Laplink Everywhere is a web-based remote access service with a difference. Although remote control is fully supported, its true power lies in the many ways you can access data on your remote PC quickly and efficiently.

Where Laplink Everywhere comes into its own is in providing very quick access to remote data, whether it’s your Internet favourites, email or any other sort of data you have saved remotely.

The opening menu contains several functions designed to help you get at the information you want without having to log in using remote control.

Internet favourites gives you direct access to remote Internet Explorer bookmarks on your local PC, while the Remote Desktop Search feature lets you run Google Desktop Search functions on the remote PC to find remote content almost instantaneously.

You must have installed Google Desktop Search on the remote computer for this powerful feature to work. It lets you search for data using a simple, Google-like interface.

Once Google has found your files you can click on them to have them sent to you via the built-in file transfer function. You can search within files, emails, web history and chat logs or all at the same time. This is much faster than using remote control to navigate your desktop and search for files using Windows Explorer.

Multiple file-transfer systems are provided: the familiar dual-pane, Explorer-like file manager which runs locally, plus web-based file transfer options.

The dual-pane file manager is fast but lacks some of the more advanced features found in other packages, such as folder synchronisation and replication.

Web-based file transfers include the ability to send a secure file link to a friend, which will allow them to download an individual file of any size directly from your computer.

You also get integrated support for Outlook and Outlook Express, which gives you access to the email, contacts and so on, on your remote PC via a high-speed, local interface.

The remote control service, though adequate, is possibly the weakest part of Laplink Everywhere.

Three methods are provided and your choice depends on your operating system. If you’re connecting from a Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2000/2003 system with Terminal Services installed, select Microsoft’s RDP protocol. For systems running Windows XP Home, 2000, ME or 98SE, the Remote Control 4 (RC4) protocol should be used.

It’s a shame you’re forced to make such decisions, especially as you must be able to differentiate between Professional and Home Editions of Windows XP.

If you’re connecting from a Mac or Linux/Unix-based system or your browser isn’t Internet Explorer, you must select the Secure VNC option.

None of these protocols support dual monitors, so if you’re trying to control a system with more than one monitor installed, you won’t be able to access anything displayed on the second screen.

The web interface has versions for both PC and PDA browsing. In PDA mode, remote control options are not available but all other remote services are, and in a more compact form.

Remote Google Desktop Search is particularly useful on a PDA, allowing fast access to information that would be tricky to retrieve via remote control.

Two pricing schemes are available, the cheaper of which is limited to one hour of remote control use per month.

This is part of a group test on remote access software. Other articles are:
Group Test: Remote PC Access Software
01 Communique I’m In Touch 5.10
3am Labs Log Me In Pro 2.30.523
Anyplace Control 2.12
Citrix Gotomypc 5.0
Symantec PC Anywhere 11.5
Don’t forget security issues
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