If you want to be able to remotely control things like music, hard drives, and cameras from anywhere in your house, you can always find some expensive solution. Remote Control With These Apple Watch Apps Remote Control Everything With These Apple Watch Apps Remote Control Capabilities The Apple Watch may seem pretty obvious right now, but many people are still not fully aware of what they can control from their wrist. Read More Or you can make use of the free version of Teamviewer and do it basically at no cost.
The way this works is by hijacking a tool that has been used for years by IT experts to remotely manage computer systems. Provide remote assistance and host meetings using TeamViewer. 7 Provide remote assistance and hold meetings using TeamViewer. appears to help each other and spread information. There are quite a few products that make long-distance presentations easy, while others may... Read More that remote computer.
In this article, I'll show you how you can use your laptop or tablet to control devices on a remote system. The remote and local systems can be Mac, Windows or Linux, it doesn't matter.
TeamViewer has long been trusted by IT and other technical experts around the world. Most families have “that guy (or girl)” who is the computer “whiz” in the family. A quick phone call and the launch of TeamViewer on both ends, and that genius was able to solve his problem, even if they were thousands of miles apart.
Therefore, the first goal of businesses is to download and install the free version of TeamViewer.
Go with the BASIC installation, and be sure to select “Personal / Non-commercial use” since you are using the free version of the software.
Choose the destination and additional features you want. You don't really need any of the plugins for what we're doing here.
The download and installation is quite quick (less than 5 minutes) and when it's done, you'll see a screen that will allow you remote access to your own system using the panel on the left, with the specified ID and password. or remotely access another computer using the panel on the right.
If you're installing on something other than Windows, don't worry, there are Linux, Mac, and mobile versions available. 11 Tips for Using Team Viewer – The Best Free Remote Desktop Connection Manager 11 Tips for Using Team Viewer – The Best Free Remote Desktop Connection Manager Whenever you need a free remote desktop client with advanced features, TeamViewer should be your go-to option. Let's highlight its unique features. Read More In my case, I have TeamViewer installed on a remote Linux station in another building.
All computers are connected between the two buildings through a wireless network. TeamViewer should only exist on computers that are on the same network (matching subnet). Once you've installed TeamViewer on all the remote systems you want to control, and the master station you want to control from, you're ready to go.
In the building, which serves as my main office, I have a camera mounted on top of a window sill, providing a view of the kitchen area of my store. Another camera directly in front shows the other side of the office.
On the small Linux computer where the camera is connected via USB, I have software called Camorama running, which allows me to see what the camera sees, and take photos on command or at time intervals.
Where TeamViewer improves on this setup is that I can sit inside my house, over 200 feet away, and with my laptop I can peek at what's going on in the office at any time. This is what the remote Teamviewer session looks like when I connect to the Linux station using my Windows 8.1 laptop from inside the house.
This could also be set up to work from anywhere in the world (not just your own network), by signing up for a TeamViewer account and using the cloud system that gives you remote access to all your registered devices from any remote location. That's outside the scope of this article, but it's possible.
When accessing the remote system, you can use the TeamViewer menu to switch between monitors as well, if the remote system has more than one.
You can also reboot the remote system remotely, if the security options on the target system allow it.
An even cooler setup would be to run any number of camera control apps on the remote system, allowing camera motion detection to send you an email. This will alert you that something is happening at that location you want to connect and withdraw to.
Why buy expensive wireless network security cameras being offered these days, when you could just hook up a mini computer (they're going to be as cheap as $70 to $150 on Ebay these days) with a $1 USB webcam? 20 attached and with TeamViewer you? I have a security system out of the box Use Your Webcam For Home Surveillance With These Tools Use Your Webcam For Home Surveillance With These Tools Having your own home surveillance system can be a powerful deterrent For would-be intruders, roommates, or frustrated co-workers, here are 6 great options for webcam-based surveillance products you can use today! Read More
Here's another scenario:You're hosting a party and the computer in the corner of the room that handles your music playlist playback Discover new music with Spotify Auto Playlists Discover new music with Spotify Auto Playlists Spotify has recently launched several new ways to generate unique Playlists that will help you discover amazing new music. We are here to walk you through these auto playlist makers. Read More You are sitting on the couch with friends and in the middle of a really interesting conversation. The last thing you want to do is get up and walk out just to boot up that music CD that's all set and ready to play.
Have no fear - TeamViewer is here. You can simply take out your tablet, the remote on that PC, plug into the external USB CD drive and start the CD.
In my example below, I have a Linux system with a USB external drive attached. In File Manager, it's already mounted and ready to go.
Connecting to the system remotely via TeamViewer would let me get in and launch it without leaving the comfort of my chair.
In this case, I was showing my daughter where to go to launch the game that was sitting in the DVD drive. I kicked her and she was ready to go..
You can do this to remotely cast a movie for your party guests, or for whatever purpose you have the system configured for.
If you're specifically interested in the music example I mentioned above, all you have to do is install TeamViewer on your tablet. You can get TeamViewer for your mobile via iTunes or Google Play.
Once you launch the app, enter the ID and password of the system you want to connect to.
Here, I connected to my remote Linux system with Audacious, a music player.
She could be in her bedroom relaxing on her bed, or in the laundry room folding her clothes. When you're ready to play some tunes, just pick up your tablet, remote control with TeamViewer, and play your CD with the music player software.
Of course, this concept is not limited to playing music from the other room. Maybe you have your computer set up as your media center. How to Set Up Your XBMC Media Center How to Set Up Your XBMC Media Center XBMC may have evolved into Kodi, but if you have an older version installed, this guide will help you get set up. and start Read more, play content directly on your TV in the living room. Your kids complain about being bored to death..
Device control doesn't have to be limited to USB only. If you want, you can pick up your tablet, remote into that PC and find an educational video 10+ Places To Watch Funny Educational Videos Online 10+ Places To Watch Funny Educational Videos Online The Internet is full of great videos, some of which can be quite educational. They won't put you to sleep like a conference. This selection combines the best of fun and learning. Read More
This is what it looked like after connecting to my Linux station and launching the CNet channel on YouTube in full screen.
On the TV in the other room, the video played, and my kids went from complaining about being bored, to complaining about the boring stuff that was now playing on the TV screen.
Well, maybe playing SpongeBob would have been smarter. Anyway, you get my point. Remote control. Throw what you want. Done.
Another USB device that is useful for remote access is storage devices. It really annoys me having to unplug and replug external hard drives The 8 Best Portable Hard Drives You Can Buy Right Now The 8 Best Portable Hard Drives You Can Buy Right Now More information and memory cards from one computer to another, so I simply dedicate one of my systems to you as the central storage hub of the house (you can also use a Raspberry Pi as a network attached storage device Turn your Raspberry Pi into a NAS box Turn your Raspberry Pi into a NAS box Do you have a Pair of external hard drives? Laying back and a Raspberry Pi? Make these a cheap, low-power network attached storage device. Although the end result won't be as… Read More).
There is no need to buy expensive wireless hard drives. Just plug all your hard drives into PC and install Teamviewer. An impressive feature of TeamViewer is that you can easily transfer files from the remote system to your own, or vice versa.
This is what it looks like when I zoomed out of my “storage center” from my laptop. These are all the contents of four of the USB hard drives and memory cards, viewed through File Manager.
As you can see there is a File transfer option in the main menu. When you start a file transfer, you will see a pop-up window that looks a bit like an FTP file transfer window FTP Transfer:3 Popular File Managers for Android with FTP Software FTP Transfer:3 Popular File Managers for Android with FTP Software FTP may sound intimidating, but it's not! We can help you learn how to quickly and easily share files between your devices with these handy Android apps. Read more.
The remote computer is on the right and the local system is on the left. You can select files or folders anywhere and click the Submit button or Receive Buttons to transfer the files..
All file transfers are logged on the remote system, so if you ever want to monitor file-sharing activity taking place within your home (perhaps your kids are using up too much of the available storage with massive downloads of Torrent 10 ways to speed up torrent downloads 10 ways to speed up torrent downloads Want more info?), all you have to do is check the log to see what's consuming all your storage and when those transfers took place.
As you can see, something seemingly as simple as a “remote support” app really does open up a whole world of opportunities in your home filled with many USB sticks and other gadgets. In fact, you could easily build your own webcam-based home security system. ISpy turns your computer's webcam into a surveillance device [Windows] iSpy turns your computer's webcam into a surveillance device [Windows] Read More webcams..
The possibilities are really only limited by the USB devices you can choose to connect to these systems. The ability to run TeamViewer from a laptop or tablet opens up the option to control any of those devices no matter where you are in your home, and that's a level of convenience that's hard to describe. Once you get used to it, you'll never want to give it up.
Do you like the idea of using TeamViewer in this way? Have you ever imagined other creative ways to control devices remotely? Share your experiences and tips in the comments section below!
