Abstract: A method and system for remotely observing and controlling objects in a networked computer, such as an intelligent device connected to a server, which uses less hardware resources in the device while allowing the server to probe (i.e. observe and/or control) objects in the device. Software within the device includes at least one ‘probeable’ object capable of being observed or controlled and a probe registry, to which the probeable object can report itself. Software within the server includes a probe registry managed object which is a proxy for the probe registry, allowing the probe registry to report the type(s) of probeable objects executing on the device to an application executing on the server. A probe managed object which is a proxy for the probe object is also resident on the server, such that when the probe object is downloaded onto the device from the server, information gathered by the probe object can be reported to the application via the probe managed object.