Number 201 - February 2000
LapLink Can Be Family's Best Remote Access Link
from column by Patrick Marshall, Seattle Times, 5 Dec 1999
    Q. My mother is blind and is using a computer that speaks to her for e-mail, writing letters, etc. As she lives in another state, I would like to be able to help here remotely with any problems that her computer might have. Do you have any suggestions on the best way of doing this? I have heard about pcAnywhere1 and LapLink1, but I do not know which is best. Of course, price is a big consideration, both on the program itself and the connection charge.       James H., Seattle

    A. Unless you're needing to serve as a help desk for multiple users in an office environment, I strongly recommend LapLink from LapLink.com (formerly Traveling Software). Like LapLink, Symantec's pcAnywhere is a powerful program that provides remote-control and file-transfer tools. And pcAnywhere even offers some tools, such as automatic virus checking and the ability to connect to multiple hosts simultaneously, that you won't find in LapLink. But LapLink offers the easiest-to-use interface I've seen.

    The latest version of LapLink--LapLink 2000--works with all versions of Windows, including the soon-to-be-released Windows 2000. That means you won't have to worry about which version of Windows a computer is running in order to connect to it for file-transfer or remote-control operations.

    LapLink 2000 also expands the universe of ways to connect two computers. While previous versions supported connections via serial cable, parallel cable, USB, wireless, fast infrared, modem and LAN, LapLink 2000 adds the Internet to the array of connection possibilities.
    An Internet connection may, depending on Web traffic, actually be slower than a direct modem-to-modem connection, but if you're looking at a long distance call to connect to your mother's computer, the Internet connection mode can save you lots of money.

    All that it takes for two computers to connect via the Internet is for one to "publish" a unique computer address via the Web to LapLink's directory server. The other computer, also running LapLink 2000, seeks out the address and establishes the connection.

    Another new feature that might come in handy with your mother is Voice Chat. Voice Chat allows users to communicate by voice over the same line that is being used to link the two computers. That way you can ask questions of your mother, or explain what you're doing, even as you remotely control her computer.

    LapLink 2000, like pcAnywhere, has a list price of $169. You can check the program out further at http://www.laplink.com.2

TOGGLE Editor's Notes:
    1 For those of you who have never heard of this, these programs allow you to "log on" to a remote computer, in the next room or across the miles, and operate it from your console as though it were sitting on your desk.

    2 LapLink FTP from this site is a free trial copy of LapLink's tool for searching for FTP sites, among other things. Your download is good for a 30 day trial. Try it--if it suits your purposes--buy it!
  Number 201 - February 2000