Online Technical Support

Finding help when troubleshooting computer issues can be critical to fixing the problem encountered. When seeking sources for assistance, several considerations need to be taken into account, including the source's credibility, the timeliness that the help can be provided and the ability of the support person to be able to clearly explain technical details. The three best venues for seeking out free support are the manufacturer's tech support department, online hardware/software users' forums and technical articles like this one.

Contacting Manufacturer
        
Manufacturers have a vested interest in keeping the customer happy. In many cases they will go beyond what is normally included for warranty, especially if the customer is polite, explains the problem clearly, listens carefully to the support person's advice and---based on this author's many years of experience---it goes a long way to have a sense of humor in motivating the engineer to find a solution to your problem. Typically, a manufacturer's contact information is easy to locate and a search for that information on any search engine should provide a direct phone number to tech support very quickly.
     
Technical Articles
       

The volume of technical resources available on the Internet is beyond any user's ability to read in a lifetime. Microsoft has published an extensive collection pertaining to its software that extends well over a decade. Dell has a huge support section, as does HP and IBM, to mention only three.
     
Online Support Forums
        
There are several online hardware and software support forums dealing with just about every aspect of the computing world. When seeking help in these forums, remember at all times that the people you are dealing with on the forum are probably not certified, may or may not know what they are talking about and have no vested interest in getting your problem resolved. It is advised that you read the forum pretty carefully, looking for clues as to who is the established expert and which members of the forum are usually not taken seriously. Once you feel as though you have a handle on the members there, post an introduction and explain that you would appreciate some help. Carefully describe the problem, providing the exact error message you are getting whenever possible. List your operating system, computer specifications and any other pertinent information you can collect. If and when you are provided with advice, double check the advice you are given with a quick search on your favorite search engine to confirm what you have been told.

Read more:  http://goo.gl/fU90W

Online technical support companies are coming up at a very rapid rate in the cyber world. It is quite next to impossible to not notice their ads whenever you use a search engine. Also, what are these online technical companies anyway and what do they do? More importantly, do they provide any relevant service that may be of importance to you and go on to make your life a little easier.

Well, the answer to the last question is a resounding yes. They make your life a lot easier, especially if you cannot make head or tails out of computer talk and cannot effectively install a simple program. For the millions of non-geeks out there, these companies are truly a heaven sent. We will explore them and a lot more in the following paragraph.

What Exactly are Technical Support Companies?

These companies hire the best and most experienced computer technicians that re available at your service throughout the day, every day of the year. The fix the problems that may be affecting your computer or any peripheral device like a digital camera, printer, scanner, gaming console etc. The will provide you with the following services:

1. Netgear Router Support, Belkin Router Support and General router Support
2. HP Support, Dell Support and General Computer Support
3. Support for Peripheral Devices

The experts at these online technical support companies offer you their service without actually physically visiting your home or company. The fix your troubles through remote desktop applications which allow them to view and make changes to your computer remotely. They also make use of other facilities like Email, Chat, Telephone and other mediums. To avail their services, you can either visit their website and make an online payment to get started or you can simply call up their toll free number and get an agent to assist you in the whole process.

Source: http://goo.gl/OZ6YC

I do a little tech support for an internet firm and I can tell you that we don't mind helping you if you are willing to listen, make an effort, pay attention and don't talk over us. We want to help. Truly. But you have to put in some effort and don't try to make everyone someone else's fault.

Most problems are not the fault of your internet provider. They are the fault of your computer, or your router or other such hardware. Or they are your fault. It's not a crime, it happens. But don't try to pretend that you didn't push the reset button when you did and don't try to make up some story about how it's never worked when log records clearly indicate only a recent problem. If you fib it makes it harder to help you.

We can't see everything you do, we don't monitor your every move and we're not out to get you. We don't sabotage your system. Generally we want you to have good service, learn as much as you can about the technology you're using and we want you to stay out of trouble. Viruses are no fun for us either. We hate dealing with them, we don't send them to you just so you need to pay someone to get it fixed.

Help yourself first. Try some basic troubleshooting. Most problems can be solved by restarting your computer. Next try unplugging your highspeed modem and your router. Plug them back in, restart your computer again. If that doesn't work, then call us. We appreciate it when you try things on your own.

Don't start messing with every setting you find. Unless you know what they mean, changing settings only makes it harder to solve the original problem. You've probably got multiple problems now.

Use a little common sense and the tech support person on the other end of the line will be a great help to you.

Source: http://goo.gl/pwPiM

Software and hardware (and technology in general) save individuals, small businesses and massive corporations copious amounts of time. It does so by automating mundane tasks, by accurately keeping track of huge amounts of data and by providing easy to use interfaces to interact with data. However, when a piece of hardware or software is broken or has bugs, it becomes a black hole of time. Many of computer monitors have been smashed by irate consumers who are sick and tired of trying to fix a problem that seems to have no origin! Technical support is essentially a specialized form of customer care that enables consumers like you and I to communicate our problems to a seasoned technician who can help us fix the problem over the phone or through instant messaging. In some cases, the technician can remotely diagnose and fix the problem through remote technical support. The immense requirement of a specialized sector to deal with technical problems led to the evolving of a technical support system. Companies may have technical support in-house (which means the manufacturer of the product handles technical queries and requests for support) or they may outsource it to a third-party that absorbs this particular part of their business.

Through the years, tech support has evolved to changing consumer behavior, customer expectations and advances in technology. Today almost every technology company has some form of tech support and consumers have come to expect technical support as their right and not just a privilege. Tech support has developed vertically into tiers (four main tiers) to ensure that the customers need is serviced accurately and promptly but also to cut costs by hiring specialist technicians only at the higher tiers. It makes no sense for a specialized hardware engineer to be sitting on the technical support floor handling calls about how to insert a floppy into a floppy drive! The tier system, therefore, serves a dual purpose: to maintain customer satisfaction by servicing all customer needs and to cut costs by servicing low-intensity technical support calls at lower, less specialized tiers.

The first tier of technical essentially tries to gather as much information from the customer as possible in order to determine whether it is a low-intensity call that need not be passed to higher tiers or whether a more experienced or knowledgeable technician needs to handle the call. The first tier is the technical support team's first line of defense of sorts against an inexperienced, confused consumer. The first tier needs to decipher what the customer is saying in layman terms, solve the problem or pass it on to the appropriate tier. The second tier of technical support is more advanced and solves more complicated technical support questions. Technicians at the second tier have it a little easier than their friends down at the first tier because at this stage, they already have a technical background about the customer's problem (thanks to the hard work of the first tier folks!). Second tier technicians are sometimes completely shielded from the customer altogether, only providing technical knowledge and support to first tier technical support. The third tier is the highest internal tier and is responsible for technical queries that are not documented or that have no known solution. The third tier technicians are essentially investigators, who try and figure out what the problem is without any background knowledge of symptoms and possible causes. Hiring third tier technicians is very expensive so companies will use them sparingly! If you are a customer and you've made it through all these tiers and the technician transfer you to a fourth tier, you better start looking for contingency plans. The fourth tier of technical support basically implies that the company you called is going to call the company that it bought goods from and go through the same process you went through! You're better off throwing your equipment or software away.

Source: http://goo.gl/d1dk5