Control Windows 7 with an Ipad
Cool article on ZDNet about a new piece of software called Desktop Connect that allows you to control your Windows 7 PC remotely from your Ipad.
It costs $11.99 “an introductory price” to download it to your iPad. It uses RDP natively, but can also work with VNC servers.
According to ZDNet, the documentation the app delivers is a lot more extensive for Apple computers than Windows systems.
For Windows PCs, it only tells you that you need to download a VNC server, saying that TightVNC had been tested and works with Desktop Connect. So I dutifully downloaded TightVNC on my PC, ran it, and then ran Desktop Connect on the iPad. It’s clear enough that you need to add a new host, but you then are presented with fields asking for a Computer Name and Authentication.
What it should tell you is that you need the PC’s IP address and the password that you create when you set up TightVNC. Sure, most people who will want to download these types of programs are tech-savvy enough to figure it out, but how hard would it be to provide some contextual help or write a paragraph or two for the instructions documentation?
Once you fill in the correct info, make sure the VNC server is running, and press the big green on-screen arrow, you should see your desktop screen. You can run programs like Photoshop or Microsoft Word (see screens below), or even surf the Web for those few sites (cough, cough) that still use Flash. There are some icons at the top of the screen that let you access the virtual keyboard to type on your PC, use some virtual Function keys, or choose whether your finger tap controls the mouse’s left or right button.
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