"You can see my screen from there?"
I get asked that on almost every first call, usually with a pause after it. It is a fair question. Someone connecting to your computer sounds like the exact thing you have been warned about.
So here is how remote computer help actually works, with nothing left out.
What I can see
Your screen, and only while you let me. You click a link, a window opens, and from that moment I see what you see. Your mouse still works. You can watch every click I make, and you can end the session at any time by closing that window.
When we are done, the connection is gone. I cannot get back in on my own. The next time you need help, you have to let me in again.
What I cannot see
Anything you do not have open. I am not looking through your files or your photos. If we need to open something, I will tell you what and why before I do it.
Your banking password. I will never ask for it. If we need to get into your bank's website, you type the password while I look away, or you do that part after we hang up. Nobody who is helping you needs it, and anyone who asks for it is not helping you.
What I will never do
I will never call you first. Every session starts because you called me.
I will never move money, buy anything, or install anything without saying so out loud and getting a yes from you.
I will never rush you. If you want to stop and write something down, we stop.
How a session goes
You call. We talk about what is happening. Most of the time I can tell within a minute or two whether it is a quick question or something that needs hands-on work.
If it needs hands-on work, I send you a link. You click it, and I am looking at your screen. I talk you through what I am doing the whole time, in plain words. When it is fixed, we make sure you can do the thing yourself, and then I disconnect.
The whole time, you are in your own chair. No bag to pack, no line to wait in, no stranger at the door.
Where it does not work
If the computer will not turn on at all, there is no screen for me to see. Then we talk on the phone about what the lights and sounds are doing, and I tell you honestly what the next step is.
Call (512) 893-7774. No bots. No runaround. Just real tech help.