Talking a relative through a computer problem over the phone is slow and frustrating for everyone involved — they describe what's on screen, you guess what they actually clicked, and half the session is spent narrowing down miscommunication rather than fixing anything. Quick Assist is built into Windows specifically for this situation: one person shares a temporary code, the other enters it, and within seconds the helper can see — and if permitted, control — the other person's screen directly.
What Quick Assist Actually Is
Quick Assist is a Microsoft-signed app that comes preinstalled on Windows 10 and 11 — search "Quick Assist" in the Start menu and it's already there, nothing to download for most users. It's built for one-off, short-term help sessions between two people who already know and trust each other; it is not a general-purpose remote access tool for accessing your own devices later, which is what Remote Desktop is for instead.
Getting Help: Requesting a Session
Open Quick Assist and select "Get help." This generates a random six-digit security code valid for ten minutes. Read or send that code to the person helping you — over the phone, text, or any channel, since the code alone doesn't grant access without also going through the connection prompt on your screen. Once they enter it on their end and you accept the incoming connection request, they can see your screen. A second prompt then asks whether to allow them to also take control, which you can accept or decline — declining still lets them see and talk you through the fix without touching anything themselves.
Giving Help: Starting a Session
Open Quick Assist, select "Give help," sign in with a Microsoft account (this step is required for the helper, not the person being helped), then enter the six-digit code the other person read out to you. Once connected, you'll see their screen in a window, with a toolbar for requesting control, sending Ctrl+Alt+Delete to their machine, and annotating the screen to point things out visually without needing control at all — useful for something as simple as circling a button they should click.
What the Helper Can and Can't Do
Once granted full control, the helper's mouse and keyboard input works exactly as if they were sitting at the machine — they can open Task Manager, uninstall software, change settings, or open a browser to download a fix. They cannot access anything the moment the session ends; there's no persistent backdoor left behind, and the connection has to be re-initiated with a fresh code every time. Either party can end the session immediately at any point from the toolbar, and closing the Quick Assist window ends it as well.
Quick Assist vs Remote Desktop vs Third-Party Tools
- Quick Assist: best for occasional, short help sessions between two people, free, no setup ahead of time required.
- Remote Desktop (RDP): best for accessing your own PC remotely on an ongoing basis, requires prior setup and generally a Windows Pro edition on the machine being connected to — see our guide to Remote Desktop for that setup.
- Third-party tools (TeamViewer and similar): more features for IT professionals managing many machines, but that's overkill for helping one family member fix one problem occasionally.
For most one-time "can you look at this" situations, Quick Assist is the simplest option precisely because nothing needs to be installed or configured beforehand by the person asking for help.
After the Session
If you granted someone remote control and they installed or changed anything, it's worth reviewing what happened — check installed programs, browser extensions, and any new scheduled tasks if the helper wasn't someone you know well. Microsoft's own support documentation on Quick Assist, including current security guidance as the tool has been updated to address scam abuse, is maintained at support.microsoft.com/windows.