If you’re a fresh ISL Online user, with a trial or a prepaid license, this one is for you. In this post, we’ll take a quick glance at ISL Light basics and pay attention to some of the useful features you might not be aware of at the beginning.
While ISL Light is a very easy-to-use remote desktop software (hundreds of reviewers on Capterra have acknowledged its user-friendliness, which has earned ISL Light the Best Ease of Use 2019 badge), it offers you a lot of features and services which can take your remote desktop experience to another level.
In order to get the most out of your ISL Online account, we would like to share with you a few tips and tricks. First things first, let’s just briefly go through a few basics.
Install ISL Light
If you’ll be offering remote support mostly from one computer, we recommend you install ISL Light there and place the application icon where you’ll be able to access it quickly. As a matter of fact, you can install ISL Light on as many computers you need as the number of installations is not limited.
Download ISL Light and log in with your account credentials.
With ISL Light you can either offer remote support (Sessions tab) or access unattended remote computers (Computers tab).
However, if you find it more convenient, you can start ISL Online remote support and remote access sessions from the web by logging in here.
If you’re up to offering remote support from a mobile device, you should download the ISL Light application from AppStore or GooglePlay.
Tip 1: Learn about different ways to connect to a remote computer
In order to start a remote desktop session, your client needs to download the lightweight ISL Light Client. Once the program downloads, the secure remote connection is established automatically and you are in control of a remote computer.
To do that, ISL Light offers various connection methods which can roughly be divided into two groups:
- A client needs to type in the unique session code
- A client needs to click on a link
In all cases, ISL Light Client will be download on the client’s computer.
Watch a short video where we explain the three most common ways to start a remote support session:
Learn about other connection possibilities on our website
Tip 2: Add remote computers to your list to speed up the connection process
If you often connect with the same client and their computer, we recommend you install a remote agent on their computer. This computer will be added to your computers’ list and next time you‘ll be able to access it faster without sharing the session code with the client.
The most efficient way to do it is while you’re in session with a client. Go to Tools and select Set Unattended Access. The process of installation is easy and fast.
Inform your client they can set notifications about remote access. This way anytime anyone tries to access their computer via ISL Light they will be immediately informed. Also, they can add an additional security measure, an ISL Light pop-up dialogue, which requires a client’s approval before it lets a supporter access their computer.
Tip 3: Share computer access with your team to raise productivity
If you work with a team of supporters, one of the best features is computer sharing. Once you have created a list of computers you access remotely, you can create computer groups and share access with other team members.
Before you do that, we advise you to structure your network in order to avoid the confusion of who has access to which computer. First, divide computers into different groups according to location, function, operating system, or any other criteria you specify.
Now, you can share computers. From our users’ experience, it’s most efficient that the head administrator (or whoever holds the role of the support team manager) creates a list of remote computers under the main ISL Online account and then shares them with sub-users of the account. This way you will avoid the confusion of “lost computers” where the main user doesn’t see certain computers on their list as they have been added by one of the sub-users.
Sub-users will still be able to add their private computers or clients’ computers they exclusively support on their own and not share it with other team members.
Watch a short clip guide on how to create groups and share them with the team:
How to create a group (screenshots guide)
How to share computers (screenshots guide)
Tip 4: Invite a colleague to solve issues faster
Behind every successful customer support service, there is an efficient team with a clear division of labour. As a tech supporter, your job is to solve issues your clients face each day. Sometimes you are able to troubleshoot everything alone, while in some cases the solution is out of your expertise. This is the time when you’d want to invite your colleague technician specialized to solve this matter into your remote support session. You may even transfer the session to them and let them conclude it.
Invite your colleague to join the session by sending them a prewritten email invitation with a link to your remote session. Watch video:
How to invite an operator (screenshots guide)
How to transfer a session (screenshots guide)
Tip 5: What can you do if occasionally you need more simultaneous sessions than your license allows?
When deciding how many licenses of a remote desktop software you need to buy you would probably analyze your typical working day and then establish how many supporters simultaneously connect with remote computers during your peak hours. However, sometimes it can happen too many clients need remote support at the same time and the number of licenses you hold might not be enough.
When this happens, you have two possibilities:
- you can ask one or more of your clients to wait in line and connect with them later or
- you can purchase the ISL Online Pay-Per-Use (PPU) coupon and start new sessions
ISL Online offers a very flexible licensing model by giving you a chance of adding a PPU coupon to your existing licenses. A PPU adds 500 minutes to your account and doesn’t limit the number of simultaneous sessions. This way you can “survive” the hard times without dropping your usual levels of customer service responsiveness.
Write a short review and we will reward you with a 100 minutes PPU.
Tip 6: Turn on the Administrative mode to be able to install software remotely
Some of our users come to our live chat saying they cannot install a piece of software on a remote computer. To be able to do that you need to turn on the Administrative mode. In some cases, Admin mode is turned on by default, while in others you will have to enable it. Go to Tools, select Administrative mode and check Enable.
Administrative mode and all its features can currently only be enabled on Windows version of ISL Light. Linux and Mac versions of ISL Light can enable administrative mode and all its features when the remote side is using the Windows operating system.
However, when you’re connecting with a client, who runs the ISL Light Client, the admin function depends on the status of a remote user:
- a remote user which holds the admin rights on the remote computer will have to confirm a UAC dialogue before the desktop sharing starts. In this case, the admin mode will be enabled automatically.
- If the user logged into the remote computer doesn’t hold the admin rights, the admin mode will not be turned on by default. To do that a supporter will have to log in as an admin on the remote computer (they need to know the admin user name and password) and confirm the UAC dialogue and then enable the admin mode in ISL Light.
How to enable Administrative Mode
Tip 7: Pay attention to clipboard when dealing with sensitive data
It’s good to know that clipboard function is enabled by default when an ISL Light remote desktop session starts. This means that the supporter and client-side share a common clipboard. So, when you (supporter) copy certain text or image, this content remains in the clipboard which can be accessed by both sides. If a remote user presses CTRL+V the copied content will appear on their computer.
While this comes in very handy when you need to copy-paste content from one side to another, you must be careful when you deal with sensitive data. For this reason, we recommend disabling the clipboard when you are dealing with sensitive data which shouldn’t be accessed by a third party.
Tip 8: Customise ISL Light and be closer to your clients
From experience we know that people are keener on installing or running a piece of software on their computer if this software looks and sounds familiar to them. With a few simple touches, you can make the remote support application match your company design which your clients quickly recognize and trust.
ISL Light offers rich customisation options which allow you to rebrand the software to your own corporate identity and apply advanced security measures. Here’s what you can do:
- Customise the program’s skin and texts and replace the original logo with your own (tutorial)
- Add a personalized connect-box to your website (tutorial ; video)
- Use end-of-session dialogs (tutorial ; video)
- Set the default colour depth (tutorial)
- Record each remote session automatically (tutorial)
- Turn on two-factor authentication (tutorial ; video)
We hope you have learned new and useful things about ISL Light remote desktop software. You can now use your new skills to make your everyday support life easier and more efficient.
If you have additional questions, you’re more than welcome to talk to the ISL Online team through our live chat (bottom-right corner).
On the other hand, if you’d like to share your experience with ISL Light, we would be happy to read your review!
Official ISL Online Blog 