Okay, so this isn’t an app we would necessarily cover here at RazorianFly, but after I showed my wife Air Video her only comment was “cool, but does that mean the computer has to be on all the time?” Suffice to say, she wasn’t impressed at the thought of the electricity bill.
I therefore returned to searching the App Store for a solution to this problem, how to turn you computer off when not physically near it. The answer? Server Control.
A little setting up is needed to get this working, but the website and the instructions in-app are relatively clear and all I needed to do was enable the “administrator” account on my PC. I was then set up to control my computer whilst within range of my home Wi-Fi. This may not seem that great, but we can now stream videos to our iPhone’s from upstairs, and when done, power down the computer without having to go all the way downstairs to the PC (perfect for watching a film before going to sleep).
Don’t worry, if you want more than that it’s also here, the site offers the instructions for setting up a VPN on you home computer and by using the VPN client on your iPhone, you can control your computer over the internet. So now, you can watch videos on a long commute and then power down when you reach your destination. It should be noted that for non-app related reasons I’ve been unsuccessful in setting up a VPN (issues with my router and iPhone). But, given you can access the ability to power down for free, it’s still a great accessory to go with Air Video, especially if you successfully set up a VPN.
I’m not going to go the whole nine yards and officially review this app, mainly because it is targeted at professionals who need remote server access and I’ve not tested any of these features. It would therefore, I think you would agree, be unfair for me to give this a rating based on the one feature I’m using it for. However for what it can do for you at home, for free, makes it well worth a mention. If you want to know what else it offers then see below for the full list of features.
REBOOT/SHUTDOWN
â– Immediate or delayed reboot/shutdown.
â– Choose whether running applications should be forced to close.
â– Choose from 4 editable messages to display to logged on users.
â– Efficient protocol use. Doesn’t use RDP.
â– Can re-schedule a reboot/shutdown even if someone else has already scheduled one.
â– Windows machines only. Macs can not be rebooted or shutdown with ServerControl.SERVICE CONTROL MANAGER
â– Start, Stop and Pause services.
â– Change the startup type of services (Disabled, Manual, Automatic)
â– Enumeration of dependent services. Even Windows can’t do this remotely.
â– Automatically starts/stops dependent services.CONNECTIVITY
â– Automatically uses WiFi or any of the phone data networks (3G, Edge and GPRS).
â– Seamless integration with the iPhone’s built in VPN.PROFESSIONAL
â– Developed by professional software engineers, each with at least 15 years experience.
â– Engineered from scratch specifically for the iPhone.
â– Reliable, fast, high-quality software.
â– Excellent product support.NOT EVERYTHING IS FREE
â– Shutdown is free.
â– Viewing services is free.
â– A single in-app purchase will enable “Full Core Features”, which enables Reboot and Start/Stop/Pause of services. As a bonus, file-browsing functionality similar to NetPortal will be included, allowing viewing and management of remote files and folders.NOTES
â– An Administrator account is required when connecting to the remote computer in order to reboot, shutdown, or start/stop services. Please see our web site for more information about this.
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