.
There is a slight delay between what happens on the host computer and how the
client views it, though the delay is not significant. This however does cause
a samll problem in tracking where the mouse is because of the delay.
A few other options that Anyplace Control offers is logging off the current
user, restarting the remote computer, and shutting down the remote computer.
All of these functions are important features in a remote control software and
Anyplace Control performs very well with each of these functions.
The admin module allows you to set up multiple host computers to control
as well as providing full control or view only options of the client. Another
nice feature of Anyplace Control is that it will cache passwords for remote
computers, eliminated the need to remember many different passwords.
Pricing
Anyplace Control can be purchased online from Anyplace
Control and the price varies depending on the number of licenses you require.The
web site shows one license is good for two computers (host and remote) however
the End User License Agreement provides some conflicting text, stating "Each
registered copy of the Software can be
installed on a single computer only."
| 2 computers |
$29.95 |
$15 per computer |
| 5 computers |
$69.95 |
$14 per computer |
| 10 computers |
$99.95 |
$10 per computer |
| 100 computers |
$499.95 |
$5 per computer |
| 1000 computers |
$1999.95 |
$2 per computer |
Conclusions
Anyplace Control
provides a valuable option for remote computing. Whether working from home,
not working while at the office, or supporting other users, Anyplace Control
is a worth while option. I did not like how difficult it was to shut down the
host software, the option is found in the host configuration. Also, for use
in a corporate environment, the option to integrate in the NT domain or AD model
to provide access control based on network users would be an excellent addition
to this product.
The software represented the colours of the host computer very well, providing
full colour support. An option to reduce the number of colours for faster transmission
would be nice as well. Finally, the help file was not very extensive. Fortunately,
the software is very easy to use and you should not have to reference the help
file at all.
Anyplace control can be found at http://www.anyplace-control.com
where you can download a trial, or purchase the full version of the product.
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