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I'm
InTouch v3.3
Reviewed
by: Jim
Huddle, CNE5 CBS MCSE ES-RC, send
e-mail
Published
by: 01
Communique, go
to the web site
Requires: Windows
98SE, NT 4.0, 2K or XP. PII/233, 32M RAM, 30MB free hard
drive space, IE5.5+ or Netscape 4.75+, broadband connection
MSRP: $99.95
Do you
carry a cell phone and a wireless PDA? Are you mad crazy
to be able to access your data from anywhere you can get
an Internet connection? If this sounds like you, then you
probably should check out I'm InTouch from 01 Communique.
I'm InTouch
is a program which allows you to access your files and
Outlook e-mail on your PC from almost any Internet capable
device. To connect, you enter the URL of the location server
and it authenticates your connection to the PC running
I'm InTouch. Once you are connected to your PC, you can
access it's files, including any network drives the PC
has mapped, remote control the PC and work with it directly,
manage your Outlook e-mail and even stream video if you
have a webcam in use.
Installation
of the software is fairly simple and the software will
check your communications before finishing. To make real
use of I'm InTouch you will need some type of broadband
Internet connection like a cable modem or DSL that is always
connected.
If you
buy the retail boxed product check the version number.
If you happen to get v3.2 or earlier then I strongly recommend
you use the software's update feature immediately after
installing. When I first got the product I had some serious
problems on a Win98 box with registry corruption.
01's tech support was very helpful and noted that there
had been a very few similar reports from other Win98 users
that were being addressed in v3.3. Also, with version 3.2,
I was unable to use the remote control feature on a Win
2K box. I could get a connection, but only a black screen
appeared in the browser. Version 3.3 corrected these problems.
Just as an FYI, while 01 Communique doesn't appear to
either recommend or directly support it, I have I'm InTouch
v3.3 running on a Win2K server and it's working very nicely.
We encountered a small problem with PHP. I'm InTouch installs
an Apache web server and PHP on your PC. This is the basic
mechanism that allows you to access your PC remotely. This
is fine, but if you already have PHP on your PC, and happen
to use it for writing web scripts, be advised that I'm
InTouch will hammer your php.ini file and your 'other'
PHP will cease to function. The program doesn't seem to
actually affect your existing PHP installation, just redirects
all PHP use to itself, effectively killing your other PHP
activities. You can get around this by making a copy of
your php.ini file before and after installing I'm InTouch.
You might copy your non- I'm InTouch php.ini to php.ini.org
and your I'm InTouch php.ini file to php.ini.touch. You
then just replace the php.ini with the appropriate copy
depending on which PHP based service you need. If you have
no idea what I'm talking about, then you probably don't
need to worry about it.
You should also know that I'm InTouch is a subscription
service. The price of $99.95 is for 1 year of unrestricted
use. There is no limit on number of connections or time
spent connected. If you'd like to try it out you can download
the app from 01 Communique's web site. It will work for
30 days. If you like it you can subscribe online and have
your demo convert to a regular version.
Letters to the Editor are welcome and occasionally abused in public. Send e-mail to: whine@kickstartnews.com
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