Part of a range of Log Me In products, the IT Reach version takes the concept of web-based remote access and augments it with powerful management and support features that can save you huge amounts of time and effort by avoiding support calls and off-site visits.

The system works via an Internet gateway hosted at logmein.com. Here you can set up an account and sign up for a free trial. Adding a new computer to your account provides you with an installation link that can be sent to a remote user via email.

The remote user clicks the link to install the client, which is then automatically configured and added to your online list of remote computers for future sessions.

After connection you are presented with the Log Me In IT Reach Dashboard. This is a well thought out hierarchical interface that provides fast, simple, interactive access to a hugely detailed selection of information and configuration settings on the remote system, as well as fast remote control and file-transfer capabilities.

The top-level menu shows you crucial system information such as hardware specifications, running processes, an event log summary and a list of installed Windows Hotfixes.

You can also drill down much further, to reveal motherboard temperatures, installed applications, DLLs in use and much more. In many ways it’s easier to diagnose and fix problems by using Log Me In IT Reach than it is sitting in front of the computer itself and far easier than trying to talk a remote user through dialogue boxes and menus.

Because the system uses 3am Lab’s servers as an intermediary, firewalls are effectively circumvented for the duration of the remote session. Integrated security features include RSA encryption, IP filtering, denial of service (DoS) and authentication attack filters.

3am Labs' Log Me In IT Reach is similar to the company's Log Me In Pro, which we recently gave an editor's choice award in our group test of remote access software applications.

System requirements:
Target PC – Windows 98/2000/XP/Server 2003
Internet Explorer or Netscape 4.0 or later
Internet connection, Admin privileges
Local PC – any browser with an Internet browser and Java or ActiveX enabled
Internet connection
PDAs also supported