Windows: If you’ve installed older software in Windows 7, you might notice that .hlp-formatted Help files aren’t recognised or supported. Microsoft offers a free download to read and manage those WinHelp files.
Waiting on hold might seem inevitable when you place a support call, but Adobe’s two-hour delay on its support line sets a pretty high bar for poor customer communication.
After pressing what feels like the telephone equivalent of the Konami Code, then waiting on hold forever, the last thing you want is an unhelpful phone agent. To help ensure you get what you need, use the norm of reciprocity.
The ongoing decline in tech isn’t just bad news for geeks looking for steady employment — it also means you’re going to wait longer than ever when you have to make a phone call to get a problem fixed.
Microsoft’s online troubleshooting and support documents can be useful, but even if you find a help doc, it can still be a pain to follow along with their steps, right? Not anymore. CNET reports that Microsoft has started adding a new Fix it button to a few thousand Microsoft help and support docs that—when clicked—downloads a script that will run through the steps for you, like this support doc for enabling the DVD library on your Vista PC. It seems like a good idea, but as far as we can tell, the Fix it feature is weighed down by some serious cons.
Pros:You may not be required to do quite as much tech support for your friends and family for trivial fixes.
Cons:The “scripts” come in MSI packages that you have to execute on your desktop. God knows how soon we’ll start seeing Fix it icons everywhere offering to fix your common Windows problem with a boatload of malware. I tried the script to restore the IE icon on your desktop script, and it required a restart!
That’s the short list, but I’m sure you can think of a few more. Let’s hear what you think of this new feature in the comments.
[via CNET]Companies might be happy to ring you in the middle of dinner, but they’re noticeably less keen to make it easy for you to call them. At APC, Dan Warne reports that Telstra is about to shift most of its BigPond support centre to the Philippines, and is adding a interactive voice recognition (IVR) troubleshooting system you have to navigate before reaching a real person. Based on the sample call provided in the story, it doesn’t work very well, but these kind of approaches are becoming more common. (I had a similarly frustrating experience with Vodafone’s ‘Lara’ recently, and it ultimately diverted me to the wrong division anyway.) Are you happy to deal with IVR services if they get the job done more quickly, or are they just another pain in the neck? How could they be improved? Speak out in the comments. If you don’t want to deal with a call centre, you could always try BigPond support via Twitter. BigPond: talk to a computer, then the Philippines [APC]
Telstra’s BigPond Internet division has added a support channel on Twitter, allowing you to raise problems through the popular social network. Though most of the responses to date seem to effectively devolve to “a BigPond consultant will email U back”, it’s another weapon to keep in the support arsenal. BigPond Twitter [via ZDNet AU]
If you’ve returned home from the holidays having evangelised to your friends and family about the wonders of Firefox, you’ll be thrilled to know that Mozilla has just launched a new live chat support service. The support staff is volunteer-only (they’re just kind Firefox users looking to lend a hand) and support is not 24 hours, but what a great bookmark for that new Firefox installation you added to your parents’ computer—or your own.
Firefox Live Chat [Mozilla via Download Squad]
