Content area
Full Text
Remote control products aren't new. Our arsenal of such products includes Symantec's pcAnywhere and Traveling Software's LapLink. We've used others over the years, as well. So, when we first started to look at Danware's NetOp Remote Control v6.0, our initial thought was "big deal, another remote-control product." But first impressions are often deceiving.
After testing NetOp, we decided it's our preferred remote control tool for our LAN, although we still prefer LapLink Professional 7.5 when our primary goal is to conduct a complex set of file transfers. And pcAnywhere 9.0 supports a far broader array of access options than either of those products.
Conceptually, NetOp Remote Control v6.0 is fairly straightforward. There are two applications: the NetOp Host software, which goes onto the PC that is to be remote controlled, and the NetOp Guest, which provides the remote console with screen, keyboard and mouse. The version we tested included the Host and Guest modules for Windows 3.x, 9x and NT 4.
The company also offers Net-Op for OS/2, which has both Host and Guest functionalities, and NetOp for DOS, which allows any NetOp Guests to remotelycontrol DOS systems. Connections may be made over the LAN, via modem or over ISDN-which we did not test. Unfortunately, although NetOp is unique in supporting OS/2 (a plus for me, as I run OS/2 Warp Server), it lacks the Java, ActiveX, Windows CE and Web- based remote control support that pcAnywhere offers.
NetOp lets you use TCP/IP, IPX or NetBIOS as the LAN protocol. An optional $495 Gateway Server can provide protocol translation where necessary. Frankly, in these days of IP-based LANs, that's not a big issue. Our Fast Ethernet test network, for example, is configured for IP only-even though we are running NetWare 5. For this review, we reconfigured...