14 DAY TRIAL // Yazsoft has issued an update to its network access utility, ShareTool. Targeting Bonjour users looking to access all of their services on their home network from anywhere in the world, Yazsoft’s ShareTool includes iTunes music sharing, screen sharing, file sharing, and more. The new version fixes a couple of bugs, and adds performance improvements.
According to the release notes, ShareTool 1.3.7 fixes AFP connectivity issues along with VPN issues. Yazsoft is tight lipped about the rest of the changes, but does mention that many under-the-hood performance tweaks and optimizations have been made.
ShareTool automatically configures routers supporting NAT-PMP or UpnP. Remote services automatically appear in Finder, iTunes, and other applications, while remote access is enabled for any application or service that advertises itself using Bonjour and runs over TCP/IP. All network traffic is strongly encrypted, in addition to ShareTool being specifically tailored so that a person’s services can only be accessed after entering their admin username and password. A list of changes included in version 1.3.5 can be found below.
Those familiar with Apple’s own such solutions will find ShareTool similar to MobileMe’s Back To My Mac (BTMM) features. ShareTool offers some unique ones as well. For example, while BTMM only works with Screen Sharing and File Sharing, ShareTool also works with iTunes, iPhoto, SFTP, and many third-party applications. Additionally, ShareTool doesn’t require a yearly subscription and also runs on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.
Download and test the trial version of ShareTool for free, using the link below. The free version will only allow you to access your services for 15 minutes at a time in trial mode. One ShareTool user license costs $20 to buy. The application is a Universal Binary – supported on both Intel and PPC architectures. ShareTool requires Mac OS X no higher than 10.3.9 (Panther), but newer OS versions are supported too.