How to remotely access my PC via Android?

Husky

Husky

Contributor
Hi,

I want to keep my laptop running to seed torrents while I am away from my home to attend classes. I wish to buy a smart plug so I can remotely turn charging on and off based on the battery level of my laptop. My PC is running Windows, so I have looked up options to monitor and remotely access my PC and learned about RustDesk, AnyDesk, and Chrome Remote Desktop. I don't think they will work for me because:

1. RustDesk needs to be self-hosted but it won't work for me because I'm behind CGNAT and ISP charges for static IP and such.
2. AnyDesk requires you to reconnect after every 30 minutes in free tier?
3. I tried Chrome but I personally don't like Chrome to be monitoring my desktop and having access to it all the time.

I would be grateful if you guys could suggest me a good smart-plug for this and a better alternative way to achieve my goal. I'm hoping to do this without paying for any service if possible. I only have limited knowledge in this area.
Thanks in advance!
 
You should have an ipv6 address, configure a wireguard tunnel and connect via rdp

Regarding the smart plug thing, you can keep your laptop always plugged in to power and it won't be impacting the battery health
 
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@Husky
Regarding Rustdesk - you dont necessarily need a static ip address, neither is it necessary to host your own intance of relay server, you can use the relay server hosted by the rustdesk team/puslane itself. I use it from ios, android, windows and mac.

@Vagabond - try rustdesk
 
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You have a whole laptop, and you need a "smart" plug to turn battery charging on/off ? Laptop is smart enough. There are battery limiter software available, many of them free. On Linux, I use tlp, works fine.

You have not described what access to the laptop you need remotely. Maybe someone here can help you automate it, then you will not need access.

Edit : this describes some steps to limit battery charge : https://www.solveyourtech.com/how-to-limit-battery-charge-to-80-in-windows-11-a-step-by-step-guide/
 
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I use Splashtop locally to access my old Windows tablet that runs several servers from my laptop and can use it over Tailscale for remote access from a different network. However, best to just use the qbittorrent Web UI to avoid dealing with Windows or with Radarr/Sonarr/Prowlarr to directly add search items to the list.

Most laptop brands already have a battery limit functionality built in, so best to use those.
 
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rushikesh_jadhav said:
You can use tailscale.
Click to expand...
I tried looking into Tailscale before but I did not understand anything. I'll look into it again. Thanks!
kiran6680 said:
You have a whole laptop, and you need a "smart" plug to turn battery charging on/off ? Laptop is smart enough. There are battery limiter software available, many of them free. On Linux, I use tlp, works fine.

You have not described what access to the laptop you need remotely. Maybe someone here can help you automate it, then you will not need access.

Edit : this describes some steps to limit battery charge : https://www.solveyourtech.com/how-to-limit-battery-charge-to-80-in-windows-11-a-step-by-step-guide/
Click to expand...
I was thinking that when your laptop runs out of power after hours of usage, you need to turn on the charging plug, right? So if I am not around, I want to remotely monitor the battery level and possibly turn on the smart plug so the laptop gets charged. That was what I meant. Are we talking about the same thing? Sorry, I'm confused.
 
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Husky said:
I was thinking that when your laptop runs out of power after hours of usage, you need to turn on the charging plug, right?
Click to expand...
Do you charge your laptop only when the battery is fully drained ? Why can't you have it always on while it is running, is what we are saying.
 
Husky said:
I was thinking that when your laptop runs out of power after hours of usage, you need to turn on the charging plug, right? So if I am not around, I want to remotely monitor the battery level and possibly turn on the smart plug so the laptop gets charged. That was what I meant. Are we talking about the same thing? Sorry, I'm confused.
Click to expand...
Just keep the plug on all the time, no "smart" plug needed! Unless you have intentions you are not declaring.
 
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Husky said:
Hi,

I want to keep my laptop running to seed torrents while I am away from my home to attend classes. I wish to buy a smart plug so I can remotely turn charging on and off based on the battery level of my laptop. My PC is running Windows, so I have looked up options to monitor and remotely access my PC and learned about RustDesk, AnyDesk, and Chrome Remote Desktop. I don't think they will work for me because:

1. RustDesk needs to be self-hosted but it won't work for me because I'm behind CGNAT and ISP charges for static IP and such.
2. AnyDesk requires you to reconnect after every 30 minutes in free tier?
3. I tried Chrome but I personally don't like Chrome to be monitoring my desktop and having access to it all the time.

I would be grateful if you guys could suggest me a good smart-plug for this and a better alternative way to achieve my goal. I'm hoping to do this without paying for any service if possible. I only have limited knowledge in this area.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
I have used realvnc and Chrome remote desktop for this, both do this job pretty well. Check out realvnc if you haven't already

www.realvnc.com

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www.realvnc.com www.realvnc.com
 
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ibose said:
Do you charge your laptop only when the battery is fully drained ? Why can't you have it always on while it is running, is what we are saying.
Click to expand...

I used to keep it plugged in all the time when this laptop was my main PC. Now I have another one, so I don’t use this one as much. I’m a bit hesitant to keep it plugged in since this sits on my table unused and the battery consumption is low. I thought that maybe keeping it plugged in could cause the battery to swell from overcharging. I don’t know much about this, so that’s why I’m worried.

I guess it's okay to do so?
 
Husky said:
I used to keep it plugged in all the time when this laptop was my main PC. Now I have another one, so I don’t use this one as much. I’m a bit hesitant to keep it plugged in since this sits on my table unused and the battery consumption is low. I thought that maybe keeping it plugged in could cause the battery to swell from overcharging. I don’t know much about this, so that’s why I’m worried.

I guess it's okay to do so?
Click to expand...
Right, so just set the maximum battery percentage to 70% or 80% by the software/configuration I described.
 
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Why has nobody suggested TeamViewer? Am I missing something?

I did the same thing about 8–9 years ago. I used it to monitor/manage renders and simulations running on my machine from abroad.
 
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Husky said:
I used to keep it plugged in all the time when this laptop was my main PC. Now I have another one, so I don’t use this one as much. I’m a bit hesitant to keep it plugged in since this sits on my table unused and the battery consumption is low. I thought that maybe keeping it plugged in could cause the battery to swell from overcharging. I don’t know much about this, so that’s why I’m worried.

I guess it's okay to do so?
Click to expand...
I don't see why it should. Every device with lithium batteries will have protection against overcharging as the lack of it will result in more than just swelling. On heavy use it is bound to degrade from the charge cycles, heat from both laptop and external elements but quietly running qBittorrent on a desk with enough ventilation shouldn't be taxing. But as Kiran suggested, look into some solutions that can improve battery life like 80% cap, not letting it go below 20% etc. Smart plug sounds like a rather bad solution for a non existent problem imo.

Edit: In case you want to control qBittorrent then you can check tailscale, that's what I use to access my devices with SSH and for Jellyfin.
 
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Jee said:
I don't see why it should. Every device with lithium batteries will have protection against overcharging as the lack of it will result in more than just swelling. On heavy use it is bound to degrade from the charge cycles, heat from both laptop and external elements but quietly running qBittorrent on a desk with enough ventilation shouldn't be taxing. But as Kiran suggested, look into some solutions that can improve battery life like 80% cap, not letting it go below 20% etc. Smart plug sounds like a rather bad solution for a non existent problem imo.

Edit: In case you want to control qBittorrent then you can check tailscale, that's what I use to access my devices with SSH and for Jellyfin.
Click to expand...

Gotcha! So smartplug isn't really needed here. I haven't fully understood the concept of Tailscale. I'll look into it soon!
 
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