01 Communique I'm InTouch 6.1 review

It's great to be able to access your Windows desktop from a remote PC, and there are already plenty of ways to do it, ranging from Windows' built-in Remote Desktop to commercial services such as LogMeIn.

When it comes to features, however, I'm InTouch raises the bar. As well as the normal remote desktop and file transfer functions you get remote audio, remote printing and a whiteboard. A presentation mode lets up to 10 watchers observe your PC at once, and unique extras include webcam streaming and Outlook calendar integration. A particularly nice touch is the ability to view and manage files from a BlackBerry, as well as taking full control from a Windows Mobile device.

One feature we don't like is the child-monitoring mode, which lets you spy on a remote PC without the user being aware of your presence. That's ethically questionable, and risky from a security standpoint.

When we used I'm InTouch to connect between a Windows XP PC and a Vista laptop, things went smoothly in both directions, with Vista's UAC requests correctly displayed on the Windows XP computer. I'm InTouch doesn't degrade the image to speed things up, but Windows was highly responsive. If necessary, you can remove the wallpaper and force a lower colour depth to reduce bandwidth requirements and improve performance.

It's a shame that initiating a connection requires you to type in the precise name of the computer to which you wish to connect, rather than picking from a list. Security is basic, too, requiring a simple username and password for full access. The client user interface also looks cheap in places, with some slightly cryptic icons.

I'm InTouch offers a wealth of features, and £50 a year is a reasonable price. However, we'd advise trying competitor LogMeIn before splashing out; it lacks a few of I'm InTouch's features, but it may have everything you need and it costs only $70 (around £35) per year.

Author: Darien Graham-Smith