If you have an iOS device in a Windows environment, sometimes you might want to be able to access your PCs from the device. Here we take a look at Splashtop Remote that makes the process very easy.
For this tutorial we’ll be using an iPad and connect to a Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit system and XP. The free version only allows you to connect to your computer for only 5 minutes at a time. The upgrade lets you to connect with your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch over Wi-Fi with no time limits. It also supports connecting with an Android device as well.
1. Head over to Splashtop.com and download the Splashtop Remote for PC – they also have a OS X version in beta. Installation is a breeze following the wizard and accepting the defaults. You can install it on every computer you want to remotely access from your iPad.
2. After you finish installation, Splashtop Remote launches and you’re prompted to enter in a password twice and click Save.
3. After you enter in the password you’ll be able to connect to your PC with your iPad
4. There are also a couple settings like starting it when you start up your PC and redirect sounds to the client and mute the computer.
5. Under Network you can change the Port number for connecting to the computer.
6. The Splashtop Remote server app lives in the Taskbar when it’s running.
7. Now download the Splashtop client software for your iPad either through the iTunes App Store or directly from your device.
8. After it’s installed go ahead and tap on the icon to launch Splashtop.
9. You’ll get a list of the computers on your network that have Splashtop software installed. Just tap on the one you want to access.
10. When it comes up you’ll need enter the access password, then you’re presented with a hints screen showing how to control the remote computer. After you learn the how to control the remote machine, you might not want to see the hints screen all the time and can turn it off.
11. Tap on the Continue button on the Hints screen and you can start controlling your Windows PC easily from your iPad.
12. It provides a full QWERTY keyboard you can bring up for typing data into documents, web forms, changing file names…etc..
13. Here is an example accessing my Windows Home Server through the console from the Windows 7 computer which is a neat ability. Running Splashtop Remote from an iPad is like you’re sitting right in front of your computer.
14. If you click the setting to have the sound redirect to your iOS device, you’ll have the ability to watch movies, listen to music, play games, and more on the iOS device.
15. You can also use it with your older XP machines as well…cool!
Splashtop Remote is one of the coolest and most functional remote solution I’ve used for an iOS device yet. You can try out the limited free version and is only $1.99 after that, which is a great price for such a solid remote access app. There’s a bit of lag when controlling the PCs, but not as much as some other remote access apps.
We’ll be covering more remote access solutions in the future for connecting your iOS devices to Windows so stay tuned.