Guide for Desktop is an application that runs natively on the desktop operating systems and securely communicates with the MCO eComms Guide cloud-based API services. There are minimum system requirements to function properly. The system requirements for the current version (v4) are listed below.
Windows System Requirements
Operating System | Windows 10 or higher |
Hard Drive Space | 100 MB minimum |
Memory | 100 MB minimum |
MacOS System Requirements
Operating System | macOS version 10.7 (Lion) or higher |
Processor Architecture | Intel or Apple Silicon (M1 or M2) |
Hard Drive Space | 100 MB minimum |
Memory | 100 MB minimum |
Network Access
Guide for Desktop requires the ability to communicate with specific Internet services on a continuous basis to function at run-time. To ensure access to these services please ensure each deployed desktop account has access to:
*.fairwords.com
In some networks this may require adding this address to the proxy / firewall allow-list. For organizations that do not allow wild card addresses on their allow-list you may use the following specific addresses:
https://guide.fairwords.com
https://guide-client.fairwords.com
https://update.fairwords.com
https://bragi.fairwords.com
wss://bragi-wss.fairwords.com
https://analytics.fairwords.com
Port Usage
The application uses the following standard ports for communication.
Port 443 (HTTPS/WSS): All external communications use standard HTTPS/WebSocket Secure to the supporting web services.
Port 51500 (TCP): Used for internal local socket communication between application processes.
Network Performance Characteristics
For planning of network resources the following operating characteristics can be used as a reference per each active endpoint.
Low Bandwidth | Typical Bandwidth | High Bandwidth |
~10-50 KB/hour for occasional typing with compressed/encrypted payloads | ~100-500 KB/hour for average office work (emails, documents, chat) | ~1-3 MB/hour for constant typing/communication |
The application is designed for low-bandwidth operation suitable for corporate networks, including those with minimal networking bandwidth. Most traffic consists of small encrypted text payloads rather than large data transfers.
Minimum: ~5-10 Kbps sustained
Recommended: 50-100 Kbps for comfortable operation
Burst: Up to 500 Kbps during heavy typing sessions
Previous Versions
Earlier versions of the application ran only on Windows. The following are the minimum system requirements for proper installation and use in production environments of the previous version (v3).
Operating System | Windows 10 or higher |
Hard Drive Space | 300 MB minimum |
Memory | 200 MB minimum |
Networking | Internet Access (direct or via proxy) |