THE ATEN CS661 is a unique device used for connecting two laptops through USB and transferring data between them. I say laptops, but in truth it works well with any computer with a USB port. The unit is roughly the size of a chewing gum pack and is extremely portable. It has two USB connector cables of dif¬ferent lengths, 0.9m and 1.8m, for hooking up two computers. What I like most about the CS661 Laptop USB KVM Switch is it's an easy-to-use plug-n-play device, without any software installation required to get it started. It is as simple as that.

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Dual PC control is one of its noteworthy features. Like Windows Remote Desktop, it allows you to control both your local and remote PC via the local computer. How to use it? Very easy. The shorter USB cable (labeled LOCAL) goes into the computer which controls the other machine - connected by the longer cable (labeled REMOTE). After the device is detected, click the auto¬play window pop-up called Run ATEN_CS661.exe on the computers to get going.

The Aten CS661 has an intuitive user interface on the local computer, and the remote computer window has several menu options. The one we are most interested in is Open File Transfer. Click on it to launch a file transfer utility which gives a Windows Explorer-like file view of the local and remote computer in two columns.

Transferring files between the two PCs is as simple as selecting them and clicking the Send or Receive button, or simply drag and drop. There's a blue indicator on the Aten CS661 which starts flashing whenever files are being transferred. We got steady transfer speeds THE eSS61 LAPTOP switch simplifies file transfer between two computers through a USB port. of 11MB/s, which is good.

It also has a USB port along its length to plug in a pen drive or connect a printer. The switch comes with a carry case and quick guide. The Aten CS661 supports Microsoft Windows 2000 and later operating systems only, and can't be used on a Mac or Linux. Apart from this handicap, there's nothing else to undermine the usefulness of this simple USB-to-USB file transfer device.