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Symantec PC Anywhere Review
- PC Anywhere is available in the Symantec online store for $199.99
- High quality, professional remote access software
- Remotely control a computer from another location
- Powerful remote management and problem solving tools
- Robust file transfer support suitable for batch transfers
- Familiar and user friendly interface
- Easy to set up and run
- Support for mobile devices
- Control computers running different operating systems
- Quick Connect application for simple access to frequently used remote computers
- Multiple monitor support
- Connect through a web browser
- Fast and efficient access
- Deploy a thin client for one off use
- Native whiteboard functionality
- Dedicated support for multiple sessions accessible by keyboard shortcuts
- Efficient search in large directory service environments
- Automatically detects hosts on the same LAN
- Enhanced logging, reporting and notification
- Comprehensive online technical support
- Secure and safe operation with access controls
- Support for Windows, Linux, OS X and Microsoft Pocket PC operating systems
PC Anywhere is a high quality and professional remote access application from Symantec, the makers of the popular Norton antivirus software. It is a fully featured piece of software which allows you to control computers running a variety of different operating systems remotely and a lot more besides. The one downside is that it might be slightly too complex for inexperienced users to set up and run and is quite expensive when compared with some of the simpler solutions available.
The main function of PC Anywhere is to let you access and control a computer remotely from another location. The target computer can be running Windows, Mac OS X, Linux or even Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system. This is some of the best cross platform support out there and will appeal to people who regularly use different operating systems or network administrators who run mixed operating system networks. The remote access functionality works very well once you are connected and lets you do everything as if you were sitting in front of the remote PC and there are a lot more useful features too.
A lot of the other features are things that will probably appeal to business users and IT managers rather than home users looking for a quick solution to get access to their work PC. There is a lot of integrated logging and reporting functionality and the ability to record sessions which would be useful in an office environment. PC Anywhere also works well with common directory services environments, like Microsoft Active Directory, and provides useful searching features with the ability to automatically detect hosts running the software.
One of the main drawbacks for home users who want to connect to a remote PC over the internet is that the software relies on making a direct connection to remote PC via its IP address. The two problems here are firstly that many ISPs operate a dynamic addressing policy whereby your IP address can change each time you connect and secondly that most computers will be connected via a router which must be correctly set up to forward the connection request. These are things that the average user won't want to bother with and make it a bit of a hassle to connect to a remote PC over the internet. However, because PC Anywhere doesn't require a middleman server you don't have to pay a monthly fee as you do with some of the other remote access services on offer.
Security is handled carefully in Symantec PC Anywhere. There are a variety of different options that can be set up on the host to specify the types of encryption and user authentication used. This enables it to fit into any kind of network set up and work with existing security protocols. Further still, because of the way it handles connections, PC Anywhere will not let an outsider access the remote PC through a firewall unless it has been specifically configured to allow access. This makes it slightly more secure than the simpler remote access options which bypass firewall security.
Symantec PC Anywhere is a high quality application aimed more at business users rather than home users. It will work best and be easiest to set up over local networks with a high number of attached hosts although can still be used to control a remote computer across the internet. The cross platform functionality is a definite bonus and makes it one of the very few choices non-Windows users have in a remote access solution. The asking price is pretty high, but worth it if you are a business user in need of a high quality and well supported remote access tool.
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