I hate being tethered to the office, so I’m always on the lookout for ways that I can get my work done from wherever I happen to find myself. I’ve used a number of methods for remote access (RDP, GoToMyPC, and LogMeIn), and I’ve always liked the speed and feature set brought to the market by LogMeIn. Recently, the good folks behind LogMeIn have made massive improvements to the product and named the new version LogMeIn Pro 2. I have two machines that I access remotely using LogMeIn. One machine uses LogMeIn Pro 2, while the other uses the original LogMeIn Pro.

LogMeInPro 2’s interface has undergone major changes with the addition of new features, including a complete performance dashboard, access to just about all system management features, desktop sharing, access to the command prompt, individual system performance metrics, and a whole lot more.

In fact, here’s just a partial list of what is possible through a remote login using LogMeIn Pro 2. You don’t need to perform these operations from the remote system’s desktop; you need only to log in with LogMeIn Pro 2:

  • Change the computer’s time and time zone.
  • Transfer files to and from the remote computer via Java, ActiveX, or HTML.
  • Share files with family, friends, and coworkers.
  • Share your desktop with others.
  • Open a remote command prompt.
  • Manage user accounts on the remote machine.
  • Edit the registry on the remote system.
  • Change access permissions to shared resources.
  • View high-level performance information.
  • Drill down into performance details.
  • View the connections currently open to and from the machine.
  • Get a list of currently open files.

LogMeIn Pro 2 isn’t limited to the Windows crowd, either. I’ve been managing one of my systems from both my Mac laptop via Firefox, as well as from a Windows 7 machine running Internet Explorer. The server-side software also supports Macintosh computers, making LogMeIn truly cross platform.

The software is very easy to install, configure, and use. LogMeIn also provides an iPhone app that makes it possible to securely manage devices from a handheld device.

LogMeIn uses AES 256-bit encryption to protect your communication from prying eyes and making it a secure remote access solution. Better yet, you don’t need to jump right into the Pro edition; if you’d like to try a more basic version of the product, check out LogMeIn Free, which is free and includes the same high level of security found in the Pro product.

So far, I haven’t found anything not to like about LogMeIn. In short, LogMeIn Pro 2, in my opinion, would make a very good remote access tool for servers needing attention while people are away.

I’ve included a few screenshots of LogMeIn Pro 2 below:

LogMeIn Pro 2 remote system dashboard
Disk partitions as shown in LogMeIn Pro 2
Transferring files with LogMeIn Pro 2
Remote user management in LogMeIn Pro 2

Want to keep up with Scott Lowe’s posts on TechRepublic?