A Solid Update to LogMeIn–The Best Free Remote Control App

A few weeks ago, I did a post on how to control a remote computer for free. I was pleased to see that among the comments that came back from readers, quite a few agreed with me that LogMeIn Free provides the best no-cost service.

“I’m a big LogMeIn fan, too,” said one reader. “I’ve tried a bunch of similar products, but the LogMeIn suite seem to be the most reliable across multiple platforms.”

Exactly, it works across platforms as an online application, and it’s extremely easy to specify remote computers that you may want to control, if you, say, find out in your hotel room that you left a presentation back at the office. The good news is that LogMeIn has just announced the latest updates to its service, including updates to LogMeIn Free, LogMeIn Pro, and LogMeIn IT Reach. This is worth looking into.

LogMeIn Free only requires you to have a Web connection to access a remote computer. Like LogMeIn Pro, and LogMeIn IT Reach, the new version of the free product adds a brand new user interface. I’ve been tinkering with it, and the interface seems to have made a number of common tasks easier. The menus are less confusing, and you have much more freedom to set your own personal preferences.

However, it’s still true that the LogMeIn Pro and LogMeIn IT Reach products, which are not free, have some desirable new additions that the free product doesn’t include. These versions now support remote sound capabilities, including streaming music from a remote computer to your local one, and some performance enhancements (including letting users go directly into remote control sessions). They also now allow you to drag-and-drop any file or folder from a remote computer to your local one–a killer feature which I would really like to see as a permanent addition in the free product.

There is a bit of good news on that front, though. If you sign up for LogMeIn Free, you get a 30-day trial of LogMeIn Pro, so you can at least try the remote sound, the drag-and-drop features, and all the other new additions. You can also take advantage of the following features in LogMeIn Pro, of which inviting friends to share computers is interesting:

Overall, I’m going to stick with the free product for now, and I do like the new user interface better. Web workers should also keep in mind that workgroups can make good use of these remote control products for co-diagnosing and repairing system problems. If you’re a small group, and don’t have a dedicated IT department, this can make life easier. As far as the new version of LogMeIn Free goes, though, I do wish LogMeIn would allow me to have the drag-and-drop file transfer feature in the free product.

Do you have any good tips on remotely controlling computers?

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