OT: On line computer assistance...suggestions? is there such a service?

[Tommasini53]

Greetings: I'm curious if any forumites have recommendations (pro or con) on on line/over the phone computer assistance? Is there such a service?

I have a nice gaming quality laptop and the usual household host of those internet-of-things items (photos, back up drives, network, printer, chromecast, wifes ipad...yada yada). AND I'm a DIY'r through and through. Occasionally an issue comes up and I would like to discuss with an IT professional either by phone or keyboard. I'm more than happy to pay for solid advice.

SO, is there a reliable on line service of this type? IT pros at my office have recommended a local computer shop. I'm heading that way to discuss what services they might offer. Kind of like old local vs on line issue we see so much of these days. thoughts? :confused:

[gavingould]

IT guy here - i work for a managed services provider - we support companies who do not have an internal IT dept, anywhere from a couple people in a home office to ~500 employees.

in general it's going to be difficult to find anyone who can quickly diagnose an issue without a large amount of information on your environment (all devices and how they are interconnected, internet/wireless services in use, software etc)
you'll be able to find people who are either jack of all trades (master of none) or highly skilled in a couple areas with very limited know-how in others.
the local computer shop is likely to say "yeah, bring in your computer" if it won't boot up, but they might not touch anything else.

most will charge by the hour and are likely to spend a lot of time in the discovery phase if they're doing general house calls... another thing to consider is whether they will retain any of that info in documentation, or if you call 3 weeks down the road will they need to start over from square one again.

[ultraman6970]

If you have pretty much just one issue, wonder if you can tell us which issue is?? A lot of IT guys here. looks like IT and bicycles tied together pretty often, probably because we like to be ALONE! :P

I do agree, is hard to help somebody online when you have no idea what the guys has in their home and how is even connected, as much details the better, the other detail is that now a days home networking has turned so easy...

Either way out out of curiosity, which issue are you having?

[IFRider]

clairvoyantly when I am having a problem with windows (oddly in a all Mac house ;)) I know few that can do it well for individuals. Up until a year ago I ran a global managed hosting engineering team that supported thousands of servers and hundreds of customers. As Gavin meantioned earlier in the thread diagnosing problem without details to network/system configuration/versions is a rats hole of support and if hourly can get really expensive for you.

I tend to get calls for friends and family after they have tried to get help from Geek squad or some mediocre service and those people oftern do more harm (e.g. pushing for system rebuild, open firewalls, "let's try" solutions).

I do think for more complex issues asking OT here or looking to google can be far more productive.

All that said, I interviewed a number of years ago for a company call Plumchoice (https://www.plumchoice.com/) that was targetting their service for small businesses and select individuals. Not sure how they are, but it is a place to check ...

[smontanaro]

My son (a somewhat nerdy millennial) is in computer support at the medical school where he lives. I asked him. His response:


I don't know of any services other than forums. I've used:

reddit.com/r/techsupport

before.

Of course, those forums can be difficult to navigate for the typical user who would need a service like this.


They may be better off buying a nerdy millenial in their circle some beer or a coffee and asking them.



Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[unterhausen]

just wait for the microsoft support people to call you, they're very helpful

This is one of those things where it always seemed like fixing it myself was the best way to go. At work, I usually get "the look" which says they think I did something wrong. Maybe I'm giving the "the look" which says they are a worthless lazy couple of bums taking up valuable university resources.

[HenryA]

Post your phone number here and the next time “Microsoft Support” calls me about the virus on my computer I will give them your number so they can help you.

:fight:


Seriously, asking here might be a good idea. And the price is right.

[tylercheung]

To be honest, the best non-Mac support I’ve gotten has been on the Arstechnica or hardforum forums or slack group, or the Ubuntu forums. A lot of bored IT ppl hanging out there

[tlittlefield]

If you have a Microsoft store nearby, they will diagnose and fix any windows software issues for no charge.

I have brought both my Surface Tablet and HP laptop into the local Microsoft store and they fixed issues I was having. Plus they will update it to the current firmwear version as well if you don't do that yourself.