by Rich Castagna
It's a long arm that can reach back to your office PC when you're on the road. And that arm needs deft fingers at both ends to manipulate files and applications effectively. Carbon Copy is one of the handful of venerable entries in the remote-control/access field. Version 3.0 enhances Carbon Copy's worthier features and adds Windows 95 compatibility to its mix of supported operating systems.
The first thing you'll notice about this new version is how easy it is to install. Carbon Copy not only conducts most of this process, but also offers guidance along the way. For example, you don't have to tell the software what kind of modem you have and which comm port it's using. Carbon Copy will check your system and find and identify your modem. When it finds your modem, it probably will correctly pin a name on it because it consults a list of about 300 modem brands and models. It had no trouble fingering a Zoom V.34 in one machine and an Intel PCMCIA 14.4Kbps modem in a notebook.
After confirming its discovery with you, the program then puts the modem through its paces to determine the highest data-transfer speed that it can handle working with Carbon Copy.
All too often, using remote-control software results in some aprs connection headaches. These programs often replace your system's drivers with their own. Consequently, when you're not hooked up in a remote session you end up forfeiting functionality. Not so with Carbon Copy. It keeps its hands off your video, keyboard and mouse drivers. And as long as you stay in Windows, Carbon Copy doesn't load any TSRs.
The program's interface is essentially the same as version 2.5's. It consists of eight large buttons that you click on to make a call or wait for one, to transfer files, to start remote control and to open a chat session between the connected computers. Three of version 2.5's less intriguing buttons Password Table, Phone Book and Exit have been relegated to menu options and replaced by Remote Clipboard, Remote Printing and Remote Drive.
These new buttons reflect some of version 3.0's new features and do what their names suggest. Remote Clipboard is a handy feature that lets you copy text or graphics to Clipboard on one machine and then paste the copied material into a document on a remote PC. It also works very quickly. With Remote Printing, you remotely access and use a printer connected to the host PC, so you could send files from the guest PC and have them print back at the office. Remote Drive lets you map the host's drives to the remote PC so they appear as local drives.
Linking two PCs with Carbon Copy 3.0 was about as easy as installing the software. I did have to make a minor adjustment to complete a connection dropping the communication speed at the host to match that of the remote. I tested the program on PCs running Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and a beta of Windows 95. It operated flawlessy under all three operating systems.
Carbon Copy 3.0's file-transfer function is easy to use and quick. You can drag files between the directories on the split-screen display to transfer them from one PC to the other. I moved a 300KB file in less than 15 seconds. It took only a couple of seconds longer to scoot a 1MB file between machines. When a file transfer finishes, the directories on both ends of the connection are automatically refreshed.
Remote control is pretty peppy, too. As with most remote-control programs, the response isn't fast enough to entice you into running apps remotely on a regular basis, but for occasional use it's acceptable. From the guest PC, I started Excel on the host. It took about 14 seconds to get the app up and running only a few seconds longer than a local launch. There was a more substantial difference opening files, however. Locally, a 50KB Excel file opened in a lickety-split 1.5 seconds. The same file when accessed across Carbon Copy's remote bridge took about 13 seconds to appear. Screen refreshes were also speedy enough to work comfortably.
Carbon Copy 3.0 is a solid remote-access and control performer. Although other programs' speed may rival or even surpass Carbon Copy's, its easy, noninvasive installation and intuitive interface make it an excellent choice to extend your PC's reach.
--Info File--
Carbon Copy 3.0
Price: $129 (street)
In Brief: Carbon Copy 3.0 is a very capable remote-control program with an easy, unobtrusive installation.
Disk Space: 8MB
System Resources: 1% RAM: 4MB
Microcom
800-822-8224, 617-551-1000