For many years I have been looking for the ultimate remote access tool.  I was almost sold on Citrix Online’s GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting line of products until I saw the price.  I needed something inexpensive, easy to use and reliable.  That product is LogMeIn.

Lets talk usability first.  LogMeIn allows mere mortals to gain access to their computer from a remote location, even if both sides are behind a firewall.  I can install a nifty little client on my Dad’s laptop and tech-support him no matter where in the world he is, as long as he has a broadband Internet connection.  This in and of itself is not that impressive.   Free services such as VNC or Windows Remote Desktop (terminal services) allow me to remotely access a computer from anywhere; however, they are not easy to use and require some muddling with firewalls on both sides of the connection to make it work.  Even behind a NAT I can still use LogMeIn, unlike VNC and Remote Desktop (that’s where each computer gets an internal only IP address).  In fact, no matter what network I have thrown my computers on, even one with almost every inbound and outbound port blocked, I was still able to get LogMeIn to function.

To use LogMeIn simply go to their web site at http://www.logmein.com and register for a free account.  Basic remote access is completely free.  That’s right, you can set up an account and access your computers from anywhere in the world for free.  Once registered you’ll need to add computers to your list of available remote devices.  Go to the system you want to control, log in to the LogMeIn site, and download the remote client.  Once installed this client will talk to the LogMeIn server and update your computers status in real time.  To gain access to that remote machine, go back to the LogMeIn web site, and simply click on the computer you want to control.  All systems are protected by password, either by one that is set up by you when you install the remote client, or by the same username/password used in your Active Directory domain.  This helps prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to your system. From a security standpoint the entire line of products is incredible secure with 256bit encrypted tunnels over SSL.

While the free version is nice, being an IT guy I really appreciate the LogMeIn IT Reach product.  This is one of the top 5 products in my ‘must have’ list for System Admins.  The IT Reach product allows administrators to install not only the remote access tools on a server or client workstation, but also get vital system statistics from those systems such as hard drive space used/left, CPU usage, running applications, and much, much more.  I can set up alerts so if a certain server goes offline for more than X number of minutes, or if the processor stays above X percentage for X amount of time it will automatically page all of the tech support staff indicating there is a problem about to occur on that box.  When one of my staff logs in to check the issue, they can mark it resolved and LogMeIn will alert everyone letting them know that it’s being taken care of.  That same staff member can leave notes on the system letting everyone know what happened and what he did to resolve it.  This is an incredibly powerful tool that allows companies to help prevent outages before they occur by monitoring the health of all of their servers.  I was amazed at how well it worked, and was even able to tweak the performance of a couple of boxes because of the data I got back from LogMeIn IT Reach.  While this product is still not free, it’s ½ the price of GoToMyPC and has a ton of more features.

You’ll want to take a look at their web site and find the product that best suits your needs.  If you just need to control a couple of computers and you’re the only one who can have access, the free product is probably right for you.  If you’re like me and need to administer a lot of servers and desktops, you’ll probably want something more like IT Reach.  If you run a help desk and need to be able to log into any system not just those in a list, then the Rescue product is probably correct. While only one of their products are free, I found that the entire system was far less expensive than the other name brands such as Citrix and WebEx, yet offered better quality, higher speed, double the encryption and many more features.  If you can’t tell, I really think these LogMeIn services are the cat’s meow.

I want to close with what I think is the best part of this entire package.  While I have my Treo with me at all times, I don’t always have my laptop.  The LogMeIn line of products, including the free one, allows for access to your computers from a Windows Mobile based device, such as a Treo 700, Audiovox 6700 or any other broadband enabled WM5 system.  I tried this on my Treo 700, and it works extremely well over EVDO.  There’s a bit of a lag in drawing the screen, but it’s more than usable.  While using the IT Reach product I also get access to the system performance information and allitional features specific to IT Reach, all from my mobile phone and formatted properly for my screen.  The mobile version does not work on Palm at this time, which is a bit of a bummer.

If you need access to a computer from home, work or anywhere else in the world but don’t want to pay the high-fees that other services charge, check out LogMeIn.  It’s by far the best remote desktop and system monitoring tool available on the market today at a price that will simply make you smile.