PcAnywhere

This is a series of product reviews intended to help people choose which products to use for their systems. In general, all reviews are of products that we use on a day-to-day basis. This means there will be few totally negative reviews (why would we use anything we hate on a regular basis, after all?)

If you've ever managed or had to deal with more than one computer system, then you've undoubtedly wanted to be able to control one remotely at one time or another. In my job, my staff and I manage about a thousand computer systems (servers and workstations). Our staff is small and busy, and even taking the time to walk over to a local system can sometimes be a hassle. There is so much to do and no time to do it in.

On top of that, our systems are spread all over the country, in a dozen states on the east and west coast. There is no possible way we could manage those computers effectively without some kind of help. And if you've ever attempted to talk a user through an operating system installation or a debug session, then you will understand that this just does not work in a corporate environment.

Fortunately, we found one of the most useful products available anywhere at any cost. This little gem is called PcAnywhere, and it is sold by Symantec (the vendor most famous for it's antivirus software).

PcAnywhere allows my staff to "take over" a system, just as if they were sitting at the keyboard and staring at the monitor. Since PcAnywhere does depend upon the operating system, it cannot be used to control the system boot and console, but it can do just about anything else imaginable.

Thus, if a user has an error displayed on his screen, we can connect and see exactly what it says (and often what the user did). This saves countless hours of attempting to piece together what happened based upon a frazzled user's spotty notes of the occurrence, or of running over to the users machine to see it for ourselves before he did something else.

You can use the file download and upload facility to transfer files easily and quickly, which is handy for grabbing files and performing installations. You can even chat with the person on the monitor in a separate window (I've never done this but saw it in the documentation).

PcAnywhere works whether or not the machine is logged in, and it works very well on Windows NT, 2000 and XP (and I assume at least the more advanced Windows 9x operating systems). You have some special buttons to issue the CONTROL-ALT-DELETE sequence when necessary, and you can even reboot or shutdown the machine if desired.

Another feature that works very well is the many security options. You can tighten down the program (and it's very powerful so you probably want to restrict it very well) as much as you want, and you have the choice of several different encryption schemes and security models. Choose what fits your requirements best.

On the downside, PcAnywhere does use a few resources, and when it is active (used remotely) the user may very well notice a slowdown. The older versions were a little unstable, but since version 9 we have noticed no problems of any kind with the program. One caution: PcAnywhere must be made very secure as it truly gives someone control over a system. Choose your security well and be sure it is enforced.

I could go on for hours about the usefulness of this program in the corporate environment. It has so many useful features that it really boggles the mind. I would highly recommend it if you have a need for remote control.