NetOp Remote Control

High availability and accessibility of data from anywhere is a mobile professional's dream. With the advent of technologies such as remote desktop sharing and terminal services, Windows CE-based devices have come a step closer to mobile computing nirvana. NetOp Remote Control not only allows Windows CE-based devices to access desktop information remotely but also enables Windows CE hosting capabilities for remote controlling.

Two terms that any NetOp user must become familiar with are "host" (the NetOp-enabled device that waits to be controlled by a remote system) and "guest" (the NetOp enabled device that remotely connects to a hosting system for remote controlling purposes).

When using NetOp Remote Control to connect to desktop systems, advanced features become available to the user:

• Remote script execution
• File transfers
• Text and voice chat sessions between host and remote systems

In addition, extended "Host Modules" are included:

• NetOp Gateway: A NetOp host with the added capability of routing NetOp traffic between different communication devices.
• NetOp Name Server: A NetOp host that has the ability to resolve names to IP addresses for fast and efficient connections.

NetOp has a plethora of features too vast to cover (the kit comes with three manuals that mainly cover the desktop/server options); therefore I will focus primarily on the Windows CE hosting and guest functions.

Fig. 1. Remote-controlled desktop host on Windows CE handheld screen.

Installation

The installation procedures for both the hosting system and the guest are very intuitive. After installing both guest and host systems, NetOp Remote launches wizards to help the user set up program options.

Configuring a host has many options including:

• Automatic host loading as a service at bootup. This feature is particularly useful for servers, especially when hosting always needs to be on regardless if a user is logged on to the machine or not.
• The host window can be minimized at startup as well as hidden (stealth mode).
• Connection notifications to alert the hosting system that a guest is currently connected to or is in the process of connecting to the hosting system.

Other functions such as remote printing, audio chat, and help request (a function similar to the Windows XP helpdesk feature) are only available when using the desktop version to act as the guest.

The guest software options on the Windows CE device are intuitive as well. Menu options in the Guest module include:

• Connecting to a host machine
• Communication method (TCP or UDP)
• Graphics settings
• Name server settings (to allow host name lookup on a NetOp name server)
• A recent host list to quickly connect to previously connected hosts
• A Send menu to emulate certain keystrokes to send to the NetOp host (e.g., Ctrl-Alt-Del, Ctrl-Esc, Alt-Tab, function keys, etc.)
• Keyboard locking (to disable the keyboard on the NetOp host)
• Screen blanking (to blank out the screen on the host)
• Connecting to a NetOp host
• My test setup consisted of the following:
• A Pentium 4 desktop machine running Windows XP Professional
• TCP/IP protocol running over a LAN connection
• NetOp host installed and configured for launching on boot (running as a service) with password encryption enabled.
• Jornada 728 Handheld PC 2000 and Compaq iPAQ 3870 connected to a LAN via wireless 802.11b network adapters