When Samsung Electronics remotely disabled the last of its flawed Galaxy Note 7 smartphones last month, it further blurred the lines between who ultimately controls your electronics: you, or the companies that make it work?

Industry executives and analysts say companies are exerting greater remote control over their devices - changing how and whether they work, removing or adding software and content, or collecting personal data from them - not always with permission or with the user's best interests at heart.

Parallels has released the newest version of Parallels Access, introducing the ability to transfer large files from a computer to iOS and Android mobile devices directly. It has also brought out a companion Apple Watch app and an experimental gaming mode for the Access app. Here are the details on the improvements.

Controlling your computer from your mobile device is nothing new, but a few notable apps have popped up for iOS and Mac over the last year or so that make it a truly awesome experience. Let's take a look at some of the best apps that give you control of your Mac in the palm of your hand.

iOS/Android/Web: Parallels Access, the awesome mobile remote desktop tool, is now even more awesome. The new version finally lets you remote control your computer from within any browser (including a Chromebook).

Technology makes it easier to manage staff in multiple locations, but that doesn't mean it's a set-and-forget affair. Here are some tips to make the process easier.

Controlling your Mac from your iPhone isn't exactly something new, but it's been pretty limited so far. Blogger Sayz Lim shares a post on controlling all kinds of aspects on your Mac using Keyboard Maestro, IFTTT, Dropbox, Hazel, Drafts and Launch Center Pro.

Putting your Mac to sleep from your phone is handy when you leave the room and forget to secure your computer. Blogger Rick Stawarz shows that it's easy to make this happen using the iPhone app, Launch Center Pro, then Dropbox and Hazel on your Mac.

It's no secret that TeamViewer, the remote desktop client for Windows, Mac and Linux, is popular in our neck of the woods. It's free and easy to use, but remote access sometimes feels awkward and sluggish. These tips will make your TeamViewer experience so smooth you'll think your home computer is right in front of you.

Chorus is an add-on for XBMC that lets you remotely manage, build playlists, queue up videos, organise your library and do just about anything you want with your media centre. And you can do it all from the comfort of a browser window on another device.

Hi Lifehacker, Recently at work, they banned mobile phones from coming on to site. I work on a PC a lot of the time so I was wondering if there are any apps out there that could come in useful to access my phone via a browser or to get notifications sent.

Do you often forget to put your Mac to sleep before getting up and walking away? David Sparks shows off a clever way to remotely put it to sleep using Drafts, Dropbox and Hazel.

As you may have heard, DynDNS is shutting down its free plans, which is a bit of a bummer. Still, those plans are not the only option if you need a hostname to use to access your home computers from anywhere, and you don't want to spend money for it. Here are some alternatives.

The Pebble Smartwatch is pretty neat, but it doesn't connect to your computer in very interesting ways. Coder Joseph Schmitt decided to see if it was possible to get a little more out of his Pebble, and figured out a way to launch websites on his computer from the watch itself.

Managing your own computer from afar or troubleshooting a family member's PC is much easier when you can rely on a good remote desktop utility. This week we're going to look at five of the best remote desktop and management tools, based on your nominations.

If you have both a Raspberry Pi and an iPad, this tutorial from What a Palaver's Angela Wolff will help you remotely control the Pi with your tablet -- from anywhere you have an internet connection. Wolff offers the commands and instructions to set up the Raspberry Pi and iPad for perfect harmony.

LogMeIn, one of our favourite remote desktop tools, has suddenly pulled the plug on the free version. If you want to continue using it, you'll need to pay up or switch to an alternative if you want to continue being able to remotely control your PC from anywhere.

You spend time securing your workplace networks and keeping devices patched, but does the same thing happen for everyone who works from home? Reports of a new range of vulnerabilities in popular routers is a reminder that maintaining security in a flexible workplace can be difficult.

Dear Lifehacker, When I'm on the road sometimes I need to access files from my computer. I have a remote desktop app, which is handy when i want to do some work from my phone, but is there a service where I can just look through my file tree and download or send a link to the file?

The previously launched Android Device Manager just gained the ability to remotely lock your phone with a new password. You'll have to activate ADM as a device administrator first, so be sure to turn it on before you lose your phone.