Remote support without installing software

Traditional remote-support tools ask you to download a program. The program runs outside the browser, it can often see your whole desktop, and many of them can let another person operate your mouse and keyboard. That is powerful, and it is also why people are cautious about it. Installing software for a five-minute question is a lot to ask, and a lot to trust.

Help99 does not work that way. It is shared-screen guidance. One person shows a screen, the other watches, and the two talk or type in the chat. There is no unattended access and no remote control of the customer's device. Nobody can click for you.

Browsers on desktop computers ship with a standard screen-capture feature. It is the same one used by browser-based meeting tools. A website can request it, but it is the browser, not the website, that runs the interaction. That is the whole reason nothing has to be installed: the capability is already on the machine, inside software you trust enough to run.

The cost of that approach is that the capability is only as available as the browser makes it. Current desktop browsers offer it. Phone and tablet browsers do not let websites capture their own screen today, and we explain that on the guide rather than hide it.

When you start sharing, a window appears that our page did not draw. It is the browser's own picker. It lists what the browser is willing to share, which depends on the browser and can include tabs, windows and entire screens. You choose one and press Share. If you press Cancel, nothing is shared.

This matters for trust. A web page cannot style the picker to look friendlier than it is, cannot pre-select something for you, and cannot skip it. The page learns only what you picked, and it receives a live video of that surface and nothing else. The service does not let an agent capture a screen you did not select.

It also means the wording and layout of the picker differ between browsers and between versions. Our screenshots on the guide show the steps, but we do not guarantee that your browser's picker looks the same.

When a consultation involves sharing the customer's screen, the customer is first asked to agree. Agreeing is not the same as sharing. After agreeing, the customer clicks a control to choose a screen. Only that click opens the browser's picker. Sharing is complete only after the video actually connects between the customer and the agent.

So there are two separate decisions, and either can be declined. If you do not want to consent, you do not have to. Ask the agent for a consultation in which they share their own screen instead. The code opens the direction the agent prepared, and when the agent is the one sharing, the customer's screen is not published.

There are two reasons, one technical and one about people.

The technical reason is that browsers require a user gesture before they will show the capture picker. A page that tried to open it with no click would be refused. This is a rule of the browser, which is there so that a website cannot start capturing a screen behind your back.

The reason about people is simply that sharing a screen is something you should choose to do, with your own hand. An agent cannot press the button for you, our server cannot press it for you, and there is no way to preselect your choice. If something in a support session ever asks you to bypass your browser's protections to make sharing work, stop and tell the agent. You should never need to disable your browser's security features.

The agent sees the surface you selected, including new content that appears on it. If you shared a single browser tab, that is that tab. If you shared a whole screen or a window, other content you open can become visible, so close what you would not want seen. A good habit is to share a single narrow browser tab when you can, and to keep passwords and payment details off the screen.

You can end it at any time with the Stop sharing control. Stopping, or closing or reloading the customer page, ends the consultation, and you will need a fresh code to start again. Switching to another browser tab does not end it.

Skipping the installer has a price, and we would rather name it. A browser tool cannot do the things that need deep access to a machine: it cannot take over the keyboard, restart a computer or reach into a locked screen. If you need to administer a machine that nobody is sitting at, this is the wrong tool.

It also depends on the browser. Different browsers offer different picker options, and operating systems sometimes need you to allow the browser to share the screen in privacy settings before anything works. What you get in return is a session that begins in seconds, needs no program installed, and cannot do more than show a picture you chose.

If an agent gave you a code, you can enter it on the code-entry page. If you lead a support team and want to know how consent, directions and billing fit together, the company overview covers it, including the price. For the long form of the customer's journey, with screenshots, read the screen-sharing guide.