The new Apple Remote Desktop has a new face, new guts, and new glory. Version 3 has so many new tools that will make IT professionals drool. It can support a few computers on a network for a small business, up to thousands of computers in a school system or a large corporation. It is not perfect, but it packs a punch and it's worth its price.

The new Apple Remote Desktop has a new face, new guts, and new glory. Version 3 has so many new tools that will make IT professionals drool. It can support a few computers on a network for a small business, up to thousands of computers in a school system or a large corporation. It is not perfect, but it packs a punch and it's worth its price.

As a home Mac user, I manage several computers at my daughter's house and two in my home. We were amazed at what Apple Remote Desktop 3 (ARD3) can do. We could monitor what four users were doing on their computers. I could show my daughter in New Jersey how to use iPhoto 7, step-by-step�from Pennsylvania. We could swap photos via the Remote Drag and Drop and Remote Copy and Paste functions. A Remote Desktop widget gives an instant view of remote computers through Dashboard, without opening ARD3. This is an ideal application for helping new users, students, parents, grandparents, and so on.

Managing computers from afar is easier than ever. Now, ARD3 users can configure the preference settings of remote computers and easily create new user accounts, without ever touching the remote computer.

Another neat Apple Remote Desktop 3 feature is AutoInstall, which installs software remotely. This is useful when working with many laptops. The packages to be installed are placed in an update queue; online computers are updated immediately, while laptops receive their updates when they connect to the network.

Apple Remote Desktop 3 can produce Hardware Reports and User Logs to help IT departments better manage their resources. But when I generated an Application Usage report, the results were not thorough and did not provide a log of used applications. The computer had been running all day and there had been activity on 10 programs, but only one application was reported. This is not very useful.

I did encounter problems with firewalls and DHCP connections with computers in other states. ARD3 does not do well with dynamic IP addresses. For the security-minded, there is an option to encrypt communications both ways, using 128-bit encryption.

Apple Remote Desktop 3 can also do Spotlight searching remotely. I did not test this feature, but can see that it might prove very useful.

It also has extensive Automator support, which can be used to automate routine management tasks. Apple includes builds for over 30 common automated actions.

The PDF Manual has 184 pages and is well written. The installation of the software went without a hitch, as did configuring the preferences for the remote computers I wanted to manage. I did not encounter any bugs.

I recommend Apple Remote Desktop 3, for both IT professionals and casual Mac users who wish to manage many Macs on a local network or remotely, in spite of the two difficulties: Its poor reporting feature and my difficulty establishing remote connectivity. Its many features and the ease of use make it a winner.