Key among updates in pcAnywhere 11.5 is the ability to manage Linux devices, from Linux devices, and to remotely control Windows and Linux computers from Pocket PC and Pocket PC Phone Edition devices, according to senior product manager Mike Baldwin.
There’s also a low-footprint version of the software that supports Windows Pre-Installation Environment, WinPE, so administrators can add pcAnywhere host software to recovery or boot disks and remotely troubleshoot machines with dud Windows installations.
For the software’s lifetime to date there has only been one connection scenario, using a Windows PC to remotely control another Windows PC, Baldwin said. Now there are 12 such connection scenarios, he said, including handheld-to-PC.
The software can adapt to the limitations of the Pocket PC’s screen size using a tap-to-zoom method that, Baldwin said, means users are never more than two taps away from seeing in full-size the area of the target machine’s screen they need to look at.
Among the other improvements to the 11.5 version are better encryption with 256-bit AES, based on a Symantec-developed cryptographic module, replacing the 128-bit RC4 that used Windows’ crypto API that was found in previous versions.
Baldwin said performance has also been improved, with the software now able to detect the amount of available bandwidth and adjust the quality of the video stream between target and controller automatically.
