Compatibility, Speedy Installation, and The Best Always On Solution
Updated November 27, 2017

Compatibility, Speedy Installation, and The Best Always On Solution

Adam Shrum | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with ConnectWise Control (formerly ScreenConnect)

I use Connectwise Control to achieve "always on" continuous connections for various servers that host web applications.


What I like most about the product is the speed of which it takes to install a client. In under a minute you can have an always on connection ready to go. I also really like the Access Points view screen where I can just double click on each server to jump right in. Plenty of details on who else has been in that server, and what all activity has happened too.


I don't use the meeting feature, mainly because there is not a conference number to dial into. One of the features that drew me to Connectwise was that it works with Mac OSX operating systems (really well might I add), and apparently Linux too (but I haven't tried Linux yet).


Which brings me to what I like least about the product. The setup of other users and access rights is very very cumbersome. Put on your thinking cap because you might have to get creative with their permissions to restrict the app the way you want it. I was able to get it to work for my business and users, but it was a struggle, and something I think could be easily improved upon with a better UI, roles, and checkboxes for the permissions assigned to each role.


Overall, I'm very satisfied with Connectwise Control and would gladly recommend it to anyone who manages multiple servers and needs a continuous heartbeat connection to access them quickly.

  • Continuous Remote Access
  • Speedy Installation of Clients
  • Mac OSX Supported!
  • Poorly Designed User Roles and Permissions
  • Add Conference Call In Numbers
  • Add Chrome Push Notification Alerts
  • Excellent backup to Windows Remote Desktop
  • Allowed me to make claim that I can always get into a server if it's powered on
Other options I considered were Teamviewer and sticking with Windows Remote Desktop.

Teamviewer is very popular, and doesn't require a recurring monthly fee which I liked a lot, but you are married to the version you buy. If another user doesn't have that version you have to uninstall and install the correct Teamviewer Version to get everything to work right. I didn't want this headache.
Best for businesses who need to manage multiple servers with multiple different operating systems (Mac/Linux/Windows).

ConnectWise ScreenConnect Feature Ratings

Screen sharing
9
File transfer
8
Instant message
5
Secure remote access with Smart Card authentication
Not Rated
Access to sleeping/powered-off computers
10
Over-the-Internet remote session
8
Initiate remote control from mobile
Not Rated
Remote management of servers & workstations
8
Remote Active Directory® management
Not Rated
Centralized management dashboard
8
Session record
Not Rated
Annotations
Not Rated
Monitoring and Alerts
Not Rated
Multi-platform remote control
10

Using ConnectWise Control (formerly ScreenConnect)

Overall it's pretty easy to figure everything out. Permissions are much easier to manage. I had an issue with integrating with Freshdesk before, but I suspect that might work now. Everything that changed in the UI is a change for the better. The previous UI wasn't completely abandoned, and it's still what I remember using in the previous version. Good work!