TeamViewer 9 review

INTERNET CONFERENCING
TeamViewer’s built-in communication features also make it an excellent remote conferencing tool. When you invite participants to your presentation, your active screen will appear on their display. They’ll be able to see and hear whatever content you’re displaying, whether it’s a new application or a PowerPoint presentation. You can set up a conference call using TeamViewer’s built-in VoIP capabilities or a 7p per minute dial-in number. Other handy features include a whiteboard tool that lets the presenter temporarily draw and highlight objects on the shared screen, a basic text chat box, a file sharing box to distribute materials and the My Video tool, which lets you display the video feed from a connected USB camera. You can also record your session for future reference. It’s a shame other participants can’t use the whiteboard tools, too.

PRICING
Many web conferencing and remote desktop providers sell monthly subscriptions for each client PC, but you only pay once for TeamViewer 9, with the number of client systems you can connect to determine by which of three editions you buy. Although a new version of TeamViewer is released every year, your existing version will keep working and you’ll still be able to download the client software from TeamViewer. It’s also backward compatible, so TeamViewer 9 can control systems running version 3 or later.

The basic Business package, priced at £429, lets you hold meetings with up to 15 participants and lets you run meetings and control remote computers from one PC. The more expensive Premium and Corporate versions provide extra features, such as more meeting participants, optional browser-based access to systems on your contacts list, and an MSI package that you can roll out to a Windows Active Domain.

If you compare the Business edition to a pay-monthly service, TeamViewer looks rather pricey as it costs £37 per month. In comparison, you can get LogMeIn Pro for £46 per computer per year. You can also get GoToMeeting for £29 per month, which lets you hold meetings of up to 25 attendees. However, TeamViewer 9 lets you hold meetings and access computers remotely. It’s also worth noting that while you have to keep paying for those services if you want to keep using them, you’re under no obligation to upgrade to the latest version of TeamViewer. If you’re happy with the current version of TeamViewer you can save money and continue using it.

TeamViewer 9 is powerful and flexible enough to remain useful well into the future. TeamViewer 9 is a practical and elegant tool to help make the most of remote workers’ and clients’ time and resources, despite its relatively high cost.