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Why this application has been named Hamachi escapes me. There’s nothing fishy about it, certainly not from a functionality or pricing perspective.

Hamachi is a freeware VPN application, available for Windows, Linux and Mac environments. With a tiny footprint, Hamachi provides the possibility of running virtually (get it?) any network-enabled application over the Internet. The most practical example is the following: you’re away from the office or home and have some files you need access to. If that machine is on and connected to an active Internet connection with Hamachi running, you can easily connect to it from anywhere and copy those files. Or even remotely control the PC using VNC or Microsoft’s Remote Desktop.

During the installation of Hamachi, you register the installation by providing a description of your machine. Hamachi provides a unique key. Do the same on as many other machines as required. Then, create a network, again with any name. Connect the machines to the network, using the password you selected. When Hamachi is powered-on, the Hamachi server provides each machine a unique IP address in the 5.x.x.x range and automatically lists the addresses it finds that belong to the network.

Then its easy: right-click a machine to ping, browse or send a message to. That’s built into Hamachi. Browsing is particularly useful: all available shares are displayed in the standard Explorer window and file operations may be completed as required. But that’s not all! Hamachi provides VPN functionality so that any network application can be run over the Internet. VNC is a great remote-control application for remotely working on another machine and Hamachi is a popular choice of gamers for playing network games over long distances. Basically any networked application can be run over Hamachi.

All network traffic is encrypted and Hamachi ensures that dropped connections are reconnected as soon as possible. The Hamachi server is the central point at which IP addresses are distributed and communication among the different peers occurs. The user interface is simple and uncluttered and the mini guide that assists you after the initial installation is a great way to get you up and running in no time. The Linux version requires a bit more work to get running and is console-based.

You’ll need an always-on connection for this to be useful and there are issues with corporate firewalls. But if you have a need to stay connected this is an excellent alternative to more costly offerings available. Hamachi can be downloaded here.