Remote Desktop Reviews & Prices

GoToMyPC Review: Remote DesktopGo to Site | Back to Chart

GoToMyPC is made by Citrix, the same company that produces GoToMeeting, an online meeting product we enjoyed testing. Citrix excels at user-friendly interfaces and program simplicity. GoToMyPC, while expensive, gets our gold star for ease of installation and use. We were up and running in no-time thanks to the streamlined setup and refreshingly simple browser instructions. The host and remote are installed with a minimum of fuss, though they seem to prefer Microsoft Interenet Explorer, at least for installation.

Once running, GoToMyPC reveals itself to be a no-frills workhorse. You won't find advanced features like white boarding, but you can chat, transfer files, reset the host computer, bring up the task manager and, of course, control the other machine through screen sharing. GoToMyPC is technically browser-based, but accessing it from the PC, you'd hardly know it. It's very smooth, and settings are easily adjusted for appearance vs. speed. Even on average appearance settings, we were able to watch decent full-motion video. There was none of the instability issues we experienced with Symantec's pcAnywhere.

Using a Mac as your remote computer is a bit of a different story, as it runs in a browser window, instead of a transparent browser-based app. There's a bit more lag, though it functioned just as smoothly as many browser-based remote access programs on the PC. It should be noted that there's no chat for Macs, and there's a general reduction of resolution, so everything looks a bit chunky. All-in-all it's a serviceable option for Mac users who need to access files on a PC.

While it does lack some of the features found in Radmin, GoToMyPC works so nicely, with a minimal of tinkering. It also makes the best of screen real estate, better than any of the programs we've tried so far. At $19.95 per month, or $179.40 per year, it does seem a little on the expensive side, and users will have to think hard about whether the ease-of-use justifies the cost. But a 30-day money back guarantee should make the deciding pretty risk free.

Host System Compatability: Windows 2000-Vista
Remote System Compatability: Windows 2000-Vista, Mac OS X

Radmin Review: Remote DesktopGo to Site | Back to Chart

Radmin is a big name in the remote access business and it boasts a pretty impressive set of clients including the US Air Force, Intel, and Coca Cola. Will it work as well for every day users as it does for the big companies? In short: Yes. And with a lifetime license of $49, it will do so without breaking the bank.

We found that setting up Radmin was pretty painless, particularly after our experience with pcAnywhere. Downloading the package gave us two installation options: remote and server (a.k.a. the host). The remote was put on one PC, server on the other. We set up our permissions on the server PC, entered the IP address and login credentials on the remote, and we were connected.

Using the remote access tool, operating the host PC was incredibly seamless. At times we forgot we were actually using another PC, it seemed so much like we were using our own. We opened web browsers, viewed web pages, opened up Microsoft word, wrote and saved a document. We even viewed a movie. While the playback was a bit stilted, we clearly weren't getting the same frame rate as on the host computer, it ran well enough.

Radmin's other functions include drag-and-drop file sharing, instant messaging between host and remote computers, and voice messaging between computers, all of which worked well. Additionally, if your computer is equipped with Intel AMT (Active Management Technology), you can even start-up your computer remotely, though our hardware did not permit us to test this. As it is the only product that boasts this feature, it could be a real bonus for those who don't want to leave their host computer on the whole time they're away.

The only real caveat with Radmin is that you need to use a software client to access your host PC. This may be an obstacle if you want to access your PC from a number of different computers. However, we would warn against using public computers for remote access, as they are prone to spyware. Also, those who want to access their PC from a Mac, will need to look elsewhere.

Overall, we think Radmin will work well for a variety of different users, from those who simply need remote access to their office PC, to those who need to provide remote technical support. The 30-day free trial gives you ample opportunity to see if you agree.

Host System Compatability:Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000-08, WINE
Remote System Compatability:Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000-08, WINE

LapLink Everywhere Review: Remote DesktopGo to Site | Back to Chart

LapLink is one of the cheaper solutions, at $49.95 for a lifetime license. It boasts cross-platform remote control and viewing with its browser-based access. PC, Mac, smart phone, even a Nintendo Wii can be used to control your host PC. How well does the experience of using LapLink match the advertising copy?

Sadly, LapLink's installation was not as painless as we'd hoped. The host computer needs to download a setup program, which unsuccessfully juggles control between the web interface and the computer. The crucial account setup process is elliptical and frustrating. Accessing the host computer happens through the web browser, either through LapLink's website or through a toolbar. This toolbar is Ask.com branded by default, so users should be aware that they need to choose not to have an Ask.com takeover. The toolbar is actually preferable to the LapLink web site, though the toolbar space in most people's browsers is already pretty crowded. Even after downloading the setup and toolbars, additional installations were needed on the remote computer in the form of Active-X components.

Unlike most other remote access services, LapLink does not expect users to exclusively use remote screen sharing and control for access to the host PC. You also have the choice of accessing an integrated Microsoft Outlook client and pulling files from a simple file-transfer screen. These work well enough, but seem underwhelming in an age of Gmail and online file access.

The advantage of a browser-based system is portability; virtually any computer can become a remote. That convenience comes at a real hit to performance, at least where screen-sharing and remote control are concerned. The redraw rate is frustratingly slow when moving windows around, and don't even think about watching any full-motion video (not that you would ever use remote access software to watch a full video, but you might want to preview something on your PC's hard drive or watch a short video with someone). One caveat: If you use a Mac as your remote computer, you can use the file sharing and the email access, but no screen sharing or control.

In comparison to Symantec's pcAnywhere, LapLink's product did provide a very high resolution image of the host computer, even if movement was clunky. It is worth noting that LapLink caused our host PC's display to revert from Vista to Windows basic. It's a cosmetic change, but a bit jarring.

Unfortunately, so much about LapLink was slow. Unlike what we experienced with Radmin, we never really forgot that we were using remote access, particularly when our browser crashed during filesharing. LapLink Everywhere is a fairly inexpensive choice, but unless you're particularly attached to the idea of access from a browser, we would suggest Radmin. It shares the same price class and is a much smoother, more comfortable ride.

Host System Compatability: Windows 98SE to Vista
Remote System Compatability: Mac OS X, Windows, Linux

Symantech pcAnywhere Review: Remote DesktopGo to Site | Back to Chart

At $199.99, Symantec pcAnywhere is the most expensive remote access option we reviewed. It's also one of the few to offer cross-platform compatibility. However, Potential customers should be cautioned that the program is anything but plug-and-play.

We consider ourselves to have a fair amount of technical savvy and are loathe to consult instruction manuals, so we were disappointed with the product set-up and installation. It's never particularly clear how you should handle the installation (since the package needs to be installed once on each computer). The documentation is not approachable, and trying to install anything other than the basic package (as was the case with the cross-platform package) is less-than-clear. Installing the cross-platform product on the Mac was among the most painful and error-ridden installations we've ever encountered and required multiple support chats (and ironically, allowing the tech support agents to use a separate remote access program to control our computer).

Once we got it going it worked, though not as well as we would have liked. We were not satisfied with the image quality of the host computer's screen. We saw a lot of strange artifacting and flickering. We also ran into trouble using the remote control to operate the Windows Media Player on the host computer. We did like some of pcAnywhere's tools such as the integrated whiteboard (which allows you to mark-up or annotate the user's screen) and the chat client.

We experienced even more frustrating performance when installing the host on a Mac. The graphic representation was very poor and very slow. However, it is the only remote access solution that we reviewed that offers a host for the Mac.

Symantec's pcAnywhere is the most expensive remote access tools we used, and it's hard to justify that cost for most users. To be fair, the product seems to offer a high degree of configurability, making it probably more well-suited to companies with dedicated IT departments than home or small-office users.

Host System Compatability:Windows 2000-Vista, Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Pocket PC
Remote System Compatability:Windows 2000-Vista, Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Pocket PC