Using a smartphone or tablet as a remote control for your PC

[Borats Baby]

I've been asked by another wammer to lay out some instructions regarding VNC servers/clients.

I use my smartphone as a remote control for my PC by using VNC software which basically uses the IP address of your desktop pc or laptop even, and displays your session on the screen of your tablet/phone of choice.

I don't know all the techy stuff, but basically, first you need to install a vnc server on your pc. Theres a few different ones out there, but I've used one called " tightvnc " which is available HERE

Next you need to install a vnc client on your phone/tablet. I use an android device and went for free bvnc which is available on what is now called Play Store, ( the old Android "Marketplace" )

When you open the free bvnc on your phone, you have to pop in the ip address of your pc, and the password (if you set one up when you installed the server on your pc), and when you click connect you should see your desktop screen appear on your phone etc. You can use your fingers on the screen to navigate your way around and if you need to scroll, 2 fingers on the screen and drag up or down.

Brilliant..

I hope I've explained that well enough, I'm usually shite at explaining things, but any questions, I'm sure if you post here, me or someone will help out.

[SergeAuckland]

Good explanation. The only thing I would add is that "pop in the ip address of your pc" could be difficult if you have several PCs at home, and the router allocates IP addresses dynamically. If it's a problem finding the IP address, then it's best to allocate fixed IP addresses to individual PCs.

S.

[Borats Baby]

Good point Serge.

I'm not properly familiar with how IP addresses work so I can't help out much on that front.

What I did just remember is that on the phone, in the field where you enter the IP address, there was a "scan" or "search" function I think and it automatically found my desktop !

[BobC]

Tip top Rik, and it works a treat. It's great for controlling Media Monkey from the couch, don't even need the main screen on. All we need to do now is find a NAS that runs Media Monkey and away we go....too much to ask that a hardware supplier would produce a transport without linking it to their own software???????

[clap]

Can I do this on a windows phone?