Does the world need another remote control desktop program, so you can reach out and click someone else's icons? Perhaps we do. A new product called MioNet offers an inexpensive way to share files, access remote desktops and even manage locally networked Windows computers that don't need a keyboard or monitor.

MioNet, a product from Senvid, is aimed at the 28 million small businesses with 10 or fewer people. MioNet works only with Microsoft Windows, and the need for the product, Senvid says, stems from the fact Microsoft hasn't made remote desktop and remote file sharing easy enough for small businesses, 80% of which need mobile connections now and then.

After playing with MioNet for a couple of weeks I found it has more features than Microsoft offers by default in Windows and for less money than Microsoft’s Remote Terminal Services and tools from companies such as WebEx.com and GoToMyPC.com.  It is also simpler than tools that make it possible to synchronize folders across the WAN - such as the FolderShare program now owned by Microsoft and BeInSync.com - because MioNet doesn't constantly synchronize directory contents when you’re home and just trying to get a file from work.

MioNet is covered by two patents and 29 more are pending, all of which involve the company’s effort to simplify small company networking by treating network shares between systems just like local drives.

When you start the MioNet program (which loads three processes and doesn't seem overly piggish when it comes to computer resources and memory), your username and password logs in to the MioNet server, hosted by MioNet. Unlike some peer-to-peer systems that rely on a server to relay desktop images and files back and forth, MioNet's central site authenticates and connects, then gets out of the way. None of your files or remote desktop control images go through MioNet servers.

Using 256-bit encryption (the strongest the U.S. government allows for export), MioNet's software integrates into Microsoft Windows and shows remote shared resources as just another drive. So your Windows Explorer display at work, for example, may show Local Disk C:, CD-ROM D:, HomePC K:. At home, the K: drive letter may be assigned to your WorkPC at the office (you name them, not MioNet). Grabbing files from a remote PC appears exactly like grabbing files from your hard disk.