No. 149. Remote Control Pro

I hope you had a great Field Day!

Here is another program that does an elegant job of solving problems. Remote Control Pro (RCP) is an amazing program that, in essence, allows you to completely control one computer from another.

As I wrote in the last article on GoodSync, I have six permanent computers at my QTH. Three are in my office on the second floor of my home. My main machine is named Main32, a laptop on the desk next to it is called DellLT, and my wife's machine is named Nancy. Three more live in the basement, two floors below. One is dedicated to Winlink 2000 (named Wlink), another dedicated to general ham stuff such as PSK31 and the like (named Ham). A third machine is used in rebuilding computers for ARES/RACES (it always has its covers off and I often switch its hard drive temporarily with one I need to wipe or partition during the rebuilding process); that one is named Basementest. All machines are now hard wired to my router with network cable.

When there is an update of one kind or another, or a new software package, I install it on each of the office machines. Then I have to traipse down two flights of stairs into the basement to install the update on the three down there. Gee, it sure would be nice to be able to do all the basement machines from my main computer! RCP lets me do that, and anything else I want to do, without moving from my main machine.

To use RCP, one installs a server module on each computer you want to control, and an administrator module on the machine you wish to do the controlling with. When properly set up, the program will start with Windows on all machines and sit in the background, listening. Thereafter, it could not be simpler. In the RCP administrator, I double-click an icon that represents Ham, and suddenly my desktop is covered with Ham's desktop. Once it is there, my mouse moves Ham's cursor, and I can do anything from upstairs that I could do sitting at Ham's keyboard in the basement. I can install software, run a virus scan, or anything else. If I could physically see Ham's screen in the basement, I could watch the cursor moving around as it is controlled from upstairs. I can even restart the remote computer, or shut it down completely. Indeed, I often check Winlink remotely to see if there are any new email messages that have come in via Winlink 2000. I can even send one remotely. Amazing!

I was introduced to RCP by Jim Darrow (KB9MMC), Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator for Digital Communications. Jim is the Winlink 2000 guru for the state ARES/RACES Winlink program. Jim actually logs onto my Wlink machine remotely from time to time to install Winlink updates or to tweak my system as necessary to keep it in peak operating condition for the sake of the ARES/RACES network. It is astounding to look up from my basement workbench to see Wlink's cursor across the room flying around the screen as he works on my system from his house, about 40 miles away. Just amazing!

The authors have done a fine job in designing this software. It only requires about a 5 to 10% load on the CPU of the target (controlled) machine. The desktop you are controlling is updated on your machine thousands of times a second, so it is hardly perceptible that you are not sitting in front of the controlled desktop.

You can get the current version of RCP (3.7.0) from http://www.alchemy-lab.com/products/rcp/. You must pay for this version, however, at $15 per pc for 2-4 computers. Version 2.7 of the software was shareware. On the other hand, the version I am using (2.0.0, released in 2005) is freeware and seems to work just fine. You can get it at http://http://remote-control-pro.lastdownload.com/

A fun and useful program! Must go now – I need to check to see if any email has come in on Wlink over the Winlink 2000 system (without going down to the basement).

Happy Computing!

No. 150. Too Many Icons? Consolidate!

Another landmark has arrived. This makes the 150th article I have written since the first one in July 1993. That is roughly 15.5 years! Most of my articles during that time covered topics that could be gleaned by some practical experience with computers, plus reading books, magazines and articles on the individual topics covered in each topic. My own practical experience has come from three major activities: 1. Working with computers during my professional life (as a biomedical scientist, not as a computer technician). 2. Building my own computers, both at work and at home. 3. Rebuilding computers for ARES/RACES use throughout the State of Wisconsin (I rebuilt and distributed 105 machines to our 72 counties during 2008). And I do a fair amount of reading about computers. Anyway, to celebrate the 150th, here is an article that you cannot really get by reading books (at least insofar as I am aware). Practical experience is the only source. But it is not a hardware topic.

If you are like many (including me), it does not take long for your Windows desktop to become cluttered with icons. Icons usually represent shortcuts to programs – for burning, editing pictures, playing games or a myriad of other activities you do on your computer. Lets face it. Clicking an icon on the desktop is a lot faster than clicking Start, Programs, and selecting what you want from a long list, so it is indeed handy to have the icons at hand on the desktop. On the other hand, desktop icon clutter is the result after awhile. Here is my approach to the problem, which is essentially to make shortcuts to the shortcuts.

Aside from the usual icons on my desktop (IE, Firefox, Thunderbird, etc), there are five special ones. 1. Cleaning and Security. 2. Info and Tweak. 3. Burn, PDF and Zip. 4. Graphics and Media. 5. Games. Together, they represent 41 different programs, and 41 different icons! Here is what is in two:

So, for example, if I click just one icon, Cleaning and Security, a window appears with seven icons, one for each of the programs listed above. Clicking Info and Tweak reveals the six listed above. Handy! A total of 41 icons reduced to five, but all 41 are quickly accessed.

Now, how does one do that? My description that follows is for Windows 2000 Professional, but it will be the same, with some minor variations possible, for XP or Vista.

Open C:\Programs (or D:\ if you keep your programs as I do, on my D: drive). Right click and select New, Folder. A new folder icon will appear, and its name should be highlighted. Type in: Cleaning and Security. If its name was not highlighted, right click the name New Folder and select Rename. Then type in Cleaning and Security and press the Enter key.

So far, we have created a properly labeled new empty folder, ready to hold our icons, but we need access to it on the desktop. Go up one level (to C:\Programs, or D:\) so that you can see the folder but not what might be in it (which is nothing, at this point). If you can’t seem to go up one level, just close everything and go find the folder again. Right click it, and select Create Shortcut. A new folder icon will appear labeled Shortcut to Cleaning and Security. Now resize everything so you can see part of your desktop if it was not visible before. Left click the Shortcut to Security and Cleaning icon and hold the button down. At the same time, press and hold the left Shift key, and drag the icon to the desktop. Let everything go. That should move the shortcut icon to the desktop and erase it from the C:\Programs (or D:\) directory. If you succeeded in getting it to the desktop but a copy of the shortcut icon still resides in the C:\Programs (or D:\) directory, simply erase that shortcut.

OK, the Shortcut to Cleaning and Security folder is on the desktop, but empty. Click it to open it. Now, select and drag (while holding down the left Shift key) an icon of your choice such as AVG into the open Shortcut to Cleaning and Security folder. It should be in that folder now, but gone from the desktop. If it is not gone from the desktop, just erase the desktop copy once it is in the new folder. Do that with all the icons that fit into that category. Close the folder and open it again. All the icons you moved into it should be there. Close the folder.

Now for cleanup and pretty up. On the desktop, right click the closed folder and select Rename. Delete the Shortcut to part of the name and press the Enter key. You know it is a shortcut because it has a little curved arrow in the icon and you don’t need the extra words. Next, lets get rid of the boring folder icon. Right click the icon and select Properties. Click the Shortcut tab and on it, click Change Icon. A window will come up with about 100 different icons. Find one you like for that category and highlight it by clicking. Click OK and Apply. After closing everything, your boring old folder icon should change to the one you selected.

After you have done one like this, the others should be easy. And, you certainly do not need to use the organization that I have suggested. You might want a WP folder for word processing programs, or HAM for ham programs, or whatever. However you want to do it, do it. It will make your desktop less cluttered, and your work easier.

By the way, anything you put into that desktop shortcut will also appear back in the C:\Programs (or D:\) folder. If you should ever inadvertently loose the desktop icon, just follow the instructions above to put a copy back. Use care, though, to put a shortcut back on the desktop. Leave the original where it is.

Happy Computing!