When you call the helpdesk, an engineer can open a shared session straight in your web browser and work alongside you on screen. You see everything we do, we see the problem you are describing, and when a restore is running you both watch the same live progress until the last file lands. No download, no plug-in, no setup call the week before.
Sessions open from a one-time link we read out or email to you, and the connection closes the moment either of us hangs up.
Most support does not need anyone to come out, and it does not need you to describe an error message down the phone while an engineer guesses. Instead we open a session you can see. It runs in the same browser you already use for everything else, it starts in under a minute, and there is nothing left on your machine afterwards.
Ring the helpdesk as normal. The engineer sends you a one-time session link by email, or reads out a short code you type into the support page. Opening it starts the session in a new browser tab.
Your browser asks your permission before anything is shared, and you decide whether we view a single window or the whole screen. You can see exactly what is being shared the entire time, and you can stop it with one click.
The engineer talks you through what they are doing while you watch the screen update live. For a restore, we start the job and the console streams its progress to both of us — file counts, the folder currently being written, and any item that needs a decision.
When the work is finished, either of us ends the session and the connection is torn down. Nothing stays installed, and we email you a short note of what was done and how long the restore took.
When you ask us to bring back a folder, a mailbox or a whole machine, we do not just tell you it is happening — we show you. The restore console appears inside the shared session and streams its progress continuously as the data comes back: how many files have landed, which folder is being written right now, the rate it is moving at, and an honest estimate of how much longer it will take.
That live picture matters most on the larger jobs. A single overwritten spreadsheet is back before the kettle boils. A department drive with tens of thousands of files, or a full workstation image, streams steadily for a good deal longer, and being able to see it move — rather than staring at a frozen bar and wondering — is the difference between a calm afternoon and an anxious one.
The whole point of running in the browser is that almost any current office setup can take part with nothing added. The one thing worth checking in advance is your internet connection, because a shared session sends live video of a screen, and a long restore keeps sending data for as long as the job runs.
A few Mbit/s is not a demanding figure — it is roughly what watching a high-quality video uses — but it needs to hold steady rather than arrive in bursts. A quick spot restore of a handful of files is over in minutes and barely registers.
A restore of a full department drive or a complete machine is a different shape of job. The data moves without pause for as long as it takes, which on a large set can be a couple of hours or more, and the screen-share runs alongside it the whole time. On a slow or heavily shared line that is where you would notice it, so we will always agree a sensible time to run the big jobs.
| Part of the session | Typical bandwidth | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Live shared screen | ~2–4 Mbit/s each way, continuous | The whole session, start to finish |
| Spot restore (a few files) | Brief, a few Mbit/s | A few minutes |
| Folder or department drive | Steady, sustained for the job | Often 30–90 minutes |
| Full workstation image | Steady, sustained for the job | Frequently several hours |
These are typical figures from our own sessions, not a guarantee. Your exact numbers depend on the size of the data and the line at your end, and we will give you a realistic estimate before we begin.
A shared session is a routine, everyday part of how we work. Here is the fuller picture, including the questions that come up on a first call.
It would be quicker for us to drive the mouse ourselves, but we have found that people prefer to see what is happening on their own machine and to keep a hand on it. So the default is that you stay in control and we guide. If you would rather we took the keyboard for a fiddly step, you can grant that for a moment and withdraw it just as easily.
A typical support session lasts somewhere between thirty and ninety minutes. A quick fix or a small restore is at the short end; a larger recovery, where the data streams continuously, is at the long end and sometimes well beyond it. We block out enough time when we book, so nobody feels rushed and the restore is never left half finished.
The session runs on features already built into your browser, so there is no agent to download, no plug-in to approve with your IT policy, and nothing left behind when the call ends. That also means a brand-new laptop straight out of the box can join a session on its first morning, before anything else has been set up.
The share only starts after your browser asks and you agree, a clear indicator shows what is being shared for the whole session, and one click ends it. We cannot begin a session you have not opened, and we cannot keep one running after you close the tab. If you step away from the desk, the sensible thing is simply to end the share and reopen a link when you are back.
Office broadband is not always steady, and a busy afternoon can leave less room for a live session. None of this stops the work — it just changes the experience a little, and it is better to know in advance.
If the connection is tight, the shared screen quietly drops to a lower quality so the picture keeps moving rather than freezing. The restore itself is unaffected by a brief dip; the data simply picks up where it left off. If the line drops out entirely, the session ends safely, a restore that was already under way continues on our side, and you reopen a fresh link to watch the rest.
If yours is not answered here, ask the engineer at the start of the call — it is a normal thing to check.
No. The session runs on features already built into your browser. You open a link, agree to share, and that is the whole setup. Nothing is downloaded, no plug-in needs approving against your IT policy, and nothing remains afterwards — which is exactly why a brand-new machine can join a session on its first morning. If your browser is reasonably current, you already have everything you need.
For a comfortable session we suggest at least 10 Mbit/s download and 3 Mbit/s upload. The live screen-share uses about 2 to 4 Mbit/s each way, held steadily for the length of the call. A short restore barely adds to that; a large one keeps data flowing for the whole job, so for the big restores a generous or unmetered allowance is worth having.
Most sessions run between thirty and ninety minutes. A handful of files come back in a few minutes; a full folder tree or a whole workstation streams continuously and can take a couple of hours or more. We give you a realistic estimate at the start and update it as the console reports progress, so there are no surprises.
Yes. Remote support sessions, including live restores, are part of the unlimited remote support on the Standard Care and Full Care plans, at no extra charge. On the Essentials plan they are billed at the usual hourly support rate. Either way there is nothing to buy or set up before your first session — see the plans and pricing for the detail.
Call the helpdesk during office hours and an engineer can open a session with you in minutes. Nothing to install, and you can end it whenever you like.