Are there any other utilities that can be used on VAG cars other than VAG-COM ?

I seem to remember vaguely someone using another program to adjust timing etc??

Custom-Settings and Lemmiwinks. Custom-Settings is available from the Custom-Code website and Lemmiwinks is a little harder to find but is out there. Both will work on standard cars. Particularly useful for getting gains from higher octane fuel without paying for a remap.

Would either of these be of benefit on a remapped car ?

Yes

Would either of these be of benefit on a remapped car ?

For increasing performance then only the timing change would be of benefit and then only if say your car was mapped for 95 or 97ron and you were now running Tesco 99 or V-Power for example.

It can also be useful if you want to lower boost for some reason or if someone you don't trust will be driving the car you can lower the rev limiter.

I found this very handy article;

VWvortex Forums: Lemmiwinks: The guide

I'm consideing lowering the boost on the Octavia as the CEL has come on again and it is yet another boost leak.

I found this very handy article;

VWvortex Forums: Lemmiwinks: The guide

I'm consideing lowering the boost on the Octavia as the CEL has come on again and it is yet another boost leak.

Less boost will mean less heat so you may find you can up the timing a little to compensate and keep power around the same level. Getting the timing right will improve economy as well as performance.

That is another thing that would be nice (improved economy). What channels do I need to log in order to check the timing?

That is another thing that would be nice (improved economy). What channels do I need to log in order to check the timing?

Timing is 020 IIRC the values logged will be the amount of knock being detected. A little knock is acceptable, I think 3-6 degrees is considered acceptable. More details can be found in Revo's very good tuning guide.