Idem for me. I have installed Ubuntu-gnome. sshd, wine and powerpoint viewer are the main customization. When the computer is started, I receive a SMS so that I can perform updates or backups.
I did similar. PC has static IP in LAN, there is raspberry pi with duckdns and ssh waiting for me. I just login on rpi, then ssh to parents PC and do what I need. I can do updates, remove files, monitor activity and all other things, easily, for free. It's Ubuntu, they don't have sudo/root password so can't break anything, ever.