NetSupport Manager: Highlights
This page provides an overview of some of the key features
included in NetSupport Manager. Please refer to the
individual platform "tabs" above for a full
list of functionality available within the product.
Remote Control of a PC
Watch, Share or Control the screen, keyboard and mouse
of a workstation irrespective of colour depth, resolution,
network protocol or operating system. Use the Audio
functions on multimedia capable PCs' to talk to your
users while providing support. NetSupport Manager is
consistently recognized in comparative reviews as offering
the fastest remote control performance available.
Monitoring Systems with Interactive Thumbnails
The Monitor Mode feature allows a Control to display
a "Thumbnail" view of all connected Client
workstations simultaneously. Thumbnail size can be adjusted
on the fly, as can the update interval. In addition,
the Control users can mouseover a specific thumbnail
for an expanded view of the selected PC. This provides
a unique feature within Remote Control solutions to
allow an IT manager to keep a constant eye over critical
systems and immediately identify if systems need intervention.
The View also provides key information such as OS type
, network address, the current logged on user and the
computer name for easy identification.
If the client is running multiple monitors, the Control
can switch between desktops.
Hardware and Software Inventories
Obtain a real-time view of the hardware and software
installed on the target workstation at the click of
a button, without ever needing to leave the NetSupport
Control program to gather this information. NetSupport
Manager collects over 80 items of information, specifically
about the hardware or environment of the Client PC.
A full inventory of current installed applications is
also provides as well as installed hotfixes. To aid
in remote support and diagnostics, you can also remotely
view, and security permitting control, applications
in memory, processes running and installed services.
File Transfer
Transfer and manipulate files between workstations using
a simple "drag & drop" interface. Synchronise
directories on two workstations or edit files and attributes
directly. NetSupport Manager utilises intelligent "Delta
File Transfer" to reduce data transfer times when
overwriting files that already exist by checking individual
blocks of data within a file and only transferring changed
data. This feature is enabled by default and applies
to all file types. The performance benefits are most
noticeable on slower connections.
File Distribution
Distribute files and data from a central NetSupport
workstation to multiple Client workstations simultaneously
and with a minimum of keystrokes and effort. Using this
feature, you are able to Distribute files to:
All connected Clients;
Selected Clients;
A pre-defined Group of Clients.
Quick & easy transfer of files direct to the
Client 'Desktop' or 'My Documents' folder
Explorer Desktop Integration
When a NetSupport Manager control is installed onto
a PC, it integrates directly with explorer, allowing
you to launch key functionality direct from your system
without needing to first start NetSupport.
A typical example would be within Network places, where
on viewing a list of PCs on the network, by selecting
the PC icon and using right mouse click, NetSupport
Remote Control, Chat and Inventory options are available
to launch.
Remote Desktop (RDP) Support
NetSupport Manager co-exists with RDP by detecting if
there is an active RDP session. The user is provided
with the option to either continue in screen scrape
mode or disconnect the RDP session for full remote control
capability.
Remote Deployment
The NSD utility (NetSupport Deploy) provides Network
Administrators with the facility to install and configure
NetSupport Manager on multiple workstations from a central
site without the need to visit the machines individually.
With NSD, you can:
Remotely Install a NetSupport package on multiple
workstations simultaneously.
Create and download specific Client Configurations
to multiple workstations.
Remotely update NetSupport License details on multiple
workstations.
Remotely Uninstall a NetSupport package from multiple
workstations simultaneously.
Show Function
Use the powerful Show function to conduct computer-based
training without the need for overhead projectors, video
splitters or any additional hardware. Show your Screen,
a selected monitor or just a selected application to
any number of connected computers in real-time. Utilise
a range of on screen annotation to tools to aid in your
presentation or training.
Scripting and Scheduling
NetSupport includes a powerful Scripting Language and
Scheduler that allows you to automate the tasks you
would normally perform repetitively in the NetSupport
Control and run them at a time when most convenient
to you. Scripting contains a wealth of Desktop Management
functions including the ability to interrogate Clients
and retrieve information such as free disk space; what
operating system they are running.
You can even use NetSupport Scripting to distribute
applications by using a combination of File Transfer,
Remotely Execute Applications and edit the Registry.
In simple terms, anything you can do manually with NetSupport
Manager, you can do automatically with NetSupport Scripting.
Power Management
If your workstation hardware and software supports "Wake
on Lan", you can use NetSupport to Power on / off
your workstations over the LAN. Ideal if needing to
copy data to a machine that is turned off.
Printer Redirection
The latest release includes improvements to capturing
client print output including support for Network and
USB printers. NetSupport Manager now also uses the WMI
service (available on XP and above) to create a ""Standard
TCP/IP Port"" which it uses to provide print
capture support. The Implementation on Window 2000 clients
is similar but as the WMI Service is not available as
standard the registry is updated by Manager to add the
""Standard TCP/IP Port.
64Bit Support
NetSupport Manager supports remote control of all x64
(AMD / Intel) platforms, including Windows XP64 and
Windows 2003
Chat and Audio Support
Conduct a two way chat session between selected multiple
users in either text or full audio mode.
Should the Chat member not respond, you can send an
audible beep to each workstation by selecting "Send
Beep". Use the "Invite" function to add
Clients when the Chat session is in progress and send
a copy of the Chat progress by using the Send discussion
history option. The contents of a Chat session can be
stored for future reference.
NetSupport Manager also offers Bi-Directional Audio
- extended audio support allowing one way talk, listen
and full bi-directional audio conversations outside
of a remote control session. Audio support is available
over all LAN/WAN and Internet based communications
Interactive Whiteboard
To both aid training and the effectiveness of support,
a Whiteboard feature is now available from within a
chat / multi-chat session. Similar to Annotate, the
Control is able to use a range of screen highlighting
tools to visually support their text chat with invited
users.
Launch Applications
NetSupport Manager includes the Launch Application feature
that allows you to remotely start applications on a
remote PC, start installer routines and much more.
This feature combined with File Distribution, provides
a quick and effective means of providing remote updates.
Messaging
Send a NetSupport text message to one or more chosen
PC's, or even broadcast to all PCs on the network. Ideal
for alerting your users of an impending server shutdown
or similar.
Help Requests
Enable your NetSupport users to send help requests directly
to your helpdesk when they need assistance. The help
request can either be sent to all available Operators,
or directed to specific operators based on user defined
accounts.
