Programs Ease PC Remote Links

How many times would things have gone a little easier at the computer if you could have had an expert looking over your shoulder to explain how to get out of a jam?

Or how many times have you found yourself trying to do a little catch-up work on the home PC only to discover that you failed to copy a crucial data file off the PC at the office?

These are just two of the many situations that inspired the development of a small category of specialized software for remote control operations that let one computer run another from thousands of miles away. Once a communications link is established, either by direct cable or telephone modem, you can run programs loaded onto the remote PC as if they were on your own machine and you can transfer files back and forth between the two computers.

I’ve tested four of these programs, each of which requires separate control software at each end of the link. It costs $440 to connect two computers with Close-Up. Carbon Copy Plus does the same for $390. Remote2 will do it for $195, or if you already have Crosstalk modem software, for $129. pcANYWHERE III gets the job done for $145, plus another $99 for PC-MacTerm if you want to use a Macintosh at one end of the link.

pcANYWHERE allows, in addition to the Macintosh, virtually any computer to run a remote IBM PC or compatible machine. Remote2 can be accessed by computer terminals and PCs running terminal emulation software. The other two are strictly PC-to-PC links.

Here is how remote control operations work: It starts when one of the PCs receives a call from the other. Depending on which remote control program you choose, the receiving PC is called the “host” or the “customer.” The other computer is known as the “caller,” the “support” or the “help” PC. It is the applications software on the host that is run remotely by the other computer.

During the remote control session, the users at each computer can see the same thing on their screens and they can enter data or commands at their own keyboards. Files can be printed at either location. Files can be transferred from either computer to the other error-free.

Users also can interrupt the data session to talk to each other (except with Remote2) or send typed messages back and forth.

A common use for remote control software is technical support in which the technician calls the user’s computer, runs the program in question and diagnoses the trouble.

Once the host user has loaded the remote control software into his computer’s memory, he doesn’t even have to be present when the call is received. In fact, this capacity allows an entirely different use of remote control software: setting up a PC with a central database that employees in the field can call up with portable PCs. A salesman, for instance, could sit in a client’s office anywhere around the country and enter orders directly into the headquarters computer, provided that it was left on.

All four programs allow user names and passwords to be assigned. Remote2 and Carbon Copy let only callers who know the proper user name and password connect with a host PC. Close-Up and pcANYWHERE make such security measures optional. All four programs also have a security option known as “call-back” in which the host will hang up and return a call to a prearranged phone number.

Carbon Copy Plus provides optional encryption of the entire communication if you want to foil eavesdroppers.

Close-Up and Carbon Copy Plus make it possible to call a computer, transfer files and hang up without anyone being at either machine. That allows you to take advantage of lower telephone rates at night and to transfer large files when the computers would otherwise stand idle.

On all the packages except Remote2, file transfers can be done in background mode so that if someone was working at the host computer, he or she could continue doing so, albeit a little slower.

Remote control works best with text and number-based software such as databases, spreadsheets or word processors. Only Carbon Copy Plus can transmit higher-resolution images such as Hercules, EGA or VGA between computers, but it requires careful tuning of both the control software and the graphics software and high-speed modems. I couldn’t get it to work with Autocad, Microsoft Excel or Byline desktop publishing, but a company technician said it could be done if I would tweak the various software settings enough.

Be prepared for some difficulty installing and learning how to properly run these programs, especially the programs at the caller end of the link. You also need to be very familiar with the commands for programs that you attempt to run remotely. Wrong keystrokes can lock you up hopelessly.

Each Carbon Copy Plus package contains software for both the host and caller sides of the connection, but you must buy two packages to make the link because the software checks whether the program at the other end has a different serial number. Also, you are prevented from making back-up copies until you have completed installation with the original disk.

Close-Up is sold in two separate packages, one for the host and one for the caller. Each program consists of a single file and is easily backed up and installed. It is the most polished of the four packages with an excellent manual.

pcANYWHERE is a very flexible program and seemed to display the remote computer’s screen a bit faster than the others. It also is the least expensive. Hackers will love the way they can customize pcANYWHERE, but not being able to make unattended calls is a handicap. A single pcANYWHERE package includes software for both sides of the link.

Remote2 lacks both unattended calling and switching between data and voice, but it may be a natural choice for people who already use Crosstalk communications software since it comes from the same publisher. In fact, it includes a special file to help you use Crosstalk at one end of the link. With Remote2, you can buy the software for both computers together or separately.

Computer File welcomes readers’ comments but regrets that the author cannot respond individually to letters. Write to Richard O’Reilly, Computer File, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, Calif. 90053.

THE PRODUCTS

Close-Up, Carbon Copy Plus, pcANYWHERE III and Remote2 are remote control programs that let one computer run another from thousands of miles away.

Common Features:

These programs run on IBM PCs or compatibles with 256K of RAM. They provide for user identities, passwords, call-back to users, transaction logs to record usage for billing, transfer files, run software remotely, disable host computer keyboard, terminal emulation for mainframe and data service access, color CGA graphics, use high-speed modems or direct links, print files at either end of connection, type messages interactively and offer inactivity disconnect.

Close-Up

Extra features: unattended operation, voice-data toggle, move message window, file compression to speed transfers, print at both ends simultaneously, background file transfer, background terminal use, disable customer keyboard, control user transfer rights.

Publisher: Norton-Lambert Corp., P.O. Box 4085, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93140, (805) 964-6767. Price: Close-Up Support (caller software), $245, and Close-Up Customer (host), $195. Carbon Copy Plus

Extra features: unattended operation, voice-data toggle, move message window, file compression to speed transfers, support VGA, EGA and Hercules graphics, communication encryption.

Publisher: Meridian Technology Inc., 7 Corporate Park, Suite 100, Irvine, Calif. 92714, (714) 261-1199. Price: $195 per copy. (Two copies required.)

pcANYWHERE III

Extra features: run PC remotely from Macintosh and other non-PC computers, up to 57,600 baud, compared to maximum of 38,400 for other programs.

Publisher: Dynamic Microprocessor Associates, 60 E. 42nd St., New York, N.Y. 10165, (212) 687-7115. Price: $145. (Includes software for each end of connection). PC MacTerm, $99. (To use Macintosh at one end of link.)

Remote2

Extra features: includes module to let Crosstalk Mark 4 substitute for Call program. Computer terminals and terminal emulation software can access Host.

Publisher: Digital Communications Associates, 1000 Holcomb Woods Parkway, Suite 440, Roswell, Ga. 30076, (404) 998-7798. Price: $195 package includes Host and Call software. Separately, Host is $129 and Call is $89.