A method and system for restoring basic functionality to a portable computer system via a server accessed remotely by telephone. A user of a portable computer system which has lost data and software which was held in volatile memory may connect to a server to restore basic functionality to the portable computer system. The server may be an enterprise or a web-based server. The connection may be made, for instance, over a 1-800 or a 1-900 telephone line. The server transfers sufficient software to the RAM of the portable computer for it to regain basic functionality. For example, synchronization software may be transferred to the portable computer. The portable computer may then use the synchronization software to synchronize via the server or host connection more fully in order to restore lost data or lost software applications that were stored on a server or on a host computer system. The step of synchronizing to restore lost data and applications may be done with a second server or, in another embodiment, with the same server which helped the portable computer system regain basic functionality. In one embodiment, the portable computer system can be a palmtop computer system.