Control your computer from your windows phone. How to make a remote control for a Windows computer from a Windows Phone smartphone

Modern technologies do not stand still and for quite a long time have allowed us to control the computer using the phone, even if we are at some distance from it. This way you can control music playback, press keys, etc. Besides, remote control can be used when displaying presentations or other content on big screen projector. This guide will show you how to turn your device into Windows Phone 7 or Windows Phone 8 into the remote control remote control for a Windows computer.

You will need: a mobile device with Windows Phone, a PC running Windows and a Wi-Fi network.

Part 1: Download and install PC Remote Server on your computer

Download the PC Remote Server program. It's free. Install it on your computer and run it.

Now you can minimize the program window to the system tray.

Part 2: Download and install the PC Remote application on your mobile device

On your mobile device, open the application store, enter “PC Remote” in the search bar and install the application. It is free, as is the server part. You can also download the application by following this link through your smartphone's browser.

Part 3: Connection and Use

Launch the PC Remote application on your smartphone. Again, make sure your smartphone and PC are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

At the bottom line of the application, click on the “Update” button (the very first button). As soon as the icon with your computer appears in the list of devices, click on it.

Enter the previously assigned password and click on the “Connect” button.

On the next screen, you'll see controls, including functions to control some programs. We will discuss the main part of them now.

Mouse: this option turns touch screen mobile device into a touchpad, which allows you to move the cursor on the computer screen and control elements operating system. There is support for gestures.

Keyboard: provides access to all keyboard functions. You can enter text, press control keys, use arrow keys, etc.

Desktop: This option allows you to view your computer screen. Everything that is displayed on the monitor can be seen and controlled on the display of your phone.

PowerControls: This section of the application contains functions for managing the computer's power - shutting down, rebooting, etc. You can even turn off the monitor.

Sound: sound volume control.

Files: something like file manager, which allows you to browse your computer's drives, libraries, etc.

The application also has other features. You can, for example, control multimedia players - WMP, Winamp, Zune, etc. You can also run programs from your mobile device, but keep in mind that you will need to purchase the Pro version to use some tools mobile application.

Have a great day!

The history of Windows Phone (WP) is full of mysteries and paradoxes. The platform, which Lately receives fairly favorable reviews from observers, but cannot win any significant market share. Despite certain successes in some countries, in the most important regions smartphones on Android and iOS still rule the roost.

Of course, Microsoft made a bunch of mistakes: it took on WP too late, managed to make the first branch of WP 7 a dead end, for some reason came up with Silverlight, etc. But all this is in the past, and what’s stopping you today? Overall, we can say that over the past years Android platform managed to become for smartphones about the same as DOS or Windows became in their time. Devices for every taste and budget operate under her control, she is constantly in the news, and a huge number of applications have been developed for her...

The last one is perhaps the most sensitive argument. Although the WP Store already has over 300,000 apps, this is still significantly less than competing platforms. One can, of course, remember that out of all these many thousands, the one that enjoys real popularity is absolutely small part, and, for example, 65% of US users do not install on smartphones at all additional applications. But the fact remains: although today you can solve almost any problem using WP, it is not always possible to find a specific application for this.

It is curious that Microsoft itself partly contributes to this state of affairs. Let's say that a native RDP client appeared only for WP 8.1 (this may be due to previous platform limitations), i.e. much later than for Android and iOS. There are other examples. Most likely, the situation will be actively corrected with Windows release 10 for all devices and further popularization of so-called universal applications (they can be developed today, but in the future API platforms will be added). However, in reality, WP even today can boast of some unique applications, analogues of which are not easy to find on other platforms.

Despite all the criticism expressed above, the source of these unique applications is still Microsoft itself. This is understandable, since it is almost impossible for an independent developer to make a case for supporting WP exclusively. For this review, I selected three applications that can be classified as “remote control”. The latter perfectly demonstrates the mentioned gaps in the WP Store - where, for example, there are still no “native” applications for popular brands Smart TV, but there are third-party analogues, the quality of which often leaves much to be desired. And yet.

Screen projector

To be absolutely precise, then in in this case we should talk about the capabilities of the platform itself, and not about a separate application. Screen Projector is indeed built into WP 8.1 and is designed to function exactly as its name suggests. Usually in similar cases This means wireless broadcasting of media content to devices (TVs, projectors) with Miracast support - this feature is available in all modern mobile platforms, including in Android, starting from version 4.2.

The “Screen Projector”, however, can additionally work with a PC via a USB cable. Moreover, in this case, it will be possible to control the smartphone both directly and from a PC - with a mouse or even with your fingers if the monitor is touch-sensitive. This feature appears to be primarily aimed at developers. Perhaps its most obvious uses are the creation of videos teaching how to use applications, or interactive demonstrations on a large screen (via a laptop on any projector). An example of application for “peaceful purposes” is shooting with long shutter speeds: the smartphone is fixed in the desired position, and the USB cable with the laptop serves as a convenient viewfinder and cable release.

All that is required to use the “Screen Projector” in this quality is to install a special application on your PC:

The whole process comes down to a few clicks on the Next button. Then you need to launch the desktop application, go to the “Screen Projector” settings, connect the USB cable and enable the actual broadcast:

However, the worst thing that can happen if the procedure is violated is the use incorrect drivers. In this case, the connection will not be established and you will need to go to Device Manager with the connected smartphone, remove old drivers and repeat the steps with the “Screen Projector”:

If the connection is successfully established, the smartphone screen will be displayed in the desktop application, which will be executed in full screen mode(exit via Esc):

Another Screen Projector setting allows you to visualize touches. Round yellow spot in the previous illustration - this is precisely the “fingerprint”. Very visual for creating references, demo videos, etc.

What is happening on the screen of the smartphone itself and its image on the monitor are completely synchronized, depending on the specific need, you can control both. A certain set of hotkeys is also supported:

In addition, complete with desktop application is installed configuration file, in which, for example, you can deliberately adjust the size of the smartphone screen image and some other parameters.

Apparently there are no complete analogues of “Screen Projector” for Android, although they are available on Google Play apps allow you to solve certain individual problems. For example, you can mention commercial or other VNC servers that usually only work on rooted devices.

Mouse without Borders

Our regular readers may be using the Mouse without Borders application, but only for regular PCs. This is one of the simplest so-called “software KVMs”, which allows you to quickly control several computers using one set of mouse and keyboard. Curious that it was created Microsoft employees, united in the informal community The Garage, for their own purposes, and then presented to the public. However, Mouse without Borders is available via official center Microsoft downloads, although you will have to look for support.

The application is developing quite slowly, but at some point it had a name of the same name. It is a companion, because this application just turns your smartphone with a wireless touchpad and keyboard.

After installation desktop program You must allow connection from smartphones and tablets:

Here (Information submenu item), if necessary, you can quickly peek at the computer’s IP address:

You will need it to configure the WP application. The smartphone must be connected to Wi-Fi and be on the same subnet as the computer:

To establish a connection you will also need to enter a special code:

It is automatically displayed on the computer screen for 30 seconds - enough time to enter three characters:

This ensures minimal security - connect the smartphone application without access to the screen desktop computer it won't work.

The main interface of the Mouse without Borders smartphone application is a console stylized as a mouse:

The upper corners of the image imitate the left and right mouse buttons, between them there is a scroll wheel, the middle part acts as a touchpad - by moving a finger on it the user will move the pointer on the PC screen. The buttons at the bottom allow for quick scrolling, precise cursor control, and some other popular actions.

You can also call up a standard smartphone keyboard, but its use has some nuances:

Unfortunately, Mouse without Borders only handles Latin input correctly; national keyboards on smartphones are not supported at all. The developers probably didn't think this was too much of a drawback in the assumption that commands and code would be typed most often. However, you can still enter the Cyrillic alphabet if you remember well the correspondence of the layouts (well, or constantly switching back and forth): you need to leave the Latin alphabet on your smartphone, and turn on the Cyrillic alphabet on your computer - then “qwerty” will turn into “ytsuken”. Due to the slow development of Mouse without Borders, some others are not supported modern capabilities WP, in particular, is a “continuous” (shape writing) typesetting.

In the very simple case Mouse without Borders is simply a wireless console and there are quite a few similar solutions for both WP and Android. With KVM it is more difficult. The only solution of this class known to me is at a very early stage of development, but is specifically for Android.

Office Remote

This application was developed by Microsoft Research - another special team within Microsoft, although this time it is quite formal. The name Office Remote is quite eloquent - we are really talking about remote control of a desktop Microsoft Office, and exclusively with the 2013 version. The idea of ​​using a smartphone in this capacity is quite old. Even if you don't go beyond subject area, you can remember Microsoft PowerPoint Mobile 2010 for Windows Mobile, which had similar functions - and this is still 2010. But the highlight of Office Remote is that it can be used to manage not only PowerPoint, but also Word and Excel.

They create separate tabs in the tool ribbons, but actually serve only to enable/disable remote control. The latter is carried out via Bluetooth, so you must first connect the smartphone to the PC. General sequence action is as follows:

• install applications on your PC and smartphone;
• turn on Bluetooth and connect your PC and smartphone;
• enable remote control in any desktop Office application;
• launch Office Remote and select your PC.

After this, Office Remote will find open office documents all types and will offer them general list- after selecting one of them, the corresponding tools will appear:

The greatest opportunities are provided, of course, for PowePoint. On the main screen there are two large buttons for sequentially going through the slides, on top of which the text of the notes for them is displayed. Swiping with gestures also works, in the left top corner There is a timer, in the upper right there is a slide counter:

There are also a number of additional tools:

The three most important of them are displayed on the standard WP application panel. The left one enables the presentation of the presentation in the form of slide thumbnails for free movement between them:

The right one is another representation, combined. On it you can simultaneously see a thumbnail of the current (larger) and next slides, as well as comments and standard (slightly smaller) paging buttons:

Right in this view you can quickly enable “ laser pointer", simply by touching the thumbnail of the current slide (the next one will disappear so as not to interfere with the review). Pointer mode can also be activated using the middle button from the application panel. In this case, the current slide will be displayed in full screen:

Naturally, your finger will cover part of the image, so it may be more convenient to point the pointer across the presentation screen.

If the current slide has a video embedded, a additional button, which controls playback:

In general, a fairly good and very convenient set of tools for a presenter who uses PowerPoint 2013 in his practice.

The advantages of managing Word and Excel are less obvious, although it is easy to imagine a situation where, in addition to ready-made slides, you need to demonstrate the contents of a document. In this case, Office Remote will at least allow you to zoom and scroll through it.

The contents of the documents themselves are not displayed on the smartphone, however, with the correct markup text document headers, the user will have access to the structure and fast travel between sections:

The triangular button moves to the beginning of the document, the number on the “balloon” indicates the number of notes - these will be shown to the presenter, since Word is not displayed in some modes. That is, this function can be used like notes on slides:

Arbitrary movement through the document is carried out using the buttons in the application panel. The up and down arrows scroll through pages (screens), the cross-shaped arrow calls up the control “remote”:

Excel tables are scrolled by rows and columns, so the “remote” for it is somewhat simpler than for Word - there are no page-turning buttons. But in general, even more complex interaction with tables is available in it. Firstly, you can quickly move between any named objects ( right button in the application panel):

Secondly, if there is pivot tables, slices and filters, you can quickly adjust the data presentation:

Unfortunately, the Excel add-in is unstable and often leads to application crashes. Otherwise, Office Remote works quite reliably and predictably. Its functioning can be slightly adjusted using a few settings:

The position of the developers is that presentations should change along with the world around them (primarily with its technological component) and with using Office Remote they tried to achieve synergy between a PC and a smartphone, because unlike the use of conventional remote controls, in this case two-way interaction is ensured. At the same time, the smartphone can continue to perform its main functions, for example, taking questions from the audience in the background.

There is no application similar in capabilities to Office Remote for Android, but there are third-party developments for managing PowerPoint or LibreOffice Impress.

Summary

Such applications certainly brighten up the ecosystem and can become a significant factor in its popularization. Unfortunately, as mentioned at the beginning, Microsoft has a somewhat strange policy. So, even touch Office first appeared for iOS, then for Android, and is only now being developed for Windows tablets (this will be exactly universal application compatible with all platforms). In this context, perhaps the position of Google is more understandable, which as a matter of principle does not release clients for its services for WP. However, the situation with both WP and applications for it is gradually improving, and the list of unique developments, of course, is not limited to the three chosen for this review.

As you know, smartphones running mobile operating systems Windows systems have been produced for more than a year now. Loyal fans of the line managed to use phones running Windows 7 mobile, while more modern users found devices running Windows 8, 8.1, as well as 10, the latest version of the OS.

Program for Windows synchronization Phone 7, 8, 10

And speaking of universal remedy synchronize your mobile device to any Windows versions Phone with a personal computer, then you need to highlight the software here.

The easy-to-use program has a friendly interface and excellent usability. Thanks to this, even the least confident user personal computer will be able to easily understand all the intricacies of software management.

You can download the program completely free of charge from the Microsoft server. The link is available for the most latest version programs. After downloading the installer file, you need to install the program, which is done like this:

1. Launch the distribution with the *exe extension.


2. Click the "Accept" button (terms of agreement).


3. Click on the “Install” button.


4. Close the installer window.

After starting the program, you must leave all parameters in the “Default” state and proceed to use it. By connecting the device to a computer, you can synchronize all media files: photos, images, songs, videos located in its memory. In addition, Zune can also act as a player, which allows you to play all existing files on your smartphone/computer.

If you are the owner of the newest one, modern phone running Windows Phone 10, you can also use another program to synchronize it with your computer. She is also official app, available on the Microsoft website.

This software was developed specifically to work with the most new version operating system mobile type, and was called “Windows Phone for desktop systems”. You can download the installer file to your computer using the following link.

Among the main functions of the application are:

• Synchronization of music and podcasts;


• Synchronization of photo and video files;


• Installing ringtones and creating an archive of ringtones for calls;


• Sync with iTunes.

Now you can launch the program and begin the initial setup:

Now, through the application interface, you can see all the files available in the phone’s memory, and, if necessary, add new files from the PC memory to the phone using the drag-and-drop method. To perform synchronization, you need to click on the corresponding button located in the lower right part of the software interface. In the same way, files can be downloaded from the smartphone’s memory to a PC.

Synchronization Windows Contacts Phone

We just have to deal with the last question. If you want to synchronize contacts on your Windows Phone with the application on your PC so that you can access them at any time both on your computer and in the People application on your smartphone, you must use the corresponding People application on your computer running the desktop version operating system. The synchronization procedure is performed as follows:

Want to control your Windows 10 PC or laptop via your phone? Using the appropriate software You can remotely control your computer, use your phone as a mouse, go to the Start menu, launch programs, multimedia applications and much more. Let's look at how to do this.

If you need to access your computer via your phone, check out the Controller app for Windows 10. This program “turns” your phone into a wireless remote control for your computer. Allows you to control the mouse via the touch screen of your smartphone, provides the ability to launch applications using gestures (you can create your own gestures for launching various programs on the computer), control the system volume and multimedia applications and much more.

It all works surprisingly smoothly and without any lag. The connection between the phone and the Windows 10 computer is established through wireless communication– that is, your computer and phone must be in the same WiFi networks.

How to set up Controller for Windows 10?

Installing the application on your computer

Controller for Windows 10 consists of two components - an application for Android or Windows Phone, and a utility for providing a connection between two devices, which must be installed on your computer.

First, we download the file for the so-called server part, or a program for installation on a computer that will accept a connection from the phone. The file will be downloaded to ZIP format, which unpack to any specified location on the disk.

Then navigate to the unzipped folder and run the Win10Controller.exe file. After installation, a small window will appear in the center of the screen with information that a connection to a smartphone is available, as well as the IP address of your computer.

Installing the application on your phone

Now let's move on to installing the application on the phone.

Download Controller for Windows 10 on Android:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kerimkaynakci.win10controllerfree

or Windows Phone:

https://www.microsoft.com/ru-ru/store/p/win10-controller/9nblggh1nzfc

Download the application to mobile phone and launch it. The main window of the application will appear - at first it may seem somewhat inconvenient in terms of the interface, however, it is easy to get used to.

A red bar will appear at the bottom of the screen indicating that this moment There is no connection to the computer and you need to establish it. After clicking on the window, the computer connection screen will appear.

If your devices are on the same WiFi network, and the program is enabled on your computer, then just use the Auto Connect option. The application will automatically find the device in Wi-Fi networks and connect to it. However, if you connect to automatic mode failed, use the Manual Connect option and enter the computer's IP address (displayed in the window running program on Windows).

After connecting to your computer, you can directly go to Windows management 10 from the phone.

Control your Windows 10 PC using your phone

Let's start with the basics - moving the mouse cursor. Everything is very simple. Move your finger across the black screen of the application - notice that the mouse cursor moves in accordance with the movement of your finger. Touching the screen with one finger performs a left-click, while touching with two fingers results in a right-click.

A gray box appears in the center of the screen. It simulates a mouse wheel - if the field is set to “Scroll”, then briefly moving your finger up or down in this area does the same thing as scrolling a mouse wheel.

IN top menu there are links to additional functions. The blue circle calls Cortana. If the assistant is not available, touching this option will display search engine in Windows 10. Along with it, a keyboard appears, with which you can quickly find any item in the Start menu and launch it by pressing Enter.

The next icon causes all open windows next to each other. This makes it easier to work with multiple windows in Windows 10. Next is a tile with squares - this is a kind of “local” Start menu. Here are Quick links For individual applications(you can also assign your own icons).

The next element to pay attention to is the search icon. It allows you to quickly launch a search on Google or YouTube - very useful when you want to quickly find something on the Internet or open a YouTube video. You can search by voice (microphone icon), but this option is reserved for paid version users.

Moving further we will find the “S” icon, i.e. gestures. You can draw your own own gesture using the “New gesture” option ( New gesture) and assign some action to it - for example, launching the Spotify application on your computer. To do this, create an “S” gesture, and then go to the “Manage gestures” section.

On your computer, click on the gear icon in the window Controller programs for Windows 10 and in the settings go to the “Custom gestures” section. In the phone app, tap the newly created gesture in the list (Gesture Management tab) to edit it.

Please note that in the settings Windows programs 10 Controller the identifier of the selected gesture will appear in the “Selected gesture” field. Now in the “Select action” field you can assign any action to it (closing a program, opening a program, muting the sound, switching songs, copy/paste functions, minimize/restore the application, etc.). Just choose required action for it and further define it. For example, if you select "Run app", you need to specify which program you want to run.