Hi! I am looking for what I thought would be a basic remote control but now I am seeing that most of the ones out there are not this at all.

I have a TV and DVD player which I would like the remote control to control. They are pretty standard stuff by sony and most universal remotes can program to them. I also have a laptop hooked to the TV. I use this laptop on a daily basis to watch youtube and hulu. Also I use it to play music via google music.

So as you can see, I don't really use my PC with windows media center or any other program that these remotes seem to be built for. What I really need is a remote that has a good working mouse and on-screen keyboard software (or maybe a tiny keyboard like my phone has). Keys that I can program to open .exe's on my computer would be a plus. It must also work to turn my tv on and off and control the TVs volume.

Any suggestions? I don't care if its IR or whatever, but I'll need it to come with a receiver for my laptop. Something cheap is preferable because I am going to get one for both my living room TV/laptop and my bedroom computer.

That's pretty simple you just need a PC remote, MCE remote or a universal that will allow you to program PC commands.

There are a ton of them on the market.

Click here
lmgtfy.com/

Most after market remotes will come with the appropiate receiver for your laptop; be that IR, RF or Bluetooth.  

If you gave a bit more detailed description, we could provide a more detailed solution.