Remote Utilities
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An excellent alternative to Teamviewer and Gotomypc
I have been using the remote utilities software for some time now, so decided it was time for a review. This review pertains mostly to the viewer and host software with a few details of the service. Let's begin with one major pro of remote utilities over its competitors. At the time of writing, you can have up to 10 end points under a free license, this is either for personal or business use. So no more Teamviewer nags about commercial use suspected for those of us who connect to friends computers to help them out occasionally. In terms of pricing, they also have advantages over their competitors, in that their charges are one off, this includes all updates until the next major version, with the impression that it is not necessary to upgrade even when the new version comes out. Prices range from $29 per endpoint (minimum 10 endpoints) to unlimited for $499 with one concurrent tech, or for an organization level license with unlimited concurrent techs, it is $12k. The viewer software is very well thought out, it has the advantage of being able to be run portable so you can pop it on a memory stick and take it with you anywhere. Another great advantage it has over teamviewer is the ability to give your connections friendly names, opposed to just having to deal with numbers. It has many advanced features, such as remote registry, remote execute, inventory manager and more. It has the ability to screen record your session and chat live with your host. There is also the ability to use a self hosted server for free, eliminating the need to connect through their servers, this would obviously be advantageous to UK users, since the connection would not need to go all the way to the USA, to come back and connect to a host in the UK. You can at any time switch back to using their servers. The host software is equally easy to use with both a single run option and install option, settings can be determined by the end user in terms of how much control to give to those connecting, with various security options available. I'd be telling lies, if I said I have never had any issues whilst using the software, most issues have been resolved by enabling legacy mode. I found when connecting to a computer with two monitors, it displayed both screens at once upon first connection, however you can easily switch to the one of choice and enabling full screen stretch and constrain proportions in the view mode options, seemed to resolve this. I mostly use for connecting to other computers in my home over the network and occasionally to friends computers to help them out, so I won't have tested the more advanced features too much, but as a personal user, I am more than happy with this software and grateful for the generosity of the company in allowing 10 end points for free without the nags you get from other similar services in terms of commercial use. I have not needed to use to technical support, most problems can usually be resolved by reading help guides etc, so cannot comment on customer support. If you are in IT and use the likes of Teamviewer or GotomyPC, I highly recommend giving remote utilities a try when your subscription is due for renewal, if not before, given with 10 free endpoints you can thoroughly test it with a select few machines before buying more than 10, given it is not a subscription service, you are highly likely to save a great deal of money in the long term, should it prove suitable for your needs.