When you’re out of the office or away from your computer desk at home, there may be times where you wish you could still access all those files stored on your PC, right from your phone. Fortunately, the business section of the Windows Phone Store has plenty of Remote Desktop apps that allow you to do just that.

Splashtop 2 – Client free until August 31

If you’re at a meeting and you’ve forgotten to bring that PowerPoint presentation with you, load up Splashtop 2 and find it on your PC, or Mac.

From there, attach it to an email using whatever email client you use and email it to your laptop or your phone and you’re ready for business.

Of course, there’s more to Splashtop than just digging out PowerPoints, you’ve got access to anything that you’ve got stored on your computer and you’ll see it in the exact same way as if you’re sitting at your desk.

With full audio and HD video streaming, Splashtop 2 gives you an almost perfect computer experience right from your Lumia. And if you’re a gamer, it even supports 3D gaming via your phone.

Connection to your computer is conducted over Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G, using using SSL with 256-bit AES encryption for added security.

One happy customer is Vincent who gave Splashtop 2 a five star rating:

“This app is great. Considering it’s free, it’s very well developed. Never thought about this particular feature in a remote client, but being able to stream the sound from the PC to your phone is cool, especially for watching video that’s already on the PC.”

RemoteDesktop – £1.49 / $1.99

In terms of appearance, RemoteDesktop may not be glitzy, but it has all the features of a good remote desktop app.

With advanced settings for configuring port numbers and changing screen resolution, as well as backing up and restoring from SkyDrive, you’ll get exactly what you want out of this app.

Backups are also encrypted to keep everything secure and safe.

Will connect to Windows XP, Vista, 7, 2003 Server or other Windows computer running at least Professional.

ConnectMe – £7.99 / $9.99

This app may cost a lot, but it does a lot, too.

Once installed, you can either connect to your computer over the LAN (local area network) or across greater distances over the Internet.

As with any remote desktop app, once connected, you’ll have access to the computer’s files. Any of which can be transferred to your phone, or vice versa. If it’s a media file, such as a song, you can also play that straight through the connection.

If you need to type anything once inside your PC, your Lumia’s on-screen keyboard will transform into a familiar PC keyboard with shift, alt, ctrl keys, and of course the Windows start key.

Navigating around your PC is easy when your Lumia touchscreen becomes a touchpad.

And if you want to access more than one PC at a time? ConnectMe supports that, too.

One of the reviewers at the Windows Phone Store is Tracy, giving it 5 stars:

“Ridiculously well featured app for remote desktop and great for server management. Nice work!.”

PC Remote – Free – (Pro £2.29 / $2.99)

This app is a little different to the others listed above as it’s more of a remote control than a traditional remote desktop app, but you can still access your PC with your phone.

PC Remote is probably more ideal if you’re at home but away from your computer. For example, you may be in the kitchen preparing dinner but want to play some music through your entertainment system you’ve got running through your PC. Rather than leaving the kitchen, you can control your PC with your phone, no matter where you are in the house.

The only caveat is that your PC and Lumia need to be connected to the same network, via Wi-Fi.

Additionally, if you’ve hooked up your PC to run through your TV in the lounge, using your Lumia to access your PC while on the sofa is a lot easier than getting up and getting the keyboard and mouse; then there’s the problem of using the mouse on your lap.

The Lumia screen becomes a touchpad with multi-gesture support.

Abel gave the pro version five stars:

“Awesome. I really like the Windows 8 charms that show up on the phone. One of the best apps I have bought to date.”

Try these out today on your Nokia Lumia smartphone and let us know how you get on with them, in the comments below.

Image credit: Rupert Ganzer