Remote IT Support
Most IT faults are made of software and settings, not hardware — and those can be fixed without anyone in the room, on a session you start, watch and end yourself.
Before you let anyone connect
You should be suspicious. Someone you have never met is asking to control the machine your business banking, your client files and your saved passwords live on. Wanting to understand what that means before you agree is not paranoia. It is the right instinct, and a provider who treats the question as an inconvenience has told you something useful about itself.
If you are handing over access to your own computer, you want people happy to put their own names at the bottom of their emails. So this page starts with security.
What a session is, and what it is not
A remote session is not a permanent open door into your computer. Normally: you describe the problem, we send a link or a short code, you run a small program and read the code back. Only then does the connection open. Your desktop appears on our screen, you watch everything as it happens on your own monitor, and you end it by closing the window.
That consent model matters more than the brand of software. Three things should always be true:
- You start it. The session opens with a code or an approval only you can give.
- You can see it. Everything happens on your screen, in front of you. If your screen goes black or you are asked to look away, that is not support.
- You can end it. Closing the window closes the connection, without negotiation.
We will ask you to type your own Windows password when a change needs administrator rights, and to approve a prompt on your phone if we are in your Microsoft 365 account. We will never ask you to read out a code your bank has texted you, sign into online banking, buy gift cards, or move money to a safe account. Those requests are the signature of fraud.
The scam version, so you can recognise it
Remote-access fraud almost always begins with a call you did not ask for. The caller claims to be from Microsoft, your broadband provider, or “the IT department”, and says your computer is infected. Often they show you something alarming on your own machine — Windows Event Viewer is full of red and yellow warnings on every healthy computer, and it makes excellent theatre — then ask you to install remote-access software.
Two things give it away. Nobody legitimate rings you out of the blue about a virus on your computer. And the conversation always drifts towards money: a refund to process, a payment to reverse, a bank login to check. If a call you did not make is heading for your bank account, hang up and ring your own provider on the number you already had. If someone has already been let in, take the machine off the network and have it checked — clearing malware and unwanted software is routine work.
Attended and unattended access are different things
Everything above describes attended access: you are present, you consent, you watch. Unattended access means software installed so a machine can be reached when nobody is at the keyboard. It is how servers get patched out of hours — useful, but a higher level of trust. Put it in writing, tie it to named accounts rather than a shared password, log who connected and when, and know how it is removed if you change provider. A supplier who wants standing access to every machine on day one should be able to explain why.
What remote support genuinely fixes
Most faults are made of software, settings and permissions. None of them care where the engineer sits:
- Email that will not send or receive, or has started landing in junk — including Microsoft 365 accounts, licences and mailbox permissions
- Password lockouts, multi-factor resets, and shared mailboxes nobody can open any more
- Software installs, updates, licence renewals, and the settings change that broke everything last Tuesday
- Printing faults on the driver and queue side — the half that is not a paper jam
- Malware, browser hijacks, and the aftermath of a link somebody wishes they had not clicked
- Machines gone slow from startup items, disk pressure or a failed update
- New-starter setup: account, mailbox, licence and the standard applications
- The broad category of “it is doing something odd”, which is most support work
That last one is worth saying out loud. What an engineer needs is not physical access but sight of the fault — the exact wording of the error, what the settings actually say rather than what everyone assumes, and what happens when you click the thing. A shared screen gives us that while you are still describing the problem.
What genuinely cannot be done remotely
The plain limit: if the machine cannot reach the internet, remote support cannot reach the machine.
- Hardware that has died — a failed drive, screen or power supply, or a laptop that will not turn on
- A computer that will not boot far enough to load Windows
- Cabling, switches, access points, and anything needing a screwdriver or a physical port
- A device locked or encrypted with nobody able to sign in — the sort of job that became a laptop password recovered on site instead of a wipe
There is an honest grey area too. Some faults only make sense when someone watches the room: the printer that jams on one tray, the “network problem” that is a cleaner unplugging a switch each evening. Remote diagnosis narrows those down, but eventually they need eyes. When we reach that point we say so and arrange an engineer on site rather than guessing.
Why remote is better for you, not just cheaper for us
The obvious argument is cost. The better one is friction. Nobody has to keep an afternoon free, let a stranger into their home, or sit on a problem until the next scheduled visit. Small faults get reported while they are still small, because reporting one costs only a message. And the diagnosis starts inside the first conversation rather than at the end of a logistics exercise.
It also builds a record: when the same people connect to the same machines over months, the setup never needs explaining from scratch. A residential estate office has run this way since early 2025 — short sessions covering ordinary repairs, a security alert worth triaging and an email handover when the managing agent changed.
When distance stops mattering
Our on-site work covers South London, Croydon and into Surrey — see the areas we cover. Remote support has no such radius: someone in Devon, a colleague in Manchester and an office in Streatham can be supported the same way, which is what makes hybrid and multi-site teams workable. It is also how staff who are rarely at a desk get helped at all — negotiators moving between viewings and branches among them.
One distinction, because the words look alike: us supporting you remotely is not the same as building the remote access your own staff use. If your people need to reach a file server or an application that stayed in the office, that is VPN and secure remote access — infrastructure we set up for you, not a support session.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know it is really my IT company connecting, and not someone pretending to be?
Because you start the session, not them. A genuine remote session begins with a code or an approval that only you can give, on a call or an email thread you initiated. If you are ever unsure, end the session and ring the number you already had for us — not a number someone has just given you. Anyone legitimate will be glad you checked rather than annoyed by it.
What can you actually see on my computer during a session?
Whatever is on your screen — the same thing you are looking at. That is the point of the arrangement: nothing happens out of your sight. If a private document or personal inbox is open, close it before you approve the connection. We do not need to read your files to fix your email, and if we need to open something to diagnose a fault we will say so first.
Do you need permanent access to our computers?
Not for ordinary support. Day-to-day help works on attended sessions that you begin and end. Unattended access — an agent installed so a machine can be reached when nobody is sitting at it — is only worth setting up for things like servers, out-of-hours patching or maintenance windows. It is a higher-trust arrangement, so it belongs in writing, on named accounts, and it should be removable at your request.
Someone rang saying my computer has a virus and asked to connect. Was that you?
No. Nobody legitimate cold-calls you about a virus on your computer. Microsoft does not monitor your PC and telephone you about it, and neither does your broadband provider. That call is a well-practised fraud that ends at your bank account. Hang up, do not install anything they suggest, and if you have already let someone in, disconnect the machine from the network and get it checked.
What sort of problem will you tell us needs someone on site?
Anything the network cannot reach, and anything needing hands. A machine that will not boot, a dead drive or screen, cabling, switches, access points, a locked or encrypted device nobody can sign into, and office moves. We also come out for faults that only make sense when someone watches the room. We would rather say that early than bill you for guessing down a phone line.
Can you support staff working from home outside London?
Yes. Remote support is not limited by geography — if the person has an internet connection, where they are sitting makes no difference to the session. Our on-site radius covers South London, Croydon and into Surrey, so a hybrid team with people scattered around the country is a normal arrangement rather than an awkward one.
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Areas we cover
Remote IT Support across South London, Croydon and Surrey — on-site where you need it, remote everywhere.
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