Deckboard

Whether you're trying to watch a movie on your computer or shuffle songs without having to physically go to the workstation every single time, you can use a tool like Deckboard, which allows you to launch a program, open a website and perform other similar actions with your smartphone.

At the moment, the application is only available for Android devices. There are two parts for getting it to work: installing it on Windows for configuration, and setting it up on Android for remote control.

Both Windows and Android versions share the dark interface with a stylish and intuitive layout. It's possible to create as many dashboards as you want for different purposes, like using Deckboard at home or at work.

The principle is pretty simple since you have to click an open slot, set a title, assign an icon, and choose the action from running a program, opening a website, opening a folder, performing multimedia actions, or recording keyboard macros.

To run a program, you have to indicate its full path on the disk. Similarly, you just have to write URLs for websites or point out full paths to directories to open. Multimedia controls apply to the active multimedia player and can be assigned for play, stop, pause, previous, next, increase or decrease volume, or mute.

If you want to make other actions that fall in none of the previous mentioned categories, opt for keyboard macros. It means that Deckboard can record all your keyboard activity, such as writing a message or triggering a keyboard shortcut (like Ctrl+Alt+Del for bringing up Task Manager to the screen).

There's just one small but inconvenient matter: it seems that the application cannot autodetect icons to programs, files and folders. Instead, you have to assign custom images. This should be easy to fix in future updates.

To sync the Windows edition of Deckboard to Android, you can either write your local IP address shown in the main app window (from Windows to Android) or use a QR code scanner. Just keep in mind that both devices have to be connected to the same network.

The Android edition doesn't have configuration settings but quickly sends signals to the computer on tap. It worked smoothly in our tests, and modifications later made on Windows were instantly reflected in the Android app (including images).

Taking everything into account, Deckboard is incredibly easy to use if you're interested in remotely controlling your computer from an Android smartphone, whether you want to do it for work, fun or just to show off in front of your friends.