Services

Remote assistance

A good number of the problems people call us about do not need anyone in the house. Software that will not install, a driver that broke after an update, email on a new phone — all of it can be sorted while you sit where you are.

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What we help with

No waiting in for anyone.

These are the jobs that tend to go quickly once someone who has seen the problem before is looking at it with you.

✓ Software that will not install or update

✓ Drivers that broke after a Windows update

✓ Email set up on a new phone or laptop

✓ Accounts and sign-ins that need configuring

✓ Pop-ups and browser hijacks caught early

✓ Settings that changed and will not change back

The usual jobs

What this actually looks like.

Four things we are asked for again and again, and why each one is better suited to a remote session than a visit.

Software that will not install

An installer that fails halfway, an update that keeps rolling itself back, or a program that insists something else is already running. The cause is usually a leftover from a previous version or a permission the installer was never given. Both are quick to clear once you know where to look.

Drivers after a Windows update

A major update can swap a working driver for a generic one, and the symptom is rarely obvious — sound disappears, a webcam stops being recognized, a second screen refuses to wake. Getting the right driver back is nearly always faster than the reinstalling people try first.

Email and accounts

Email on a new phone, a mailbox that stopped collecting, or accounts that need setting up properly across the devices you actually use. Fiddly rather than difficult — and exactly the sort of thing that is easier with someone talking you through it than alone with a help page.

Malware caught early

Pop-ups that started this week, a browser that opens somewhere you did not choose, or a toolbar that arrived with something else. Caught early, this is straightforward remote work. A machine that is already struggling to start is a different job, and we will say so.

How it works

Three steps, no visit.

You need a working internet connection and the device the problem is on. That is the whole list.

Tell us what is going on

What the device is doing, when it started, and what changed just before. That alone often names the cause.

We say whether remote suits it

Before you book anything. If the job really needs someone there, we would rather tell you now than halfway through.

We fix it, and explain it

At a time that suits you, and in plain language, so you know what went wrong and whether it is likely to happen again.

What it costs

No trip, no call-out fee.

Nothing is done and nothing is charged until you have seen the price and agreed to it.

Remote assistance is $49.99 per hour, with a one-hour minimum. After the first hour we bill in 30-minute increments, so you are never rounded up to a whole hour you did not use.

Most things are finished well inside that first hour. These are jobs with a known cause and a known fix, and the hour is far more often generous than tight.

There is no call-out fee on remote work. Nobody has to travel, so there is no trip to charge for — which makes this the cheapest way to get help from us.

Software licenses and subscriptions are priced separately when applicable.

No fix, no fee.

If we cannot sort it remotely, you do not pay for the attempt.

Straight answers

When remote will not do it.

Some jobs need hands on the hardware, and no amount of clever software changes that. A machine that will not start, a laptop that overheats or will not hold charge, a drive that has physically failed, a printer or router that has to be reached and reconnected — these need someone in the room.

We will tell you which kind you have before you book anything, not after an hour of trying. If a remote session turns out to have been the wrong call, you do not pay for it.

And if the answer is that the job is better done on site, we will say so plainly — even though it is the more expensive option for you and the longer one for us.

Related help

If the job turns out to need someone there, or you would rather learn to do it yourself, these pages go into more detail.

Virus & malware removal Computer repair Tech help & tutoring

Tell us what it's doing.

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