HelpBuoy

Help someone

Connect, get permission, fix things, end the session.

HelpBuoy has no chat. You talk on the phone or in WhatsApp, the way you already do.

Starting a session

  1. Ask them to open HelpBuoy, if it isn’t open already. Their PC appears in your Clients list.
  2. Press Connect next to their name. Your row says it’s waiting for them.
  3. On their screen, HelpBuoy asks whether you may take control, showing your name and your key’s fingerprint. They have a minute to press Allow.
  4. A new tab opens in your desk app with their screen. Their HelpBuoy window gets out of the way by minimising itself.

If they press Don’t allow or don’t answer, your row says so and nothing happens. You can ask again whenever you like, and every new session needs a new yes.

While you help

You see their screen and use their mouse and keyboard as if you were sitting next to them. The toolbar has the things you need:

  • Fit / 1:1 to scale their screen to your window, or show it pixel for pixel
  • Fullscreen, Win and Alt+Tab, which you can’t easily press otherwise
  • Quality: Auto, Sharp or Fast, if their connection is slow
  • A small readout of frames per second, round-trip time and bandwidth

Shortcuts use the right Ctrl key: Right Ctrl + F for fullscreen, + S to switch between Fit and 1:1, + R to resize your window to their screen.

You can help several people at once; each session is its own tab. One person is only ever helped by one helper at a time.

Ending

  • You end the session with End session in the toolbar, or by closing its tab.
  • They end it by pressing Esc on their own keyboard, or by closing HelpBuoy.

Their HelpBuoy window comes back and waits, so you can connect again later. It will ask them again.

What you can’t do

There’s no file transfer, no clipboard, no remote command line and no sound, on purpose. HelpBuoy also can’t control windows that run as administrator unless they start HelpBuoy as administrator, and it can’t show the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen.