Managing servers, fixing my parents’ printer remotely, and occasionally sneaking in some gaming sessions on my home rig while away — this is my life. Over the years, I’ve cycled through almost every remote desktop tool out there.

Here is my personal journey through the "Remote Desktop Wilderness" — from the classic TeamViewer, to the browser-based Chrome Remote Desktop, then AnyDesk, and finally, my current daily driver: AweSun.

🧩 Step 1: TeamViewer — The Love-Hate Relationship Like 99% of people, I started with TeamViewer.

It set the standard. It was reliable, feature-rich, and worked on everything. For years, it was the first thing I installed on a new PC. But then came the inevitable breakup. The "Commercial Use Suspected" timeouts started happening even when I was just connecting to my own laptop in the next room. Being kicked out of a session every 5 minutes killed my workflow. I needed something that wouldn’t punish me for being a heavy user.

☁️ Step 2: Chrome Remote Desktop — The Minimalist Phase I swung to the complete opposite end of the spectrum: Chrome Remote Desktop.

It’s Google, it’s in the browser, and it’s free. For quick "fix-it" tasks, it was decent. I loved that I didn’t really need to install a heavy client. But simplicity came at a cost. No file transfer (or at least, a very clunky one), no chat, and the latency was... okay for typing, but terrible for anything visual. It felt like viewing my computer through a foggy window. I needed more control.

⚡ Step 3: AnyDesk — The Speed Demon (With Limits) Then I moved to AnyDesk.

This was a massive upgrade in speed. The proprietary codec they use is genuinely fast. It felt snappier than TeamViewer, and for a while, I was happy. However, recent changes to their free tier started to sting. Address book limitations and nagging screens to upgrade made it feel less "free" and more "free trial." Plus, on mobile data, I still experienced some lag spikes that made precise work annoying.

🎮 Step 4: AweSun — The Gamer’s Discovery I stumbled upon AweSun while looking for a way to play Black Myth: Wukong on my phone streaming from my PC (don’t judge me).

I expected it to be just another clone, but it surprised me. It offers a Game Mode with support for up to 144fps, customized keyboard overlays for mobile, and remarkably low latency. It actually felt like I was sitting in front of my PC.

But beyond gaming, it solved my professional headaches too:

True Cross-Platform: I switch between my MacBook, Windows rig, and Android phone seamlessly.

Free Features that are usually Paid: Unlike the others, AweSun includes file transfer, remote printing, and even blank screen (privacy mode) in the free version.

Unattended Access: Setting up my home server for 24/7 access was incredibly easy and stable.

🔍 What I Learned Along the Way Every tool served a purpose in my career:

TeamViewer: Taught me that "Commercial Use" algorithms can be aggressive.

Chrome RD: Showed me that browser-based tools aren’t ready for power users yet.

AnyDesk: Proved that speed matters, but UI UX matters too.

AweSun: Proved that you don’t have to sacrifice features or frame rates just because you aren’t paying an enterprise subscription.

🧭 What’s Next? The remote desktop space is crowded, but it’s rare to find a tool that balances work (file transfer, security) and play (high FPS, mobile gaming controls) so well.

For now, I’m sticking with AweSun. It just works, and frankly, playing AAA games on my phone during my commute is a feature I didn’t know I needed until now.

If you are tired of timeouts or laggy connections, it might be worth giving it a shot.