What is the best way to remotely access my PC from my laptop?

Gamer said:

Who has tried this?

I've done similar.

Gamer said:

Any advice?

You have security issues on your hands with this.

You'll have to open up your home network to the global internet one way or another, and that has problems. People 'port scan' for the ability to connect to remote desktop opportunities, or SSH servers, VPN ports, etc.

If you're wanting to do this, you'll have to consider:

- What can/will you do to prevent unauthorised access?

- Can you afford keeping electronics online 24/7 to facilitate what you're doing?

The way I had it setup was this:

- Raspberry Pi running on my local home network with an OpenSSH server, with fail2ban to block any repeated hacking attempts

- Using my router, setup port forwarding with a non-typical port (22 is typical for SSH) to the Raspberry Pi

- Then used SSH tunnelling to my home computer, my home internet has a dynamic IP address, so I had code running on the Raspberry Pi which was able to either e-mail me with the latest IP address, or upload it to a secure location on a website host I had available

- I would then SSH into the Raspberry Pi, I used Windows in this case, so setting up the tunnel and forwarding with Bitvise is relatively straightforward and I can also easily setup X11Forwarding if needed.

- Use WakeOnLAN from the Raspberry Pi to wake up my home computer, that way it didn't need to be turned on all of the time, but WoL setup for its ethernet in the BIOS and Operating System

- Remote desktop or VNC into my home computer

This meant that:

- My connection between the client and home was encrypted with SSH

- While not ideal (SSH being a TCP connection rather than speedier UDP connection) it worked very well

- I always knew what details to connect to my home PC was because the Pi kept the IP address up to date

- I could turn on and off my home PC at will and save power/energy without having to keep it turned on, but keep the Raspberry Pi turned on for less energy use

The downfalls of remote connection like this, is that it isn't best suited for 'remote gaming' or 'remote media playback'. Using remote desktop software performs static image snapshots, and so if you're wanting to do remote gaming/desktop you might instead want to consider using Steam Link or a similar service (incidentally you can do desktop control/streaming with Steam Link, but you have less Wake on LAN support and similar).

I can see why you'd want to remote desktop like this, legal wise you may have software that you want to access which you only have the license for on the remote system (though some software doesn't like you doing this, but it's usually based on one user rather than how it was accessed) and buying a different computer or cut down portable laptop may not be suitable or comparable.

I have a high spec PC at home which I use to run some of the heavier programs. Google's "Chrome remote desktop" works well for me. Another option is using something like teamviewer, but it has limitations. Yet another option would be to open a port on your home router, have a means to know it's public IP and then use TightVnc (or similar), but this option needs more work than the first two. 

Hope it helps!

- Saad

You'll get lots of spammy responses on a topic like this, and they will likely be deleted.

Best advice: avoid doing it, because you'll end up relying on sending data (it could be personal data - whatever is on your screen!) through other people's servers. You could use a VPN, but you'll be paying for it. You could open up a port to avoid other people's servers, but that's a huge risk for other reasons, don't even consider it. This isn't even considering the energy waste, powering hundreds of watts of desktop computer all day long. You'll likely pay for the cost of a nearly-new Chromebook within a year, just on energy savings. If you need more than a Chromebook, then many past-few-generations of i3 laptops still perform really well running Windows or Linux, and are low-cost. 

Long story short, if your old macbook performance isn't great, then get another laptop. If you merely wish to access files/documents then use a reliable cloud drive service, e.g. anything from Google, Microsoft, Amazon.
If it suits your needs, a Chromebook (or other laptop, doesn't have to be cutting-edge current generation, as mentioned) is low-cost. Cheaper than the electricity bill of a permanently powered desktop PC probably, and a lot safer/secure than trusting dodgy remote access software.