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Troubleshooting Computer Problems - 8 Questions to Ask Yourself

2011-08-28T23:05:00.000-07:00

Computer problems can be frustrating, especially when you don't know the reason. Sometimes there is a simple solution, other times fixing your computer requires more effort. In this article, we will take a look at how to troubleshoot common computer problems.

Question #1: Is it Just You or Your Entire Network?

One of the most common reasons for sudden problems such as the inability to access the web or print documents is related to your network. If all of the computers on your home or office network are experiencing the same problems, then you know that the trouble lies in the network not your PC.

Question #2: Are all Cords Firmly Connected?

"My computer won't start", have you checked to make sure it's all plugged in? Cords can come loose and cause your computer to fail to power up. Sometimes, this is also the case when a specific device (such as a mouse or keyboard) fail to function.

If everything is plugged in and your device still won't work, try another jack if possible. I have personally had several computers where the USB ports die for no apparent reason, causing my devices to not work. Plugging them in to another port clears it right up.

Question #3: Have You Installed Anything New Lately?

New software can introduce a variety of problems. If you started having problems after installing something new, try uninstalling or reinstalling the program. If the failed installation has caused errors in your windows registry (as often happens), you will need to run a registry cleaner to restore your registry to proper condition.

Question #4: Is It Hanging on Startup?

If you can't get past the Windows startup, you can attempt to hit the "F8" key on your keyboard and select the option to start up in safe mode. While in safe mode, you can uninstall problematic software or just attempt a reboot from there to see if the problem clears up. While in safe mode, it would be a good idea to back up all of your critical data as failure to boot can be a sign of serious problems with the hard disk.

Question #5: Is It Making Strange Noises?

Years ago, I booted up my office computer one morning only to be greeted by a screeching sound coming from my hard disk. Not knowing what else to do, I quickly shut it down. Still, I was not fast enough to save the data from permanent loss. What had happened was the needle in my hard disk had come loose and the sound I heard was it scraping my hard disk and wiping all of my data away with it.

Article Source: http://goo.gl/uFdkb

Online Technical Support Service - Overview and Synopsis

2011-08-22T00:47:00.000-07:00

Here is no dearth of online technical support companies in the cyber world. As you may already know, online technical support is one of the most sought after services in the world of computers. There are many people all around the world who do their day to day work with the help of computers but if their computer gets broken; they are almost always at sea as to how to fix it.

Online Tech Support - What It Really Is?

Tech support companies are those companies which offer help for all kind of software problem that you may encounter. The best part about availing online service is that it very cheap as compared to on-site technical support service. Moreover, the best thing about that services is that it is available all times of the day and night, It does not matter if you get a computer trouble in the early hours of a Sunday morning or in the middle of the night, there would always be an expert ready to help you by.

All you need to do to avail the service of a computer expert is to call them on their toll free number and an expert would be there to help you instantly.

How to Get Online Support?

It is quite easy to get online support these days. You can visit the website of the various online technical support companies and then proceed to call them on their toll free number. A customer representative would be there to assist you on your problem. The representative would first hear out your problem, diagnose it and then provide you with the best possible computer service package that would service your needs.

After the service package has been identified, you can then proceed to make the payment through secure online money transfer solutions like PayPal or other Bank Payment Gateways. As soon as your payment is confirmed, you would be transferred to the technical department which will start working on your problem instantly.

Which Technical Support Companies to Choose?

The market is almost flooded with numerous technical support companies which promise to resolve your problem in the quickest and the cheapest way possible. However, the cases of scams in such companies have also been well documented by various scammed people all over the cyber world.

However, there exist various companies which are quite renowned in the field of online technical support. Companies like PCCare247, Techieworks, IYogi and VTechSquad have made quite a name providing quality support to millions of their customers. These companies have garnered excellent reviews all over the world and are quite efficient in providing quality and timely support to their esteemed customers.

Article Source: http://goo.gl/LOsqd

Compaq Presario Tech Support FAQ

2011-08-04T02:09:00.000-07:00

After joining the Hewlett-Packard franchise in 2002, Compaq has continued to enjoy healthy sales despite what the "Washington Post" has called a merger unmatched in "size and complexity." However, consumers who stayed loyal to Compaq cannot help but wonder what to expect from the company's tech support department. Compaq Presario users have many important questions that need answering to utilize the new joint HP-Compaq tech support system.

Product Registration

While product registration is not required for technical support, it is recommended. By registering, you can get "quicker and more efficient" support, according to HP. Additionally, Hewlett-Packard and Compaq products receive automatic alerts via e-mail, making it easier to stay up-to-date with important Compaq Presario support notices.

Tech Support Contact

The quickest way is often to call the Support Center. Call (800) 474-6836 if you use your Compaq Presario PC for home-based computing; call (800) 334-5144 if you use it for business. You can also send an email to tech support, although this requires waiting for a reply whereas telephone support is instantaneous. For email support, you must go to the Compaq Presario "Email for Product Support" webpage. On this page, click on the exact model of Presario you are using to get the appropriate tech support email address (see link in Resources).
Tech Support Availability

Tech support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, if you call Compaq support during peak afternoon business hours, you will likely have to wait on hold for several minutes. Additionally, emails sent during the afternoon are often not replied to immediately. For the quickest service, call early in the morning or late at night.

Compaq Connections

Compaq Connections is an automated service designed to streamline product support and upgrades. In most cases, Compaq Connections is automatically activated when your computer goes online, searching for upgrade information and support details based on your specific Compaq Presario model.

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Hints In Resolving Your Problems Through Tech Support

2011-07-23T02:58:00.000-07:00

Tech support or technical support is a series of services supplying assistance with computer hardware, software, or other electronic or mechanical goods. This technical support services tries to help the users to solve such problems regarding the products. Most companies or manufacturer avoid sending or training individuals to gain knowledge about the system that should be followed and exercised regarding the problems that can be encountered in the products.

There are many ways to contact companies who sell hardware or software, mostly offer tech support over the telephone or via various online media like email or at websites.

There are times that companies or institutions supply an internal tech support for employees, students or other associates. This is mostly offered to those known schools and company scholars. And lastly, you can know or ask some hints about tech support in many freely available technical support forums on the internet, wherein some expert and experienced individuals volunteer to help those beginners.

Technical support can happen through different media, including e- mail, live chat, telephones, applications, faxes, and technicians, but the most common is by using the telephone. So it's up to you where you can be comfortable by having your own tech support.

Tech support alters depending on the variety of responsibilities. The support that is needed by individual depends on what level it is. Because some things that are not supported in lower levels of support can be supported with higher level services. For example, only direct questions can possibly be deal with by using your SMS or fax. When it comes to basic software problems it can be deal with by using your telephone. And hardware problems sometimes needed to be negotiated with a person or agents.

There are the ways on how to reach and avail tech support, for you to have the fastest reply on technical support that you want to contact there are a proper way on how to do it. Here are some helpful hints that should be followed for your assistance:

Article Source: http://goo.gl/igFCv

How to Customize Help Support

2011-07-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

Help and support is a very important department in any business. As different businesses face different challenges, it is paramount that clients feel their problems are addressed efficiently and that product or service support is readily available. Help and support department plays a key role in securing repeat businesses and client referrals (See Reference 1,Paragraph 3). Customer help and support should be a core element in every business to maximize profitability and keep customers happy at the same time. Although modern management theories and principles advocate for outsourcing of this key function, the benefits of having a customized in-house help and support centre will far outweigh the costs.

Follow the given Instructions:-

Carry out a feasibility survey to establish the startup costs that you will incur, from general inquiries through to technical support. It is important to be as realistic as possible. To help you make a quicker decision, remember, customers whose complaints are fully addressed are more loyal than customers with no complaints at all. (See Reference 1, Paragraph 13)

Identify sufficient space for the help and support team. This must be adequate and dependent on the operatives you intend to hire initially, and must also take into consideration future expansion plans. Make sure your employees have sufficient and ergonomically designed workspace for optimum productivity and efficiency. If your budget allows, engage the services of a design expert. Adequate space ensures that your workforce is satisfied and will lead to development.

Assemble your technical team to develop your products and services operation, application and service manuals. Come up with appropriate communications techniques like brochures, circulars and if possible, the media, that will be used. Let your technical team advise you on the appropriate developer for your software who will in-turn give advise on technical aspects of servers and peripherals and security.

Put in place a risk register as part of service planning, and map out actions to mitigate foreseeable risks. These can be an essential part in getting your priorities right and responding to customer needs( See reference 2, paragraph 1).

Create avenues for feedback from your customer through email and telephone, attitude surveys and questionnaires. This ensures that the communication between you and your customers is on the right track. It will also enable you to monitor and audit your help and support systems as well as assist in continuous updating and tailor-making.

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Kinds of Computer Support Services

2011-07-11T02:18:00.000-07:00

Computer support services have proved to be a boon for both home PC users as well as small businesses. As a regular PC user, you better know how a small computer error can badly impact the smooth functioning of computer. Technical support services put you in control of your business computing environment by offering professional-quality PC repair services.

Whether you are at your home, office or on the road, computer technical support can also be of greatest help as it not only includes the support for desktop PCs but also for laptops. Be it an error with a PC application, operating system, peripheral, or other computer error related issue, technical support providers can immediately offer you the required help. Moreover they run their services for 24x7.

Following are the services for which people often contact online technical support providers:

PC set up and installation: Now, the PC users can get their PCs installed and personalize user settings for their precious computers, operating systems, software, internet, email and peripherals.

Complete PC diagnosis and health check up: you can contact any good the PC repair provider for complete diagnosis and check up of your PC. They offer comprehensive solution, including repair, updates and optimization for your computer, software and/or peripherals.

Computer Tune Up: Clean-up unwanted files, install significant patches and upgrades, back-up data and configure browser. Does not all this sound too good to have all under a single roof?

Virus or Spyware Removal: Remove harmful and nasty computer viruses from your PC and help it stay productive & protected against malicious attacks. You can call any technical support services to audit security settings, configure anti-virus and anti-spyware, scan computer or eliminate viruses.

Data Back Up Services: Data back up services are gaining in popularity with computer users especially small businesses and home offices. These services help users protect their significant and valuable data. You can take back-up of your documents, photo's, video's, etc.

Some people are afraid of loosing their data to computer technical support companies. Contrary to this, confidentiality of client's data is of prime concern for these support providers. Therefore, you need not have any such doubts regarding the services and avail them today.

Article Source: http://goo.gl/210WB

Useful Tips To Troubleshoot Common Computer Problems

2011-07-06T03:37:00.000-07:00

Computer problems are annoying, but they are hard to avoid. Many reasons are there for which your computer may start behaving abnormally. For resolving any type of computer problem, a computer repair service provider could be consulted. However, you can also fix many common computer problems without the help of a tech support service provider. This article includes many useful tips to troubleshoot common PC problems.

Hard drive problem is quite common in computers. Hard drive is one of the most important components on a computer. Here all the programs are installed and data are stored. If proper care is not given to the health of the hard drive, then your computer will perform sluggishly. Even, the operating system may also crash due to hard drive issues. Diagnosing the fault is very important. Windows operating system includes various troubleshooting tools in order to fix common hard drive problems. Disk Defragmenter, Check Disk, etc. are some of them.

Most of the times, users complain that their computer is running sluggishly. Over time, the performance of computer goes down. This is a very common problem and almost every computer user faces this problem. In order to make your computer perform like a new, you need to follow some troubleshooting steps. You have to remove unwanted clutters from your computer. These include unused programs, files, and folders, etc.

Registry issues are also quite common and your PC may not work properly if there is problem in its registry. The registry of the computer could be compared with the nervous system of the human body. Small errors in registry may disturb the balance of the computer. You may know that whenever you install any program on your computer, entry is registered on the Windows registry. But whenever you uninstall the program, these entries do not get deleted with the software. You need to delete them with a registry cleaning software.

Viruses are one of the biggest threats to your computer. If the computer gets infected by a virus, it will deteriorate performance of your computer and even cause an absolute failure. In order to deal with viruses you need to install good antivirus software on your computer. Many good antivirus programs are available on the web. You can install trial version of these applications, and if you find the program powerful enough to protect your computer, go for the paid version.

Spyware and adware might not pose great threat to your computer like viruses but they may also slow down your computer and eat Internet bandwidth. In order to fight against spyware, you need to install a good anti-spyware application and run full scan.

These are some of the common computer problems and their troubleshooting tips. The best solution to fight against PC issues is to get assisted by an experienced and proficient tech support expert. Many computer repair companies are there that help the PC users to fight against common PC issues.

Article Source: http://goarticles.com/article/Useful-Tips-To-Troubleshoot-Common-Computer-Problems/4758411/

Dell computer technical support and auto tech phone service

2011-06-23T23:59:00.000-07:00

Dell technical support Dell has put in place an astute computer technical support service that can be accessed when the user has an enquiry about any aspect of the Dell hardware. The technical support staff at Dell employs computer-oriented diagnostics to ensure that their answers are swift and accurate as well. One can either reach the technical support team at support.dell.com or alternatively you can call them.

Prior to making a call to the support team, it is recommended that you be ready with your Express Service Code. This code will assist the support team to route the call with more efficacy. In place of the Express Service Code the team can ask for your Service Tag which can be found at the bottom or back of your computer.

One is advised to fill out a diagnostic checklist that is usually contained in the set up guide. When calling the team be sure to have your computer on – it is best to make the call from a phone that is near the machine. Being near the machine will be extremely convenient as you will be able to input various commands or perform some troubleshooting as advised by the team. At the time you intend to make the call you should be having all the requisite documentation. These will help you ascertain the start-up content files of the computer. Dell offer also easy monthly payments through their Dell Financial service.

Various aspects of Dell computer support There are many different things that you may wish to find out as a user of a Dell machine. You may be requiring help in the reinstallation of your machine’s operating system. In this case you are advised to consult your operating system disc. If you need to have a diagnostic program run in your machine or maybe you feel that you must update some drivers then you can check the corresponding disc. For the latest updates you can download them from support.dell.com.

You may require upgrading your machine with a new hard-drive, or using additional or new memory, sometimes you may want to replace an obsolete part or reinstall a part altogether. In this case the service manual will come in handy. This can be found at the same website i.e. support.dell.com. Some other helpful information has to do with safety practices, checking on order status, FAQs, locating downloads and drivers etc. These can all be handled at support.dell.com.

Dell tech support Much if not all of the computer tech support can be handled online at support.dell.com.

Contacting Dell support on phone Dell customers in the United States can call the support team on 800-WWW-DELL (800-999-3355). For persons who do not have activated connection to the internet the technical phone numbers can be retrieved from the purchase invoices, product catalog, bill, or packing slip. Dell has an Auto Tech Service which provides clients with pre-recorded answers to the FAQs. There is also an Automated Order Status Service which can help a client track the location of a particular order.

Source :-citunionbk.com

Kinds of Computer Support Services

2011-06-06T23:49:00.000-07:00

Detect a Virus With Computer Support

2011-05-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just don't understand that your PC has got virus attack. Sometimes you face problems when working on the computer but you can't understand the true reason behind the problems. The reason could be memory problem, hard drive problem or some other issues. But virus can be another potential reason for this. So it is always important to detect the root problem of your bad PC performance. Some computer support ways can guide you to detect whether your PC got virus on it or not.

If you notice that your computer is running slower than before or it is freezing frequently without any proper reason or it is taking quite a lot of time in opening up a browser, there might be a virus issue. Lots of viruses are lurking in every corner of the Internet and if your computer is connected to the net they can attack on your PC anytime. Thousands of malicious viruses are out there that can affect your PC in different ways. Spy ware, malware, stealth viruses all are there and those can track everything you input on your computer. These sorts of viruses can detect the vital personal information like credit card count number, password etc.

The best way to detect whether your PC has been targeted by any virus attack is to press the tabs Ctrl, Alt and Delete at the same time. This computer support function will open the Window Task Manager for you. Now you will need to go to the right hand side of your PC to look for a little small box. On this box you will need to roll your mouse over. This will show you the result of current usage of your CPU. In other words it will tell you the CPU usage by the programs that are running currently on your PC. If you see that the whole box or at least the 50% of the box is green, you will know some hidden programs are also running on background and what else other than viruses can run on the background of your system.

Now you will need to follow some computer support ways to detect the viruses. You will need to go to "start" from there you need to click on "run" and then you need to type "msconfig". Now you will see a box and you will need to select 'start up'. You can see all the programs that initiate when you start up your computer. Viruses give themselves such real names that you won't be able to locate the viruses. If you don't have anti-virus programs uploaded in your computer chances are there that your PC get affected every time you start up a computer.

Computer support experts suggest that you can scan your website by some free programs but be careful about selecting one because these sorts of programs can come with the Trojan horse too. Some viruses like this hid them in the real programs.

While installing any program makes sure you trust that program. Sometime malicious programs can attack when you are installing a program and such a program can make you change your PC's physical memory. They can track your move, the key stroke you make and the sites you visit.

With thousands of virus threats that we are facing these days, you need to make sure that you protect your computer with proper computer support techniques.

Source: http://goo.gl/Sg5mI

Five Tips to Reduce the Use of Antivirus Cleaners

2011-05-23T22:47:00.000-07:00

Most persons only use antivirus cleaners, after their computer would have been infected by a virus. Being proactive will reduce the chances of your computer being infected. To be proactive, antivirus software should always be installed on your computer.

If you are one of those persons that uses a computer on a daily basis for personal business, rather than in a corporate business environment, then you will always be at risk of being infected by a virus, or other dangerous malware programs. Malware is a name given to software programs that were designed to be used for malicious intent.

Even in a corporate settings, the chances of your computer being infected by a virus would also be possible, but the chances are minimized tremendously. Corporations use industry standards of protection to minimize the threat of their computers being infected by viruses, and other dangerous programs. During my many years of employment in a corporate environment , within the Information Technology department, steps were in place to minimized our computers from being infected by viruses. Antivirus software were installed on every computer in our environment.

Antivirus cleaners are only used after a computer is infected by viruses, or malicious ad-ware and malware infections. I have included below some tips and guidelines to help in the reduction of your computer being infected by a virus.

(a) If you are using a windows machine with windows XP, or windows vista installed as the operating system, you should always be running the latest security patches and browser updates.

(b) Your computer should always have antivirus software installed that is capable of running in real time.

(c) Your antivirus signatures should always be up to date.

(d) You should always do weekly scans to your computer.

(e) Never open e-mails from persons you do not know.

If you are serious about reducing the use of antivirus cleaners then you should always have antivirus software installed. Having antivirus software installed does not guarantee that your computer will be virus free, but the chances of your computer becoming infected is reduced tremendously.

Source: http://goo.gl/SbMvg

Fix Speaker Issues With Tech Support

2011-05-18T03:17:00.000-07:00

A long term sound functionality can not be guaranteed by a quality sound card or a set of good computer speakers. At any point of time you can meet head-on problems with them. Frequently the error problems with the speakers occur due to the recklessness of the users. So when you face the errors you need to ensure that you have checked even the most basic things like the power connection or the plug in issues. Tech support professionals cited many incidents where the users forgot to plug in the speakers. Sometimes problem of loose power connection can also occur. So, tech support experts suggest you to check carefully if these are the cases with you too.

So, once you are done with checking with the plug in and power connection errors and made sure that the problems are not with these simple things you may need to focus on some other points. At this point of time tech support experts suggest you to be a bit technical and vigilant to diagnose where the real problem lies. Hours can be spent on searching for the real cause of the error and at last you can diagnose that the problem was with a basic part of your speaker. The same thing can happen to your case too. That is why computer support professional suggest you to connect your speaker to the radio or music system to see whether it is working. If you see the system is working the problem will definitely be with your computer system itself.

Problems can be with your internal volume controller of the computer, suggest the tech support guys. For this, you need to check the volume controller to see whether it is working properly. Sometimes users unknowingly keep the sound controller in mute mode which results in no sound output from the computer system. To check whether there is any technical error you need to open the advanced audio controls area. If the problem is still there on, you need to run any multimedia application to see whether the sound output is working. Running the multimedia application will ensure the fact that the problem is with your computer system rather than on any particular media file. But if you see the problem is occurring for any particular type of media file then tech support experts suggest you to uninstall the program reinstall it again from the Internet or from your original CD. This might solve the speaker issues, suggest the computer support professionals.

Tech support guys suggest you to be careful when you are downloading or installing any software from the Internet. Many of the software can be malicious and can contain virus. These sorts of software can be harmful to your computer system as a whole. Being a non technical person you could have downloaded files that can make your system even more damaged than it was ever before. So, you need to be careful here, suggest the computer help guys.

If the problems still persists even after trying these computer help tips, you may visit your system properties. For going to system properties you need to click on Windows + Pause/Break. If there is any problem in the system sound card a yellow exclamation mark will come up. If you see such mark, you need to reinstall the system sound card.

Source: http://goo.gl/MCUAT

Tech Support For Cloud Computing With Windows 2010

2011-05-17T00:59:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has recently developed the recent version of operating system, Windows 2010, where you can experience a lightweight web version of MS Office. Here the programs like Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc. can be accessed over internet. As the tech support team of Microsoft has announced, there will be two versions of these programs, physical and web applications. You can avail most of the features in web applications as they are in their physical counter versions. It's no doubt a significant move in software programming and a paradigm shift towards cloud computing. Just because the practice of cloud computing is literally becoming a buzz word to the modern days, adoption has become a necessity. Therefore you must know about this technology and its pros cons to decide whether it would be sensible choice for your purpose or not.

As tech support professionals explain the basic files and software applications are typically get stored to the user desktop or on a local server where as in case of cloud computing your resources get stored remotely and you can access them from anywhere over the net. This way you can add a wing to your computability where data and services can be accessed from any computer having internet connection irrespective of their locations or operating system setup.

You really don't have to be an expert techno geek to avail cloud computing features. Online tech support service providers are there to help your way. In fact, as the industrial giants have announced, this modern feature is going to change the way how we use computers completely. Today many users just get involved in cloud computing even not understanding its features entirely. However, it is essential to realize the facts about clod computing to avoid any sort of future peril.

So, let's know about the benefits you can avail from cloud computing. The very first thing as your computer support vendor will mention that, cloud computing can cut your cost and free up system spaces to a fair extant. This is nothing but hosting your files folders on a remote or outsourced system monitored by a third party. With cloud hosting you can get access to your data anytime from any computer round the globe; all you just need to have an internet connection to the system. Now you don't have to have a spacious storage center in your computer anymore, which will definitely relieve your burden a lot. Another important thing is, all the files are easily scalable here and so you can add or remove data more easily and of course systematically.

This technology specially works for the small or medium sized business processes. Availing the service they can easily avoid the expenses on funding a server, software setups, IT professionals and other must have services. Cloud hosting can be real beneficial for it can take care of your business data and IT needs completely and authentically. Authenticity is one more important thing in cloud computing. Here you really don't have to bother for security issues. So, we can conclude that such tech support can bring an excellent business deal for both individuals and business houses.

Source: http://goo.gl/1zgTz

Benefits of a firewall

2011-05-03T04:42:00.000-07:00

Firewalls protect private local area networks from hostile intrusion from the Internet. Consequently, many LANs are now connected to the Internet where Internet connectivity would otherwise have been too great a risk.

Firewalls allow network administrators to offer access to specific types of Internet services to selected LAN users. This selectivity is an essential part of any information management program, and involves not only protecting private information assets, but also knowing who has access to what. Privileges can be granted according to job description and need rather than on an all-or-nothing basis.

Speed Up Your Computer Today with Free Tips and Help

2011-04-21T00:35:00.000-07:00

There are many ways that can make a slow computer such as a virus, spyware, registry problems, or hard drive fragmentation. There are some tips and guides to repair a slow running computer and tips on how to keep it running at maximum efficiency.

Below are some of the top tips increase speed of your computer:

1) Clean the Registry - Cleaning Your Registry is a best way to speed up a computer. You've probably noticed that your system gets slower and slower as time passes. Often times, this is caused by Registry problems, accumulated as a result of installing and uninstalling programs.

2) Defragment Your Hard Drive - A fragmented hard drive can really slow down your computer. Defragmenting is a pretty easy and painless operation and can really boost performance.

3) Remove Spyware and Viruses - One of the most common reasons for a slow computer is a virus or spyware. ComputerTooSlow.com offers tips and help on removing these from your PC.

4) Remove Unused Programs - Old and unused programs are taking up space and slowing down your overall PC performance. Removing these old programs can help speed up your pc.

5) Update PC Drivers - Old or ancient drivers may cause a number of problems, from diminished hardware functionality to conflicts and system crashes. Keeping your drivers up to date is necessary for optimal PC performance.

Antivirus AntiSpyware 2011 on the Attack of Computers!

2011-04-05T00:26:00.000-07:00

Remove the Antivirus AntiSpyware 2011 rogueware! It's a scam! Do not trust it! These are all warnings related to the rogueware, named Antivirus Antispyware 2011 which has recently showed up on the web. Be sure you don't install this fake software, otherwise, you will have problems with your PC.

Is Antivirus Antispyware 2011 so dangerous after all? The answer is positive. Unfortunately, many computer users all around the world have announced that they are in trouble because of this fake av wandering on the web. Usually, it pretends to be an online scanner which states it can remove all the threats and fix the system. However, you should never trust this fake software.

Otherwise, you will be in trouble. Once Antivirus Antispyware 2011 is installed on your computer, it will start messing the entire system. Starting from modifying Windows Registry, the Trojans will keep chaning registry keys and adding new registry entries. In most cases, Antivirus Antispyware 2011 will start together with Windows, so you will keep noticing that system scans are performed every single time.

Just bear in mind that this rogueware does not detect the real threat on your machine - all the results are simulated in advance and should never be trusted. The scammers try to convince computer users to pay money for the useless software and leave them in troubles. Don't ever think that Antivirus Antispyware 2011 is able to help you. Be sure you get rid of it as soon as you notice it installed.

Top 10 Signs Your Computer Is Infected

2011-03-10T01:41:00.000-08:00

AVG has produced the following guide of the 10 most common symptoms of computer infection:

1. When computer is running unusually slowly.
If a PC has been infected by a virus, worm, Trojan or some other form of malware, it could be running tasks that consume a lot of resources, making the system run more slowly than usual.

2. When computer keeps popping up messages. If pop-ups and messages appear on the desktop, either advertising things or saying that the PC is infected, the computer probably has a malware infection. Spyware or adware is also commonly used as well as fake anti-virus programs (also called "rogueware") to deceive the user into parting
with financial details.

3. When connect to the Internet, windows open or my browser displays web pages I have not requested. Many threats are designed to redirect traffic to certain web sites against the user's will, and can even cause browsers to display spoof web pages. Normally this happens when looking for something in a search engine or when
typing a URL into an address bar. The user presumes they have opened a legitimate website when really they have been taken to a malicious imitation. The free AVG LinkScanner on Windows or Mac computers will help protect from these web pages.

4. When you cannot connect to the Internet or it runs very slowly. Loss of Internet communication is another common symptom of malware infection. This problem could also be due to the Internet service provider (ISP) or modem router. If a computer has been infected, the malware could be connecting to a URL or opening separate connection sessions, thereby reducing available bandwidth.

5. When anti-virus has disappeared, firewall is disabled. Another typical characteristic of malware threats is

that they disable the security software already installed on computers. If one security protection layer shuts down it might be a specific software failure. However, if all security components are disabled, the computer is infected.

6. Applications won't start or the computer keeps crashing. This is when infection causes applications from the start menu or desktop to stop working and other programs to run. This could either be caused by an update or poor installation process or if the computer unexpectedly or erratically crashes persistently then it may be due to malware. This especially happens when trying to open up a security program, or trying to fix malware problems.

7. When computer has new programs. If there are new programs on the computer's desktop that have been downloaded and installed without consent or knowledge, it's likely the computer is infected. Usually these programs have explicit or illegal content and it's near impossible to delete them like a normal program.

8. Where have files gone? There are malware threats designed to delete or encrypt information. Others move documents from one place to another. Some remove the library files for running games, security software and other programs. If a computer is in this situation, it's highly likely to be infected.

9. When computer is speaking a strange language. Certain infections cause the language of certain applications to change or the screen to appear back-to-front.

10. When computer has a mind of its own. If the computer starts acting on its own or sends emails without your knowledge, it is infected. Other signs include Internet sessions or applications opening sporadically.

Protect Your Computer With Free Anti-Virus Software

2011-03-02T04:25:00.000-08:00

Free Anti-Virus Programs

So you've been using the free McAfee or Norton antivirus software that came with your computer, but the subscription will expire in a few days. Should you shell out another $49, or try one of those free anti-virus programs?

If your computer is running slow... your high-speed internet connection feels like dial up... and popups are popping up everywhere, what's wrong? It could be a computer virus, or perhaps a bunch of viruses, infecting your hard drive. Viruses not only take up valuable memory and slow down your computer, they can also expose your personal information to Evil Hackers.

The good news is, there are plenty of free anti-virus programs that can clean up the mess and keep you safe going forward. Here are some of the most popular and highly rated:

* AVG is one of the most often recommend freeware anti-virus packages. It provides very effective protection from the most common threats.

* Avira Anti-Vir - claims over 30 million users worldwide, and the free Personal Edition gets excellent reviews.

* Microsoft Security Essentials is a new free security tool from Microsoft. It's meant to provide protection not just from viruses, but also spyware and other cyber-nasties as well.

Look for free virus protection that comes with frequent, automatic updates and covers all viruses, not just the major threats. If you aren't getting regular updates, at least once every two weeks, you should consider another program. New viruses are created every day, so you need constant, up-to-date protection.

Do you really need paid anti-virus software? That depends on you. If you or others in your household are prone to visit the dark corners of the Internet (peer-to-peer music/movie downloads, adult sites or warez), or if you have children that will click and download almost ANYTHING, then you will probably want the best protection possible. Generally, the commercial anti-virus packages with monthly subscriptions offer very high levels of protection, fast updates when new viruses are found, and good customer support. You should also consider a paid anti-virus package if you run a business, or if you have sensitive information on your computer. It's a small price to pay to ensure that your data is secure.

In summary, don't take your Internet security lightly. You really DO need good anti-virus protection to stay safe online. And for most people, the free anti-virus programs will work just fine. Take one for a test drive and decide for yourself.

Kaspersky Lab warns of new 'Twitter worm'

2011-02-22T01:08:00.000-08:00

MANILA, Philippines - Kaspersky Lab, a developer of secure content and threat management solutions, is warning users of a Twitter worm which redirects users to a rogue anti-virus application.
The recently discovered Twitter worm takes advantage of the microblogging site's shortened links, which are obscure compared to the original uniform resource locator (URL) or link address.
Hackers are able to lure a user into their infected URLs since a user doesn't know what it contains, said Kaspersky Lab malware researcher Nicolas Brulez.
Upon clicking the link, a user will receive a warning that his computer is running "suspicious applications."
He will then be asked to "remove all threats" and download a "Security Shield" rogue anti-virus, which will then infect the computer with malicious programs.
As the Twitter worm continues to spread, Kaspersky urged Internet users, particularly those with Twitter accounts, to be more careful when clicking on truncated links and when downloading programs, even anti-virus software.
The company is also offering a "heuristic analyzer" which can help detect this kind of threat.

Fraud Theft by Rouge Anti-Virus Software

2010-12-24T03:44:00.000-08:00

Fraud theft has many faces – none of which are pretty – but perhaps the most insidious is that of Rouge Anti-Virus Software scams.

One of the newest virus threats online comes to your computer as a true “wolf wrapped in sheep’s clothing.” System Tool 2011, and other such malware, is being e-mailed to computers all over the world, causing damage and bilking its victims out of hundreds of dollars.

The Scam

Unless you work, live, and breathe for computers, you probably aren’t familiar with online theft information regarding the term “rogue” anti-virus software until you become a victim. This is not optimal way to learn about the deleterious effects it can have on your computer and bank accounts.

Rogue anti-virus software is spread over the Internet the same way other viruses are: in e-mail attachments, as a part of a shareware software bundle all with the help of a Trojan. (Trojans are software packets that sneak inside your hard drive hiding within another download, much the same way the actual warriors hid inside the horse.) One of the most successful, and most damaging, of these rogue anit-virus programs is System Tool (also known as systemtool and System Tool 2011).

Rogue anti-viruses have no affinity for malware, Trojan, or other harmful programs’ removal because they are in and of themselves malware. Their real and only purpose is theft fraud by capturing your credit card information under false pretenses. This qualifies rogue virus software as identity fraud theft scams at their finest.

Antivirus, the perfect Christmas gift: AFP

2010-12-06T04:51:00.001-08:00

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has urged Australians to buy antivirus for their loved ones for Christmas to give them the gift of protection from Internet malicious threats.
In a joint release with the Australian Bankers Association, the AFP said that given the number of computers in Australia, antivirus was a present which probably wouldn't go astray.
"With almost half of Australia's population being active internet users, a practical idea for a Christmas gift might be antivirus software for the household computer," it said.
The release then warned consumers to be watchful when buying presents online, investigating retailers before buying products from them and not showing information to online retailers they don't need.
"Cyber criminals and internet fraudsters don't take holidays and neither should internet shoppers' vigilance when it comes to online safety," the release said.

Source: http://www.zdnet.com.au/antivirus-the-perfect-christmas-gift-afp-339307789.htm

AAAntivirus.com Announces Kaspersky Antivirus has Raised Prices to a Troubled Market Sector

2010-11-16T04:51:00.001-08:00

CAMPBELL, Calif., Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- AAAntivirus.com chooses to maintain pricing levels acceptable to the market conditions while competitor, Kaspersky Antivirus has decided to raise prices for EDU/GOV/Non-Profit, official Oct 1 2010, by 41%.

According to CEO Roy Miehe of AAAntivirus.com, the company will not be following competitors in raising prices due to the current state of affairs with the economy.

"Some competitors are taking advantage of tough times, with the layoffs in the IT departments in the sectors affected by this enormous price increase they are sometimes left with no alternative but to be held captive to renewing competitor's products without doing a full investigation of the products and pricing available to them."

This is where AAAntivirus.com comes into play providing their technical knowledge and purchasing power to assist this sector in providing EDU/GOV/Non-Profit sector alternatives.

Beyond price, security should be the main concern when purchasing an antivirus program. In October 2010, IDG News announced that Kaspersky's website had been victimized by hackers. AAAntivirus.com remains a secure antivirus software solutions provider, only providing the best product for their budget.

Given the recent price increase and vulnerabilities with Kaspersky, Miehe suggests that the public should "seriously reevaluate their current antivirus program and find an application which will be cost-effective and reliable in protecting their network and home computers."

AAAntivirus.com manages over a million seats of antivirus software world wide and has received numerous awards from major manufacturers starting with Trend Antivirus USA partner in 2003, Kaspersky Partner of the year 2005 and 2006, Panda Security largest SaaS Cloud Partner 2008 and 2009, currently one of Norman Antivirus largest US AV Partners.

About AAAntivirus.com services

1. Hosted Microsoft Exchange up 24x7x365
2. Managed Firewalls (Watchguard)
3. Managed Desktop/Servers
4. Managed Antispam mail solution SaaS based
5. And of course Antivirus Software we manage 1.5 million seats world wide
6. Security Consultants
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aaantiviruscom-announces-kaspersky-antivirus-has-raised-prices-to-a-troubled-market-sector-105449008.html

McAfee Launches Digital Information Security Initiative

2010-10-18T04:57:00.000-07:00

McAfee announced it has unveiled its "Security Connected" initiative, enabling partners, developers and customers to apply a sustainable approach to securing digital information.
McAfee has announced the first two of four new connected security platforms.
1. McAfee Endpoint Security 9
2. McAfee Security Management 5

Security often is being driven from different silos within businesses, from mobile devices, PCs, and tablets, to mission-critical networks, hosted applications, servers, cloud services, virtual machines, and databases, bringing dozens or hundreds of different security technologies and disparate management paradigms with them.

McAfee said its Security Connected components include: -Proactive security through built-in integration and intelligence -Global Threat Intelligence: Threat research and content capability to deliver predictive threat analysis, reputational scoring, cloud delivery and intelligence in depth to power connected security technologies.

-Broad portfolio of countermeasures: Integrated security for PCs, Mac, smartphones, tablets, storage, embedded, silicon, network perimeter, datacenter, web gateways, mail security, content, and so on with a choice of on premise, SaaS, or hybrid delivery models.

-McAfee Connected: program is aimed at helping partners worldwide ensure product and service compatibility with McAfee solutions. The program's testing process ensures that the third-party hardware, software and services that customers choose perform well, and are compatible with, McAfee technology.

The Best Antivirus Software for 2011 (So Far)

2010-09-08T03:36:00.000-07:00

Symantec and Trend Micro have yet to weigh in, but there are already some powerful premium AV options available.
The summer of 2010 isn't even over yet, but the 2011 antivirus utilities are pouring in already. Significant players are still waiting in the wings, it's true. Norton's 2011 product releases are imminent, as are Trend Micro's. Spyware Doctor and others won't be far behind. But quite a few of 2011's antivirus apps, both commercial and free, have already sprung up. Among others, Bit Defender Antivirus Pro 2011, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011, and Panda Antivirus Pro 2011 and Webroot AntiVirus with Spy Sweeper 2011 are all available and have already been through my testing. If you're looking to buy antivirus, today, the results show that there are already some solid choices available.
Antivirus means a utility that protects against all kinds of malicious software, not just viruses. Trojans, spyware, rootkits, keyloggers, adware, scareware—a proper antivirus must handle all of these.
Panda Antivirus Pro 2011 includes a fully-functional personal firewall and can monitor other Panda installations on your network. BitDefender Antivirus Pro 2011 provides full remote management across the network as well as a top-notch antiphishing module. BitDefender and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 both scan for security vulnerabilities, though BitDefender takes the concept a bit farther.
Ad-Aware appeals to both with a choice of simple or advanced mode. BitDefender goes even further. Not only can its users choose basic, intermediate or expert view, they can build a personal collection of their most-used tools.
Webroot AntiVirus with Spy Sweeper 2011 totally focuses on keeping everything as simple as possible. It updates automatically, scans while the system is idle, and interacts with the user through a completely redesigned interface. All the detail a tech-savvy user might want is available, but it's hidden when not needed.

McAfee & Facebook Announce Collaboration

2010-07-15T23:07:00.000-07:00

In a very significant announcement top social networking site, Facebook and Internet Security and Antivirus solutions provider, McAfee have announced a collaboration to work together. Facebook has a user base of 350 million users. Under the terms of the deal, Mcafee will provide free subscription of its Internet Security Suite software to the Facebook users for six months.
Facebook and McAfee are also working towards creating a custom scanning and repair tool which will be made available as free download or might be sold at discounted prices to Facebook users.
The interesting facet of the partnership is that Facebook will be using the financial accruals from this partnership to bring more benefits to its users. They will not be taking any share of revenues from McAfee. McAfee users can buy the products after expiry of the six month trial period. McAfee will be buying advertising from Facebook.
Social networking sites have always been targeted by hackers. Presently the scanning tool using English language is available in eight countries to Facebook users. Other languages are under development.

AVG joins Opera on stage

2010-07-06T19:57:00.001-07:00

The first beta of Opera 10.60 was released only two weeks ago, and it graduates to a wide release and sheds its beta tag. Opera 10.60 for Windows, Mac, and Linux incorporates security enhancements provided by popular freeware antivirus vendor AVG, improves performance, adds further HTML5 compatibility, and makes a noticeable tweak to the browser interface. New security feature indicates that while Chrome and Firefox are looking to further isolate plug-ins and add-ons, Opera address the immediate threat from malware-infected sites. Opera now comes with AVG's real-time Web threat data feed built in. It means when you encounter a page that's been detected by the AVG network to be malicious, you'll see the warning instead.

New feature uses multiple techniques to protect users. It uses exploit signatures to detect sites serving drive-by downloads, the AVG Online Shield and contextual analysis to detect social engineering scam-driven viruses, and reputation lists for safeguarding against malicious URLs.

Version 10.60 is compatible with several nascent HTML5 features, including the next-generation video and audio codec WebM, geolocation compatibility, Web Workers, and App Cache. This update places Opera at or very close to parity with beta and development versions of Chrome and Firefox. Opera has also created an HTML5-geolocation-powered map showing real-time downloads and active users of Opera. The Windows changelog, Mac changelog, and Linux changelog are available at the Opera Web site.

How to uninstall MISPBO Registry Cleaner Antivirus

2010-06-28T20:21:00.001-07:00

Many programs are easy to uninstall using Add / Remove Programs from the Windows Control Panel. However, this option is not always available to try. And, MISPBO registry cleaner Antivirus from uninstall your computer a little knifflig.Warum you cannot completely remove MISPBO Registry Cleaner antivirus by Windows built-in “Add / Remove Programs”.

For after the removal of you to behave this way, as a fact, there are still some Registry entries and associated files in the corners of the registry and hard drives on the left. Then you need to get them all löschen.Nachdem by the removal of this antivirus “Add / Remove Programs”, first you need to uninstall the registry cleaner MISPBO related files. To do this, you can my computer, navigate to C: / Program Files / and then delete them. This will get rid of permanently preventing the program files for MISPBO Registry Cleaner, that it runs in the Zukunft.Zweitens, you must any registry keys that this program link to remove in Windows. Then open REGEDIT. EXEÂ (which is in the C: / Windows folder) and press CTRL + F to search for the program to be deleted after all of these key if they carry out this guide to finden.Wenn MISPBO Registry Cleaner Remove, you must be very careful because not do so, may thus lead to performance problems, registry errors and instability issues includingProbleme.Doch next to this risky method, it also remove a lot easier and safer way to MISPBO Registry Cleaner.

You can help a removal tool to get rid of you MISPBO Registry Cleaner in seconds, is really a fantastic stressfreien.Es removal tool to help you completely remove MISPBO Registry Cleaner antivirus with great success and ensure that all the no longer existing Registry entries and associated files can be automatically eliminated with a few clicks. Apart from this software, it can also completely remove other programs such as Authentium, Norton, Trend Micro Antivirus, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office.

Make Search From Command Line With Google CL

2010-06-21T21:59:00.001-07:00

Search giant Google has launched a new tool that allows programmers to perform Google searches directly from a window, instead of accessing the browser.

GoogleCL is available to download and can also be used to access Google's Blogger, Contacts, Calender, Docs, Picasa and YouTube services, right from the command prompt.

The tool, which has been released for Linux, Windows and Mac, will allow users to upload video on YouTube, edit documents on Google Docs and upload image folders to Picasa, directly from the terminal.

After downloading the gdata Python client library and GoogleCL, users need to unzip the files to a specific location. They then need to run a series of commands in the terminal window to download the client on to their systems.

Tips to Remove Win 7 Antivirus 2010

2010-06-13T20:39:00.001-07:00

Introduction to Win 7 Antivirus 2010: When you are surfing the net peacefully or doing work online, suddenly your PC goes blue screen without any hints. You may experience this a lot. It happens due to Win 7 Antivirus 2010.

When your Windows 7/ XP/ Vista detects an unknown error which make your operating system running inappropriately, your PC will encounter problems and go to blue screen immediately. You may get words or messages from the screen which is reading: ***STOP 0×0000001E(0xC0000005,0xFDE38AF9,0×0000001,0×7E8B0EB4). This is Win 7 Antivirus 2010 error.

Removal of Win 7 Antivirus 2010

1. There is BUG existing in your applications. As mentioned before, BUG or errors on your operating system can make it run improperly and go to blue screen finally. You should clear or fix virus completely.

2. You are loading too many programs while booting up your PC. Some users may get the Win 7 antivirus 2010 whenever they boot up computer. Too many programs added into Startup will not only slow down the booting speed, but also enhance the possibility of getting Win 7 antivirus 2010. Reduce the unnecessary items in Startup to make it run faster.

3. Incompatibility of software and hardware on your PC also may cause the Win 7 antivirus 2010 problem. When you install software or change hardware, you need to think about the compatibility of them and then make the decision.

4. Registry encounters problem or has been destroyed. Registry is a huge database including all the configuration information of all applications on your computer. Once it starts to show errors, you need to get some repair tool to fix Win 7 antivirus 2010 soon.

5. Win 7 antivirus 2010infection is also one of the main reasons. When your computer is attacked by unknown virus or malicious threats, it is easily to freeze or become blue screen. Moreover, it is extremely hard for common users to detect and remove the virus completely. You had better get a professional tool to fix Win 7 antivirus 2010 instantly.

Test Your Anti Spyware Tool with Spycar

2010-06-01T01:06:00.000-07:00

Are you completely sure that your anti-spyware tool protects your computer from spyware? If no, then you should test your anti spyware with Spycar. It can help you determine whether the anti-spyware software running on your system can actually identify and block the latest spyware.

Spycar prepares a series of tests in the form of links associated to Windows executables that represent different types of spyware actionss. After the tests, Spycar provides a downloadable file called TowTruck 1.0 which measures how your anti-spyware tool acted on the changes initiated by the links. Towtruck will then evaluate whether the spyware-like behavior was blocked or permitted by your spyware tool. You can then use TowTruck to revert the changes done by Spycar and bring back your system to its previous state.
Features:
• Free and easy to use
• Step-by-step instructions are provided
• Evaluate spyware tools capabilities
• Helps you determine if your system is spyware-free
• Provides safe tests to check your anti-spyware tool

McAfee Patch file Error

2010-05-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

If you are one of those Windows XP users who has downloaded latest McAfee security patch file on 21st April 10, then you might face some trouble. However if you are working on Windows Vista or Windows 7, then you need not worry as this patch is working perfectly fine on these MS Operating Systems.

Following issues are faced after instating above patch files:
• Automatic system shutdown
• Slow Internet connection
• Poor Computer performance

Solution for Automatic system shutdown

Step 1: Open a command prompt: Start menu, Run, then type cmd and hit Enter
Step 2: Type shutdown -a, which will prevent the shutdown from occurring

Once Slow Internet connection
Step 1: Click Start, Programs, McAfee, and then VirusScan Console
Step 2: Right-click “Access Protection”
Step 3: Select “Disable”

Poor Computer performance

Step 1: Download EXTRA.ZIP, from the McAfee site and unzip to get EXTRA.DAT
Step 2: Click Start, Run, then type services.msc and click “OK”
Step 3: Right-click the McAfee McShield service and select “Stop”
Step 4: Copy EXTRA.DAT to “\Program Files\Common Files\McAfee\Engine”
Step 5: Then restart the McAfee McShield service by right-clicking on it and choosing “Start” from the context menu
Step 6: Re-enable access protection by going back to the VirusScan Console
Step 7: Right-click “Access Protection”
Step 8: Select “Enable”
Step 9: In the VirusScan Console, go to the Quarantine Manager Policy
Step 10: Click the Manager tab
Step 11: Right-click on each file in the Quarantine and choose “Restore”

Once you have completed all these steps, your computer will function as it was before. All that we have done is these steps is disabled the erroneous patch and enabled the correct patch.

Test MSN Messenger 8 / Windows Live Messenger

2009-07-17T00:40:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in the article "MSN Messenger 8 beta, a new version of MSN Messenger is currently in development. However, it should be soon but say MSN Messenger Windows Live Messenger.

MSN Messenger 8 will join the Live range of Microsoft software. In any event announced on this site http://ideas.live.com/. It is for this reason that the software should take the name of Windows Live Messenger.

Some new additions are announced: more than winks and emotions, the video, calls to fixed or mobile phones with Windows Live Call, a function of shared folders. In short, it looks forward to the 8 MSN Messenger / Windows Live Messenger.

You will find some information about MSN Messenger 8 / Windows Live Messenger on the MSN Backstage.

It is also possible to test the next version of MSN Messenger even if it is only a beta version: Want to test Windows Live Messenger?.

Finally, the site Troubleshoot Your PC has made a test MSN Messenger 8: MSN Messenger 8: first contact. However, we can see that the test should not be the last because it is MSN Messenger 8 BETA and not Windows Live Messenger.

Some beta testers have already access to version 8.0 of MSN Messenger. Currently, little information is available on future features of MSN Messenger 8.0. At most, we know it will bear the contacts from Yahoo Messenger.

Among rumors of MSN Messenger 8.0 beta, there's talk:

* Management of skins (themes) to modify the
* Full integration of Windows Media Player
* Better management of the download (more details and Pause)
* Further integration of MSN Spaces (creation of blogs) and Hotmail
* Functionality localization
* A greater integration with Windows XP / Windows Vista
* The display of top 10 MSN Music Radio
* Support for animated images person
* The use of MSN Messenger on a mobile phone
* A rating of personal images

At the moment, it is difficile what will really part of the final version of MSN Messenger 8.0.

A beta version of MSN Messenger 8 should be available by the end of the year. As for the final version of MSN 8.0, it will have to wait until 2006.

Call via Internet

2009-07-14T03:00:00.000-07:00

Call via Internet, it's all still new. And what can you do exactly that and what does it me? On these questions I will answer.

Call via Internet
This is also called VOIP, it stands for Voice Over IP. This is a way to a digital voice on an IP network to transmit. A home is such an IP network, but also the Internet. Call via the Internet is cheaper than calling a normal telephone network. Sometimes even free calls, for some companies, this is one reason for their telecom infrastructure to build. For home users, there are interesting possibilities. You can also 'voip' from your own computer with internet connection or your normal phone. In the latter case you should conclude a contract with a VOIP provider.

Call a normal phone
To call a regular phone through the internet you have to go into the sea with a provider of Internet telephony, or VoDSL (Voice over DSL). Some businesses that have Internet subscriptions on offer are:

* Tiscali
* UPC
* Multikabel
* @ Home

At this moment it is not possible to call via the Internet regardless of an Internet purchase. Well try this for the consumers to get to providers.

If you use a regular phone using internet you can connect directly to your modem. So you have no computer. Some advantages and disadvantages in a row.

Benefits
* Reliable as a fixed part of your internet connection for telefoonie reserved.
* Relatively easy to install
* No computer necessary

Disadvantages
* Call through a VOIP provider is cheaper than normal calls, but not free.

Calling from a computer
The call from computer to computer is free. By far the most popular program to make calls via the Internet is Skype. You will not call a number but a name. You can own username (nich name) call.

A prerequisite for using the Internet from computer to computer is to provide computer software (Skype) have been inverted tall. Furthermore you will need:

* A fast internet connection (cable or ADSL compliant)
* A sound card and speakertjes
* A microphone (or boxjes and microphone in one headset)

It is also possible from your computer to make real phone at home and abroad to call. The creators of Skype have this' SkypeOut 'mind. You paid for the call via the Internet a reduced rate. Some pros and cons in a nutshell:

Benefits
* Inexpensive. Computer-to-computer calls are free, where you are calling.
* Talk to real numbers as possible at low cost. (SkypeOut)

Disadvantages
* Slightly less reliable, because in internet and telephone line are the same.
* Software, computer and peripheral equipment required.

Trojan removal steps

2009-07-09T00:24:00.000-07:00

Trojan horses can sometimes be easy to remove spyware using Remove Programs. These programs can identify the horse's name or act. This should be your first step before it more difficult for removal procedures.

Step 1: determine the Trojan

If you know you have a horse to start Step 2. Before you begin to remove Trojans, you must be able to identify malicious software. Fortunately, your computer will already give you a clear indication that you have a Trojan horse virus. When you have a computer Trojan horse is usually a mistake to send you information, do not occur in the normal course of an application. This error is known as DLL errors. The process of the DLL is linked to a specific horse. Therefore, if you can identify the DLL, you can identify the horse. There is a net tons, this will help you determine the process DLL. Copy and paste the error so long as the DLL error as one of the sites www.processlibrary.com. And then give you all the information you it is a malicious software, or the normal process. If it has a Trojan horse which will give you the name of exe file.

Step 2: Show hidden files

Hidden files can be manually clear the Trojan horse is impossible. Usually need to find hidden content, digging your computer for malicious software. The best anti-spyware programs can search your hidden files automatically. You'll need to need to take several steps to show all hidden files and folders.

In XP

1. Close all programs
2. Click on My Computer icon.
3. Select Tools menu and click Folder Options.
4. Choose to view the new tab window.
5. Examination revealed the contents of system folders.
6. In the hidden files and folders, select Show hidden files and folders.
7. Unhide file extensions for known file types and Hide protected operating system files.
8. Click the Apply button and restart

In Vista

1. Close all programs so that you on your desktop.
2. Click the Start button.
3. Click Control Panel.
4. In Control Panel, click Appearance and Personalization.
5. Click Show hidden files or folders.
6. In the hidden files and folders section select Show hidden files and folders.
7. Unhide extensions for known file types and Hide protected operating system files.
8. Click the Apply button and restart.

Step 3: stop the Trojan process

And then try to remove the Trojan horse on your system, the first step is to load your personal computer into Safe Mode and stop all processes related to Trojan.

1. In Safe Mode, open the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl - Alt - Delete key.
2. Click to highlight the process of it.
3.Click the end of the process of

Step 4: Edit the registry

In order to completely delete the Trojan from your system, you need to delete the registry entries. In this way, will not be able to re-install itself. The Trojan horse is a "procedure" of the process, so you can find the interpretation of the RUN registry folder. The registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE "software" Microsoft "Windows" CurrentVersion> "run
This action will help you eliminate and opportunities, it re-install itself. As follows:

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type regedit
4. Find this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /Software /Microsoft /In Windows /CurrentVersion /Run /

5. In the right part of this process click. Such as the Trojan horse "rusvdgpo". Delete all the EXE and DLL with the horse's name.
6. To delete the value.

Step 5: Check your start-ups

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Click Run
3. At the command screen type "Msconfig.exe in"
4. In the "System Configuration Utility", click "start" tab
5. To cancel any course, is linked to the Trojans.
6. Click "OK"
7. Restart

Message: Invalid boot ini error

2009-06-29T02:38:00.000-07:00

Regularly come in for various people, the message: invalid boot.ini. What does this now and what can be done? The boot.ini file is a startup that makes allocations for the start-up and therefore is essential in Windows XP. How to solve this please read below.

Error Message "Invalid Boot.ini" or "Windows could not start" in the boot

When you start your computer after you have upgraded to Microsoft Windows XP, is one of the following error messages (or both) is displayed:
Invalid Boot.ini
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: WindowsSystem32Hal.dll
Causes
This problem may occur if the Boot.ini file is missing, damaged or contains incorrect entries.
Solution
To resolve this issue by the computer to boot from the CD-ROM Windows XP, the Recovery Console to start and then the Boot.ini file again to make the tool
Bootcfg.exe.

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Configure your computer so that it can be booted from the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. For more information, see your computer documentation or contact the manufacturer of your computer.

2. Insert the CD-ROM Windows XP in the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive and restart the computer.

3. Press any key to restart the computer to boot from the CD-ROM with Windows XP when the message "Press any key as the computer from a CD-ROM to boot" is displayed.

4. In the screen "Welcome to Setup" press R to start the Recovery Console.

5. Select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console on the computer can be selected from two or more operating systems on startup.

6. Request, type the administrator password and press ENTER.

7. Type bootcfg / list to the MS-DOS prompt and press ENTER. The entries in the current Boot.ini file appear.

8. Type bootcfg / rebuild at the MS-DOS prompt and press ENTER. With this command, the hard disk of the computer searched for installations of Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows NT, and the results are displayed. Follow the instructions on the screen to the Windows installations to the Boot.ini file to add. Here's how an installation of Windows XP can be added to the Boot.ini file:
a. If a message similar to the following, press Y:
Total Identified Windows Installs: 1
C: Windows. Installation to boot list? (Yes / No / All)

b. There is a message to the following:
Enter the identification at startup
This is the name of the operating system. Type this message in the name of the operating system and press ENTER. You type here Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.

c. There is a message to the following:
Give the option for booting the operating system
Type in this message / fastdetect, and then press ENTER.

Select CPU fingertips

2009-06-22T03:46:00.000-07:00

Usually most everyone is just buy a processor with the greatest speed is can meet the need. However this is not really true, when you buy a CPU with a high speed, can be high time to choose, but think the CPU has high speed so the savings will not need to buy RAM with the volume. It is not for the benefit of the optimization system.

In time the computer are the exchange of memory, a CPU with high speed will waste a lot of time in the waiting idle this. Period usually occur continuously so that the performance system is not high.

Therefore we make the definition of clear criteria for choosing the right CPU for your computer. This guide will help you choose the set of processor best suited for your system.

Criteria for system

Each system has its own purpose by it. You must make clear the purpose of use for your computer. For example, if the computer is used as a resource family is shared and surfing the web should not choose the computer configuration, such as high gaming machine. To consider all the objectives for the system before choosing CPU. That makes you a savings account may not need to buy the set of processors have speed too high. It also means you can use that amount for other purposes, such as buying a hard drive with larger capacity for example.

Considering the model in use

Most instructions say about choosing via CPU-based applications will use, but we believe that the model used is more important than the own applications. For example, you can see very clearly with a system used for office tasks will not need a high speed CPU. But conversely, with a number of images to the other, they really need a set of processors is very high.

In working days, a staff may open a browser window, editor window word, some Acrobat files are used for reference purposes and also while the slideshow is created by PowerPoint.

Some people collect some photos for the family photo albums, can conducting work such as get photos from camera, then upload them onto a website.

What model do you think it should require strict?

Note that the form used will change. Would be very difficult to predict accurately the performance of the form you will change how, and therefore you should not buy a CPU expensive to serve the application requirements strict.

UAC control in Windows 7

2009-06-17T03:27:00.000-07:00

User Access Control should be the controversialists feature from Windows Vista. After moan and ignorance of users is Microsoft UAC system customize Windows 7.

"We have clearly received the message that you are frustrated. You find the UAC requests to frequent, annoying and confusing." Road system is not because, as emphasized the Windows team, User Access Control is more secure Windows yet.

In summary UAC ensures that whenever a system component of a program like Windows, the user must give his permission for this. When he became administrator of the computer, a simple press an OK button. In another case, the user an administrator password.

Initially UAC indeed caused much frustration. Many programs are unnecessary use Windows system - a deluge of UAC pop-ups delivered. In addition, many Windows components, other major components call and request a window trigger. Sometimes the ridiculous, if you, for example under some circumstances a piece of text to copy and paste.

But there is one major problem: most home users remain logged in as administrator and have developed a culture of just the UAC window away. The actual reading is almost nobody. A Microsoft research show that only thirteen percent of respondents could recall anything specific about the UAC windows that they have seen.

It is concerned that large numbers of users because of the requests as usual animals react instead of critical applications to read and correct decisions. In addition, the real power users to simply disable UAC system. Conclusion: the UAC system misses many (home) users purpose.

Therefore UAC in Windows 7 be adjusted, that the Windows team is concentrating on four areas. It should avoid unnecessary UAC windows deleted, so users can only be confronted with important warnings. Microsoft wants to consult with the developers of programs for most UAC heist worry.

For the power user, a more layered system, which should convince him to not fully UAC off. If an experienced user can specify in which cases User Access Control him to trouble.

What is new in Windows 7

2009-06-04T00:38:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has finally made official the release date of Windows 7 scheduled for Thursday 22 October. This confirms the rumors that circulated for several months with a launch at the end of the year and not 2010 as the Redmond company argued there is little time.

We know how the launch and success hoped for, this new OS is crucial for Microsoft. The Redmond company has to make us forget the disappointment caused by Vista, while turning the page to Windows XP endless play of overtime, including through the market for "low cost".

Migration program free to Windows 7

Precisely, Microsoft has already announced that Windows 7, unlike Vista, will be available for Ultraportables cheaply via a so-called Starter Edition. A strategic choice much at a time when a new major player, Android could come play spoilsport on the market if the carrier netBook and their little brothers, nettops.

Regarding desktops and laptops more conventional, the publisher has confirmed that a program of free migration to Windows 7 was scheduled for customers who purchased a machine with Vista, without giving further details.

Windows 7 features

> System Tray: In Windows 7, you have complete control over your system tray. You can remove, change, and even move around the different applications that reside there.

> DirectX is extended to 2D, animation and “fine-looking” text.

> Remote Desktop supports multiple monitors. Easier access to VPNs

> Windows 7 has a reduced memory footprint and they’ve reduced the disk I/O reads “substantially.” In the demo, a 1 Ghz/1 GB RAM netbook had 500 MB RAM available after boot.

> Overall, the system is faster. The taskbar responds almost instantaneously. The boot time is also faster.

> You can use BitLocker to encrypt a USB memory stick.

> Better power management in Windows 7 means longer battery life for notebooks and netbooks.

> You can both create and boot natively from a Windows 7 VHD.

> Touch support: On touch-enabled devices, you can interact with the OS via touch, gestures, flicks, etc. Windows 7 supports multi-touch. There’s also around 25% more space between items in the context menus to allow easier control when touching.

24x7 TECHNICAL SUPPORT

2009-05-29T06:42:00.000-07:00

24x7 Technical support means that service provided Computer technical help and support in any time in a day. It is possible through connect your computer online. 24x7 technical
service provider diagnose and solve computer problems with tacking remote session Online and trouble shoot your Computer problem right in front of your eyes. Getting your
computer tech support online is very easy. For getting the online computer technical support you would have to visit and register into the service provider web site. They gives
you a time duration subscription. The subscription could be six month or one year, it is depend on your requirement.

At this point it 24x7 computer tech support can help fix your computer problem with phone tech support or using our specialized screen sharing software. Online computer
technician will suggest how long it will take to fix your computer problem as quickly and efficiently as possible. Mostly computer problems can be fixed in under an hour, in
fact some problems may take as little as 5 minutes to solve. Once you subscribe an account for getting computer technical help, you are ready to getting tech support. Through
Their website a technician can connect to your computer, then you grant them access to view your screen and take control of your keyboard and mouse. Sit back, watch and learn
as technician fix your problem for you right in front of your eyes! Its a great learning experience, its simple and fast.

Honesty is and always has been the best policy of this kind of online tech support. Their technicians priority is to provide you with computer tech support and fix your computer fast and efficiently; While ensuring customer satisfaction. We want to provide computer tech support to as many customers as possible quickly because They know your minutes are valuable. All of Their technicians who provide computer tech support are designated and highly qualified. Qualifications include Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, CCNA Cisco Certified, and more. Technicians getting constant training so they can continue to improve their expertise for providing you with experienced computer help and technical service. When Online support provides you with computer tech support, They provide you service in the comfort of your own home. They enable you to maintain your privacy and still get that personal one to one service without letting a stranger in your home. Unplugging wires and driving to the service center to fix your computer will become a thing of the past once you sign up for our computer tech support plans. Live Tech Online makes fixing your computer easy.

iYogi Acquires Clean Machine Inc.

2009-05-14T02:18:00.001-07:00

Larry Gordon, Founder of Clean Machine appointed as President Global Channel Sales at iYogi

New York, NY, May 11th, 2009 : iYogi, a global direct to consumer and small business remote technical support provider, today announced it’s acquisition of Clean Machine Inc, a provider of remotely administered PC security and performance management services. Clean Machine will operate as a separate brand under the iYogi services umbrella along with the recently lunched Support Dock (www.supportdock.com) and its comprehensive range of 24/7 technical support services for computers, printers, MP3 players, digital camera, routers, servers and more than 100 software applications. Larry Gordon, Founder of Clean Machine is appointed as the President of Global Channel Sales for iYogi.

iYogi will integrate technology and innovation that Clean Machine Inc. has developed for delivering an enhanced service experience by proactively managing the health and security for PC's and Apple Computers. This acquisition also broadens iYogi's access to key markets through Clean Machine's existing partnerships. Larry Gordon's past experience and successful track record will accelerate iYogi's expansion through his focus on global alliances.
Commenting on the acquisition of Clean Machine Inc., Uday Challu, CEO & Co-founder of iYogi, said,

"This acquisition will help iYogi to enhance our customer experience and extend our market reach to the millions of consumers that are challenged by the increasingly complex technology environment. Clean Machine's proactive maintenance and management of PCs in home and small business environment will be our launch platform for building the next generation of managed services for consumers."

"We are delighted to have Larry spearheading partnerships and global alliances for iYogi. His incredible experience in marketing, sales and building global alliances will help forge partnerships with retailers, multiple service operators, software publishers, original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and other such companies that are at the frontlines for managing tech support issues for consumers and small businesses",

added Challu.

With more than 20 years of experience, Larry Gordon has played a variety of strategic roles in marketing, sales and building alliances. Larry was the Executive Vice President at Capgemini and Kanbay. He was also VP of Global Marketing for Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH), a leader in global IT services and Director of Marketing for New York based Information Builders.

"I am excited to join a company that shares a common mission to Clean Machine in creating a global brand for delivering the best technical support to consumers and small businesses. We also share a common approach of utilizing highly skilled talent with leading edge tools, thereby delivering services at incredible price-points, with high margins for our partners",

said Larry Gordon, the newly appointed President of Global Channel Sales at iYogi.

ABOUT IYOGI

Headquartered in Gurgaon, India with offices in New York, USA, iYogi provides personalized computer support for consumers and small businesses in United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. IYogi's 24/7 phone and remote technical assistance, spans across a comprehensive range of technologies we use every day from a wide range of vendors. Utilizing its proprietary technology iMantra , and highly qualified technicians, iYogi delivers amongst the highest benchmarks for resolution and customer satisfaction. iYogi is privately held and funded by SAP Ventures, Canaan Partners, and SVB India Capital Partners. iYogi was recently awarded the Red Herring Global 100 Award, recognizing it as one of the 100 most innovative private companies driving the future of technology. For more information on iYogi and a detailed list of technologies supported, visit: www.iyogi.net.

ABOUT CLEAN MACHINE

Clean Machine Inc. is a NJ-based and incorporated company that helps consumers and small business owners easily manage and protect their computing environments safely and cost effectively. The company is has a unique, powerful and inexpensive PC concierge service. Specifically, each customer is assigned a highly-trained tech concierge who remotely examines their computer system on a scheduled and very secure basis. The PC concierge will immediately fix software-based problems and prevent new threats to the customer's computing environment including offensive pop-ups, browser redirects and slow performance, and then provides a detailed report. Clean Machine's proprietary Radar(TM) technology (Remote Access Detection Audit and Repair) allows its expert technicians to remotely resolve any problems, eliminating the need for customers to go through the frustrating process of speaking with a tech support expert, and still having to do the work themselves. In other words, the Clean Machine PC concierges do it all. For more information on Clean Machine please visit www.pccleanmachine.com.

Google sees new browser displacing desktop software

2008-09-04T01:11:00.000-07:00

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (Reuters) - Google Inc is challenging Microsoft Corp with its own Web browser that lets users run many applications that once worked only when installed on local PCs, executives said on Tuesday.

Google introduced a public trial version of its new browser software, Chrome, which is designed to handle not just text and graphics, but more complex computer programs.

Chrome, available in 43 languages in 100 countries at www.google.com/chrome, has been designed to download software and Web pages faster than existing browsers. It even allows users to keep working when one of its windows crashes.

This represents Google's long-anticipated head-on attack on Microsoft and its Internet Explorer, which has three-quarters of the Web-browsing market. Google has backed Mozilla Corp's Firefox browser, which holds about 18 percent of the market.

Google engineers and executives call Chrome a "fresh take on the browser," a 15-year-old technology that is supplanting 25-year-old desktop software as the basic way users interact with computers.

"You actually spend more time in your browser than you do in your car," said Brian Rakowski, group product manager for Google's browser project.

Chrome was seen by analysts as partly a defensive move due to Google's fear that the recently upgraded Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8) could be used to lock out Google. Google's core business of Web search and related advertising depends on browsers.

A Microsoft executive said IE 8 gives users control over how and where they navigate, improves their day-to-day browsing experience, and keeps people safe from new security threats. "Microsoft understands that Web browsing is crucially important for hundreds of millions of people, which is why we invest in Internet Explorer so heavily," Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Internet Explorer, said in a statement.

CHALLENGE TO MICROSOFT WINDOWS?

Google co-founder Sergey Brin said Chrome was designed to address the shift to using software from within a Web browser rather than as locally installed computer applications running inside Microsoft Windows or some other operating system.

"I think operating systems are kind of an old way to think of the world," Brin told a group of reporters after the news conference at Google's Mountain View, California headquarters. "They have become kind of bulky, they have to do lots and lots of different (legacy) things."

Google believes any task done in a standalone desktop computer application can be delivered via the Web and Chrome is its bet that software applications can be run via a browser.

"We (Web users) want a very lightweight, fast engine for running applications," Brin said.

"The kind of things you want to have running standalone (on a computer) are shrinking," he said, adding that he still edits photos on his computer rather than using a Web program.

GOOGLE BORROWS FROM APPLE, FIREFOX

Chrome borrows liberally from other browsers running open-source software code, including Apple Inc and Firefox, and company officials said they planned to fully share Chrome code with other developers. "We have borrowed good ideas from others," Google Vice President of Product Management Sindar Pichai said. "Our goal here was to bring our point of view, but do it in a very open way."

Because Chrome relies on Apple's open-source WebKit software for rendering Web pages, it can run any application that runs on Apple's Safari Web browser, Pichai said.

"If you are a webmaster, and your site works in Apple Safari then it will work very well in Google Chrome," he said.

Greg Sterling, a Web analyst with Sterling Market Intelligence, said Google's entry into the browser market has echoes of the bruising "browser wars" of the late 1990s, when Microsoft crushed Web pioneer Netscape Communications.

But while the competition between Microsoft and Google is likely to produce many improvements for consumers, the likely fallout from the battle will be other browser makers that have only recently begun to pry market share away from Microsoft.

Sterling said Firefox could become a victim of "friendly fire" from Google as many of its users are the same early adopters who are most likely to switch and try a new browser.

"Firefox has softened up and paved the way for Google. Without Firefox, Chrome would not be possible," Sterling said.

Brin said Google planned to continue to work closely with Mozilla, whose primary financial backing has come from Google in recent years. He said he hoped to see future versions of Chrome and Firefox become more unified over time.

Chrome organizes information into tabbed pages. Web programs can be launched in their own dedicated windows.Among Chrome's features is a special privacy mode that lets users create an "incognito" window where "nothing that occurs in that window is ever logged on your computer," according to a Google promotional guide.

iYogi Announces Launch of Monitoring and Performance Tool For SMBs

2008-08-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

iYogi – a leading provider of technical support services with horizons in the US, UK, Canada and Australia – today announced the launch of its exclusive server monitoring tools for small businesses. The new product offers integrated technology solutions to surmount the users’ unique IT support requirements thereby enabling them to derive and share information, data, enable network performance analysis, and security trends critical to plan and mana ge their set of servers – 24x7.

Uday Challu, iYogi’s CEO commented, “Holding a significant niche for itself in the computer support industry, iYogi has always known to be on the forefront of adapting breakthrough technology to exceed customer service expectations. This time we have developed a tool offering value-add functionality which will help small business customers maximize the business outcomes of IT.”

iYogi’s monitoring tool provides real time observation and monitoring solutions to ensure more robust and reliable IT support and infrastructure for small buinesses. Small Business owners also get a comprehensive assesment of their IT environment to meet technology needs with the scalability for future growth and create preventative measures based on quick analysis of network device alerts, pre-failure indicators, performance benchmark and security issues.

The new Monitoring and performance tool will provide small business with the opportunity to test all technical and non-technical aspects of their servers and help them to strengthen overall IT infrastructure. The array of services will include: Patch Management, Security Auditing, Site Inventory, Real Time Alerting Script Based Management, and Rights Management Services for all critical server issues.

“Irrespective of the business being small or large, when the consumer chooses iYogi, he leverages the potential of an elite taskforce of Microsoft Certified System Engineers and Cisco Certified Network Associates, ready to service their critical assets, using the most advanced network asset tracking and Performance monitoring”, adds Challu.

Another factor where the Company aims to distinguish itself from its competitors is product pricing. Embracing the concept of service quality, iYogi offers competitively priced technical support services at no-haggle, low prices.

As for its small business support, the Company has integrated its exclusive Monitoring and Alerting Services under one price umbrella of just $480 annually. per server i.e. $49.99 per month. The price is certainly hard to find anywhere else.

For more information on iYogi Small Business Support, visit http://www.iyogibusiness.com/

Contact Details:
Company Name: iYogi Technical Services Pvt Ltd
Address: iYogi Inc.
12 Desbrosses Street
3rd Floor
New York, NY 10013
Toll Free no:1-800-237-3901
Work Number: 1-212-229-0901
Fax Number: 1-888-867-2715
E-Mail: awadhesh.singh@iyogi.net

iYogi Secures $9.5M in Series B Funding Led by SAP Ventures, With Follow-on Investment from Canaan Partners and SVB India Capital Partners

2008-07-25T11:58:00.000-07:00

iYogi Secures $9.5M in Series B Funding Led by SAP Ventures, With Follow-on Investment from Canaan Partners and SVB India Capital Partners
iYogi, a Direct-to-Consumer and Small Business Technical Support Provider, Paves the Way for Personal Offshoring to Become India’s Next Success Story

New York, 24 July, 2008: Personal Offshoring, which is driving the next wave of India’s outsourcing success story, got a huge boost today when iYogi - a remote technical support provider from India - raised $ 9.5 million in Series B financing from SAP Ventures, a division of SAP AG, Canaan Partners and SVB India Capital Partners, a venture fund affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank.

iYogi (www.iyogi.net) delivers technical support services directly to consumers and small businesses and is the first, global, technical support brand based out of India. The company offers its customers an unlimited, annual service subscription for $119.99 per desktop that includes support for a wide range of technologies, including PC hardware Microsoft Windows operating system, software applications, peripherals and multifunctional devices.

“Personal Offshoring has created new investment opportunities in India with incredible growth potential,” said Doug Higgins, partner at SAP Ventures. “It is very exciting to see companies like iYogi challenging the traditional enterprise-focused offshore-service delivery model by creating a consumer-focused, direct-to-customer personal offshore model. iYogi is one of the fastest-growing companies in this market segment, and we look forward to working with them to create India’s next success story.”

“Our focus on the customer experience has helped us achieve a 93 percent satisfaction rate across more than 50,000 customers,” said Uday Challu, CEO of iYogi. “We are delighted to have the support of three terrific investors as we increase our market share and continue to provide the best technical support experience possible for our customers.”

iYogi will use the funds to fuel its expansion into 12 new regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, and to increase its delivery of new services including PC recovery, anti-virus/spyware, data back-up and PC optimization.

“As consumer technologies grow in sophistication, consumers will be seeking the kind of home IT support services – including remote services offered by companies such as iYogi – to help them solve their most complex problems,” said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst, Parks Associates. “In primary research, we found more than one-third of consumers are willing to pay for competent and professional remote support services, and 60% express a strong interest in software solutions – what we refer to as ‘PC Dashboards’ – that automate many basic PC performance enhancement and troubleshooting features, solving many PC-related problems before they even are noticed by end-users.”

iYogi had previously raised $3.1 million in Series A financing from Canaan Partners and SVB in April of last year. “iYogi is one of the most promising investments for Canaan Partners,” said Alok Mittal, managing director of India at Canaan Partners. “Third-party, vendor-independent technical support is an exciting new service category, witnessing explosive growth. Customers are looking beyond the traditional vendor-provided support to remote channels for better problem resolution, faster service, and greater overall satisfaction. iYogi has created an incredible value proposition and price offering for its customers that is hard to beat.”

”Several next generation outsourcing companies from India are delivering a range of personal offshoring services for individuals and small businesses in the U.S. including online tutoring, tax preparation, remote executive assistance and research services,” said Suresh Shanmugham, managing director of SVB India Capital Partners, a venture fund affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank. “iYogi has leveraged the technical skills available in India along with process expertise to scale as a global technical support provider for millions faced with increasingly complex technology”.

About SAP Ventures
SAP Ventures invests in innovative and disruptive software and services companies globally. We pursue opportunities across all stages for outstanding financial return. Our goal is to bring substantial benefit to all parties by facilitating interaction between portfolio companies and SAP and its ecosystem of customers and partners. SAP Ventures has a successful track record of building industry-leading companies by partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and top-tier venture capital firms since 1996. For more information, visit www.sapventures.com.

About Canaan Partners

Canaan Partners is a global venture capital firm specializing in early-stage information technology and life sciences companies. Founded in 1987, Canaan Partners has $2.4 billion capital under management and has invested in more than 240 companies, completed 63 mergers and acquisitions, and brought over 50 companies public. The firm catalyzes the development of innovative mobile, Internet, CleanTech, networking, semiconductor, enterprise software and services, biotechnology and medical technologies to build next-generation market leaders. Canaan was an early investor in Acme Packet (APKT), Aperto Networks, BharatMatrimony.com, Blurb, DoubleClick (DCLK), ID Analytics, Match.com and SuccessFactors, along with dozens of other market-leading companies. Canaan is headquartered in Menlo Park, California and also has offices in Connecticut, India and Israel. For more information visit: www.canaan.com.

SVB India Capital Partners Fund and Silicon Valley Bank

SVB India Capital Partners Fund is a $54 million equity fund that is focused on Indian companies and co-invests across industries and stages with top-tier venture capital firms. Silicon Valley Bank is the premier commercial bank for emerging, growth and mature companies in the technology, life science, private equity and premium wine industries. Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., the company serves clients around the world through 27 U.S. offices and five international operations. Silicon Valley Bank is a member of global financial services firm SVB Financial Group, with SVB Analytics, SVB Capital, SVB Global and SVB Private Client Services. More information on the company can be found at www.svb.com.

About iYogi

iYogi is the first direct-to-consumer and small business technical support service from India. Providing an annual unlimited subscription to technical support for $119.99 per year, iYogi now boasts more than 50,000 customers. The company employs 450 professionals servicing customers in the U.S., U.K., Canada fast expanding to 12 new geographies across the globe. iYogi’s resolution rate of 87 percent and customer satisfaction rate of 93 percent are amongst the highest published benchmarks in the industry. For further information, please visit www.iyogi.net.

SAP and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. iYogi shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

SAP and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries.
All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

Contact:

Company Name:
iYogi Technical Services Pvt Ltd

Address:
iYogi Inc.
12 Desbrosses Street
3rd Floor
New York, NY 10013

Toll Free no: 1-800-237-3901

Work Number: 1-212-229-0901

F ax Number: 1-888-867-2715

5 Key Service and Technical Support Considerations

2008-07-10T07:33:00.000-07:00

When your business buys a new addition to its IT systems, it is also buying the company behind the product or service. Your company will look to the vendor for service and technical support as it installs the new technology, learns to operate it and uses it on a day-to-day basis.

It is imperative to know what to expect from a vendor in terms of remote technical support and service before your company buys. Here are some of the considerations that should go into the purchasing decision.

1. Who will install the product? A simple product, like a word processor, can be installed by end users without much difficulty. However, complex systems like ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software require professional installation. Somewhere in between lie the systems that vendors and customers can install together. The question is, what remote technical support will the vendor provide during installation? Will there be on-site technicians to walk you through installation, or will you have to go it alone and call a remote technical support hotline when you get stuck?

2. Who will provide telephone remote technical support? Many vendors now outsource remote technical support overseas to people whose expertise and command of the English language may not be the best. It is always a good idea to meet the people who will be providing your company's tech support before you sign on the dotted line.

3. Is remote technical support “free” (included in the purchase price), or will there be ongoing charges based on usage? The former may seem preferable to paying by the service call. But if you don’t anticipate needing much support, going with a per-incident service plan may lower both the technology's purchase price and its overall cost of ownership.

4. If on-site service is needed, how will your business be charged? Some vendors charge for time spent traveling to and from an organization's location, while others start the clock when they get there and stop it when they leave. Certain types of service calls may be billed at a flat fee, while others might be billed by the hour and include materials charges.

5. How quick is the vendor's response time? You should negotiate with the vendor regarding how long it will take to get a service person on-site when your company places a service call. The final agreement should include some consequences if the vendor fails to meet the response-time goal. Define clearly whether you want availability 24/7 or just during business hours. If you opt for the latter, keep in mind that the business's systems could be down for more than 72 hours over a three-day weekend.

When negotiating service and technical support agreements, keep in mind that greater coverage equals greater cost. Get a line-by-line quote on each service/support feature that your company wants, and ask the vendor what the price differences will be if it settles for less.

Get all agreed service and technical support features in writing. A service or technical support agreement should spell out what the new system should do when it is working perfectly. This agreement should also detail terms covering response time, service fees, support details and so on. The more detailed the agreement is up front, the less room for finger-pointing there will be later.

source: itmanagement.com/features/5-service-support-considerations-061908/

Software Helps Companies Virtualize IT Staff with remote technical support

2008-07-09T03:21:00.000-07:00

The only provider of appliance-based remote technical support software, today announced the release of Bomgar 10.1. The newest version of this industry leading product includes features designed to help organizations easily virtualize the people involved in IT support, enabling them to be more efficient and effective. Help desk virtualization allows support staff to remotely control and troubleshoot end user devices quickly and accurately, anywhere in the world.

Advancements in mobile technology have made telecommuting a viable option for most enterprise employees elevating such workplace flexibility as a key to recruiting quality employees. Recent changes in the global economy including rising gas prices, and the mounting costs associated with travel, are further reinforcing the attractiveness of telecommuting. For IT managers this workplace trend requires a centralized support platform that allows staff to manage issues anywhere employees or offices reside. Additionally, IT managers want to extend this new flexibility not only to enterprise employees but also to the help desk staff.

“Enterprises are already deploying virtualization in their server environments to reduce costs. Since employing IT staff is often more expensive than buying servers, it only makes sense to invest in technologies that increase the effectiveness of these highly skilled employees,” said Joel Bomgar, CEO and founder, Bomgar Corporation. “With the release of 10.1, we are giving enterprises the tools they need to effectively virtualize IT staff. The result is higher productivity, lower costs to the customer, and happier employees.”

The new version of Bomgar’s remote technical support platform helps enterprises maintain a delicate balance of keeping both users and help desk staff productive and content. With Bomgar’s support platform, IT organizations no longer have to travel onsite for routine maintenance or computing issues. Bomgar 10.1 allows IT to “virtualize” staff resources so that a representative can instantly and remotely support resolve users’ technical issues regardless of operating system or geographic location. Additionally, it allows the help desk staff to “break the chains” that tie them to the office by enabling them to provide effective troubleshooting and routine maintenance from home or on the road.

Key features include:

Software Development Kit (SDK) for Faster Deployment of Virtualized Support: With Bomgar 10.1, the company is introducing a SDK that enables easy integration of Bomgar’s remote technical support software with existing help desk solutions. It includes instructions, methods and pre-configured pieces of code for creating customizable applications that leverage Bomgar’s software for back end solutions, such as trouble ticket systems or knowledge base software. The SDK allows Bomgar’s customers to cut down time spent integrating Bomgar with other systems by nearly 75 percent, enabling them to be up and running with a complete support application in days versus weeks.
Macintosh Client for Support Reps to Provide the Greater Flexibility: Bomgar 10.1 includes capabilities that allow support reps to provide assistance from a Macintosh platform. The addition of this feature expands Bomgar’s IT rep platform support to all major computing operating systems.
Administrative Dashboard to Manage Resources and Speed Time to Resolution: Bomgar has added an administrative dashboard to its 10.1 product that provides IT directors with visibility into the entire support organization, regardless of where the IT support reps are logged in from. The dashboard gives IT managers a direct view into what each rep is working on as well as what his or her workload looks like. The manager can move sessions from one representative to another to evenly distribute the call load. This helps the reps provide faster, more customized support to each end user.

"IT organizations are in a difficult position. Calls for them to do 'more with less' have become louder as fears of an economic slowdown or a recession have grown louder,” said Matt Healey, research manager, software and hardware support services program, IDC. "In this environment, it is important for IT departments to invest in tools that can improve the productivity of the support staff. I believe that the new generation of 'clientless' remote technical support tools can provide the productivity improvements that IT departments are looking for by reducing on-site visits and reducing the time required to support end users."

Source: businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080624005323&newsLang=en

London School of Economics uses web-based remote support tool to improve helpdesk service

2008-07-08T01:51:00.000-07:00

LogMeIn Rescue is a web-based remote technical support tool that enables a technician to easily connect to a remote Mac or smartphone often in fewer than 60 seconds, without pre-installing software. Rescue enables IT technicians to –remotely diagnose system issues, manage multiple simultaneous support sessions and resolve end-user issues, regardless of organizational size.

Using LogMeIn Rescue, LSE’s IT support teams are able to remotely diagnose and resolve technical issues on PCs, Macs and smartphones across campus and support staff offsite, ensuring prompt and effective support for IT incidents.

“After an extensive evaluation, LogMeIn Rescue was adopted at the start of the academic year as a key tool for delivering helpdesk services,”

said Adam Gale, IT Services senior support officer at LSE. “Rescue has been used for remotely diagnosing and resolving remote technical support issues for the LSE user-base and the tool has been easy to use -- providing all the necessary functions for the support teams to deliver first-class remote IT support.”

Rescue provides technicians with powerful but easy-to-use functionality including diagnostics of hardware and software images, as well as critical system information, file transfer and text-based end-user chat.

“The previous remote technical support tool employed by IT Services suffered from screen-freeze issues -- which depicted inaccurate screen information,” said Gale. “We believe Rescue resolved this and proved reliable and predictable, giving our IT support staff complete confidence when tackling support incidents.”
From a service delivery perspective, IT staff have been able to provide a more responsive and effective service when handling support calls.

Rescue has on occasion eliminated the need for IT staff to pay a desk-side visit to their users or for LSE staff and students to go to IT Services for assistance. “Instead we can remotely access a computer, deal with and resolve a complex issue which has been far more effective than trying to do the same over phone or email,” added Gale.

LSE IT Services currently supports a large number of staff and students in halls of residences and away from the school. Although not a distributed campus, the pilots have shown IT staff can support users no matter where they happen to be located. “Computer users at LSE have commented they felt reassured knowing an engineer is just a mouse click away,” continued Gale. “We had a particular user in France and my team was able to deliver remote technical support and dialogue all within the application.”

IT Services at LSE comprises several IT support teams, which provide IT helpdesk services to all academic and administrative staff, and research and taught-students. LSE has an IT-estate of approximately 1,700 staff and approximately 1,000 student on campus and halls of residences as well as a number of Linux, Mac and smartphone users. IT Services also supports more than 80 networked applications for the teaching, research and business functions of the school.

“The London School of Economics and Political Science is a world class centre for its concentration of teaching and research across the full range of the social, political and economic sciences and we are proud to be part of delivering the IT support solution to this iconic learning institution,” said Erik Driehuis, VP of sales, Europe, LogMeIn, Inc. “We believe LogMeIn Rescue has made it possible to more quickly, easily and cost effectively diagnose and repair hard to reach computers and the association with LSE continues that work."

source : publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=16204

Move Your Business from Windows to Linux and get remote technical support

2008-07-07T04:01:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista debuted to muffled applause, followed by lackluster sales. Up until June 30, cash-strapped businesses looking to avoid the cost of upgrading to new Vista-compatible hardware could still purchase . Now, however, Windows XP is available only as a costly "downgrade" from Windows Vista--if you buy a copy of Vista, you can install the 6-year-old XP operating system using the Vista license.

If that feels like a waste of your small business's precious IT budget, and you're still , look no further than . The latest distributions are free, easy to install, and highly customizable; they harness your existing hardware without overtaxing it; and they include a wealth of productivity applications and utilities. You may already have a closet Linux expert on staff, but if you don't, paid support is usually available at rates far less than Microsoft's.

Making the switch from Windows to Linux will incur some costs as employees and support staff adjust to the new system's configuration settings, utilities, and applications. Even so, the savings in future hardware and software upgrades could be huge.

No License, No Fee, No Problem

Though you can purchase boxed commercial versions of Linux that include support, every Linux distribution is also available for free under the terms of the open-source Once you figure out which distribution you'd like to use (see below), you can simply download, burn, and install it on as many systems as you choose. Your software licensing fee is zero, compared with the $300 per seat for the full version of Windows Vista Business Edition. And, another bonus, Linux lacks Microsoft's intrusive activation requirements.

In addition to thousands of other free applications ( for some of my favorites), most Linux distributions come with a copy of Though not a feature-for-feature substitute for Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org definitely does the job, and for $500 less per workstation than the cost of Office Professional 2007. OpenOffice.org lacks an equivalent to Microsoft Outlook, but just about every Linux distribution includes Novell's free PIM.

A few key Windows-based applications such as AutoCAD and Photoshop lack Linux replacements, but for many office workers the missing functionality hardly merits spending $800 more for Windows and Office. Many Windows applications will run at native speed under Linux via the utility included with most distributions. For those that don't work with Wine, two more options exist: You can install a copy of Windows using one of the available free virtualization utilities, such as or you can install Linux to dual-boot with Windows.

For most distributions, the same disc will contain server applications, including the Apache Web Server, the MySQL database engine, virtualization, and support for leading commercial databases and CRM applications from companies like Oracle, Sybase, and SAP. The Samba networking software emulates Windows Server's networking features admirably, and for free, versus starting price of $999. You can even replace your costly Exchange server installation with the free, open-source .

Whether you're using desktop or server versions of Linux, the operating system is famous for one other important feature that Microsoft is still gradually adding to Windows: security. Linux is not somehow magically immune to viruses, worms, and other Internet-based attacks. However, the reality is that the vast majority of existing attacks target Windows and Windows applications. Mostly , Linux is simply not subject to most of the Internet-based malware that threatens PCs. The targets Windows.

Don't Panic at the Distro

No two Linux distributions are the same, differing mainly in how user-friendly their installers are, how willing they are to include experimental or nonstable versions of software and utilities, and how they offer access to updates.

Linux distributions also differ in how well they support your particular hardware, especially wireless networking devices and display adapters. Perhaps the easiest way to directly assess this support on your particular hardware without having to actually install Linux is to download, burn, and boot a live-CD distro. Ubuntu, OpenSuSE, and literally hundreds of other Linux distributions come in versions.

Get Help, If You Need It

The reality of operating system support is that it costs a lot of money, whether it comes from Microsoft, Apple, Novell, or Canonical. Your copy of Windows Vista comes with 90 days of remote technical support via phone, e-mail, or chat that starts the day you activate the product. After that, Microsoft charges $60 per support incident.

Commercial Linux distributions offer similar, but less expensive, support options. The community-supported OpenSuSE 11.0 comes with 90 days of installation support. For long-term support, choose SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (currently in version 10) for $50 per year, or go with Ubuntu and buy a support contract from maker Canonical starting at

If you're already doing without dedicated support staff for Windows, one year may be all the paid support you need for Linux. Ubuntu users joke that simply googling for technical support usually results in the exact answer you're looking for on Canonical's forums.

Linux is different from Windows, but it isn't an alien life form. The human investment you make in transitioning away from expensive Windows and Office licenses may pay for itself quickly. More important, you'll be free to run the desktop and server software of your choice, on hardware you can afford.

source: pcworld.com/article/147879/move_your_business_from_windows_to_linux.html

Bosch Security Systems announced earlier this week that they have made several upgrades to their CCTV technical support center in Lancaster, Penn. On

2008-07-04T08:17:00.000-07:00

Bosch Security Systems announced earlier this week that they have made several upgrades to their CCTV remote technical support center in Lancaster, Penn.

One of the biggest upgrades that the company made to the center was to add a team dedicated especially to solving issues related to customers with IP video surveillance products. Essentially, according to Bosch Technical Manager Don Boling, they have created "two CCTV teams," one that handles analog applications and one that handles IP.

"This structure is helping the company develop deeper expertise within each product groups’ remote technical support team," Boling said a in a prepared statement.

In addition, the center itself has been restructured to feature an open seating plan and centralized equipment racks to help encourage cooperation and sharing of information among the staff.

Source: ipsecuritywatch.com/web/online/IPSW-News/Bosch-upgrades-technical-support-center/512$14716

Who will provide Online vista tech services

2008-07-02T05:58:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm probably not the first person to think of that headline, but what the heck. Today, we're mourning the passing--sort of--of an old friend here, and I think it's OK to be informal given the egregious amount of time he hung around in the first place. I won't bore you with the specifics of the rest of XP's life cycle: I spelled that out earlier in "Microsoft Will Not Extend XP Lifecycle Again: Here's What's Really Happening" (http://tinyurl.com/3oucfg). Instead, I'd like to just take a few moments to look back on the somewhat inglorious early history of Windows XP, which should make for an interesting comparison with Online vista tech services first year. Because for some reason, with XP, a lot of people seem to have the one-sided memory that often accompanies a passing. It wasn't all ice cream and pie, people.

First of all, Microsoft has sold several hundred million copies of Windows XP, and the OS is undoubtedly the best-selling Windows version ever. But it was that successful only because the product was artificially kept on the market longer than necessary. If XP had been replaced in 2004, as it should have been, it would have gone down in history as one of the most forgettable releases of the product ever. Instead, Microsoft kept XP alive by giving that 2004 release away for free, calling it Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2).

Before that, XP launched with a whimper in October 2001--I noted that the disappointing "midnight madness" events Microsoft organized were "neither midnight nor madness" in a Short Takes article from that month, and they took place after a "boring and long" launch event. Even Microsoft group vice president Jim Allchin was sanguine about XP during the launch, noting, "It's only a product." Gateway CEO Ted Waite revealed on stage during the launch that XP would have no effect on his company's sales at all.http://tinyurl.com/576tol

Just after the XP launch, Microsoft settled its antitrust case with the US government. As I wrote at the time, "I think the settlement fails miserably [at] punishing Microsoft for its illegal activities and preventing it from continuing such activities in the future." What it did do, of course, was change the way Microsoft bundles products with its OSes. And you can thank/blame the rise of Windows Live applications on this change.http://tinyurl.com/5pyut2

With XP complete, Microsoft turned its attention to XP SP1, unlike with Online vista tech services, where they pretended there wasn't an SP1. And Allchin revealed that the next Windows version, codenamed Longhorn, would hit beta in 2002 and ship in 2003. That worked out wonderfully, as you may recall. Note that after Online vista tech services shipped, Microsoft refused to discuss the next version of Windows (Windows 7). Clearly, the company's XP experiences guided this change of strategy.http://tinyurl.com/5dpx2f

XP was barely out the door before the OS's first major security vulnerability hit, a serious UPnP flaw that left XP owners open to electronic attack. Microsoft responded to this threat by asking Web sites to stop popularizing security breaches in its products. Yes, seriously.http://tinyurl.com/6aywgr

In December 2001, Allchin said that XP sales were "on track," and the company was "very happy." However, analysts and retailers were reporting that XP wasn't selling as quickly as had previous, consumer-oriented Windows 9x versions. And retail sales of XP were still lagging those of Windows 98 at the time.http://tinyurl.com/6bsndb

With 2001 ending, pundits seized the opportunity to jump all over XP in a manner that would later be repeated with Online vista tech services . There are two differences, however. More people are online now, so Online vista tech services looks worse by comparison. And XP's issues were actually quite serious, unlike those that users faced with Online vista tech services over the past year. I'll take a missing printer driver over systemic OS flaws any day. Call me crazy.http://tinyurl.com/6esl5z

By the end of December, panic had set in. XP retail sales plummeted from 400,000 copies in October 2001 to just 250,000 in November 2001. Windows 98, meanwhile, had sold 580,000 copies in its first month on the market and 350,000 in its second. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced at CES 2002 in January that XP sales were "double" those of the previous version, using licenses sold by PC makers as the barometer for that statement.http://tinyurl.com/6gavuv

Speaking of CES, Microsoft also revealed a software project there called Freestyle. This would go on to become Windows XP Media Center Edition, which entered the market in late 2002. Microsoft eventually shipped four different XP Media Center versions over the years, as well as two XP Tablet PC versions. But as Apple has so frequently reminded us, the Cupertino company shipped three versions of Mac OS X between XP's release in 2001 and Online vista tech services release in 2006, while Microsoft never upgraded Windows. Curious.http://tinyurl.com/5ml5x7

By January, XP's security problems were so bad that Bill Gates wrote a memo called Trustworthy computing, a concept he described as the company's highest priority. "There are many changes Microsoft needs to make as a company to ensure and keep our customers' trust at every level - from the way we develop software, to our support efforts, to our operational and business practices. As software has become ever more complex, interdependent and interconnected, our reputation as a company has in turn become more vulnerable. Flaws in a single Microsoft product, service or policy not only affect the quality of our platform and services overall, but also our customers' view of us as a company."http://tinyurl.com/69m7jt

What Gates was really saying was that Microsoft would begin promoting security over new features in its products. This switchover was years-long in the making, and the company eventually halted Windows Vista ("Longhorn") development for nine months so that it could go back and perform a full security review of XP.http://tinyurl.com/5aag7c

And with that, we're just three months into XP's existence. Good times, good times.

By the way, Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing work eventually resulted in Windows XP SP2, which was given away free to customers in late 2004. XP SP2 was the first major software product revised during the Trustworthy Computing era and Vista, released in late 2006, was the first completely new Trustworthy Computing product. Note that the time delta between XP and XP2 was actually longer than the delta between XP SP2 and Vista. Just a thought for the next time you want to talk about product development time.

As for the Online vista tech services complaints of today, we might reflect for a moment on our short memories and remember that Windows XP, in just its first few months on the market, suffered from more problems that Online vista tech services has had in its entire lifetime so far. As with any major Windows release, Vista came with its share of compatibility and performance issues when compared to its predecessor (though those are almost completely resolved by now, of course). That's nothing new. But as XP heads off into a distant sunset, I prefer to be honest about that product. Yes, it was the best that Microsoft could do at the time and a big technical advance over the 9x versions of Windows. But Online vista tech services is the superior product, and that's especially true when you compare both XP and Vista with regards to the times in which they were respectively released.

Source : http://windowsitpro.com/mobile/pda/Article.cfm?ArticleID=99604&News=1

Beware of Hidden Costs When Purchasing Mobile Home Park Software and Remote Technical Support

2008-06-30T05:03:00.000-07:00

These updates can include new features as well as “bug fixes.” Charging for these updates is standard practice, but you can find companies that provide these updates for free. Some companies force the user to purchase updates even if their software is running fine. They force the issue by refusing to do remote technical support for the user unless they have purchased the latest version. A more reasonable approach is to provide the remote technical support and, if it is discovered that a problem the user is experiencing has been fixed in a later version, to notify the user. The user can make their own decision whether they want to find a work-around for the problem or to go ahead with the purchase of the corrected and newest version of the mobile home park software.

Additional Feature Modules:

Many software companies have a standard price, but additional and often necessary features cost extra and can really increase the price. Look for software which includes all of the features you need, or make sure to add up the additional costs when you are making price comparisons.

Technical Support:

Technical support represents a very important ongoing relationship with the software vendor. Most companies offer a user manual included with the software but this is often not enough when you are confused about how to use the software or are experiencing an error in the software. It is important that the vendor has free or low cost options for remote technical support for those with a quick question or error to report. For example, there may be a free user forum or free email remote technical support. All software has occasional errors. A vendor that allows you to report errors without penalizing you by charging for reporting the error is a must.

It is important that the software vendor offer some type of telephone support for those who don’t want to search the manual. For those who need to get back to business quickly and want to be able to pick up the phone for quick answers, a telephone support plan is useful. Telephone support is almost always a paid option. However, the cost of this telephone support can reflect on the software program. Software vendors must maintain some sort of recurring revenue from their customers in order to stay in business, and to pay their trained technical support representatives.

However, if the telephone support is overly expensive, it may suggest that the software is full of errors and requires a lot of hours spent working with technical support.

Software Supplies:

Often a software vendor will add features into the software which require you to purchase more products from them. For example, a software program that offers a check printing feature may require that you use their printing company to purchase check forms that are compatible with the software’s banking feature. Other companies will also offer an alternative and less expensive option, such as the option to use checks compatible with QuickBooks or other software for which it is easy and inexpensive to purchase check stock.

Value Added Services:

Many software programs offer value added services embedded in their mobile home park software. For example, there may be a credit card processing service that will process payments for you. Often the software company itself receives a portion of the user’s cost for each use of the feature. You need to decide if you can get the feature less expensively elsewhere or if the added cost is worth the convenience of the feature interacting seamlessly with your software.

Source :prudentpressagency.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4636

NetApp Pushes remote technical support Performance

2008-06-16T04:44:00.000-07:00

NetApp unveiled new products this week with a message that could be summed up in a word: performance.

The new offerings, which include midrange unified storage systems and a storage acceleration appliance, are aimed at helping data centers and high-performance computing environments do more with less. NetApp cites as target markets software development, product lifecycle management, electronic design automation, healthcare, energy, media/entertainment and government.

"It's all about time to market with these environments, and that's where performance really helps," said Patrick Rogers, NetApp's vice president for solutions marketing.

NetApp claims its new FAS3140 and FAS3170 storage systems offer better performance and scalability than other midrange systems, and the company included a benchmark showing that the FAS3170 outperformed the EMC Celerra NS80G in a file services workload benchmark
The FAS3140 scales to 420TB and the FAS3170 to 420TB, and both support and offer eight I/O slots.

The company also unveiled the new V-Series V3140 and V3170, which it says extends virtualization to other vendors' legacy arrays and uses the same Data ONTAP operating system as other NetApp FAS systems.

The Storage Acceleration Appliances, which include the SA200, SA300 and SA600, are based on NetApp FlexCache technology. Rogers said the appliances can double throughput while reducing latency. They can be used to accelerate performance at the data center where the central data repository is located or to improve response time and enhance collaboration within Remote Technical Support offices.

NetApp is also offering a Performance Acceleration Module, an add-on intelligent read cache for optimizing performance of mainstream storage platforms and random-read intensive workloads such as file serving. One or more modules fit into PCI Express slots of an existing storage controller, where they function as a read cache to increase throughput and reduce latency without having to add additional disk drives to increase I/O rates. The module consumes 95 percent less power than a shelf of Fibre Channel disk drives.

NetApp also introduced Remote Technical Support Agent, an intelligent Remote Technical Supportdiagnostics data collector embedded in NetApp systems, which will proactively open support tickets and let NetApp support engineers remotely access system log files to diagnose and resolve issues.

List prices for the FAS3100 storage systems start at $69,780 for 7TB of storage, while the V3100 systems start at $56,365 with no storage included. The Performance Acceleration Module lists at $15,000, and the software for the module is $20,000. One software license is required for each storage controller, and between one and five modules can be installed in the controller, depending on the model. Pricing for the Storage Acceleration Appliance models varies depending on the configurations, number of disk shelves and Performance Acceleration Modules.

Source : enterpriseitplanet.com/storage/news/article.php/3752806

Changing Technical Support for the Better

2008-06-12T04:41:00.000-07:00

Hiring is a major decision because you will be getting the technical support skills, personality quirks, emotional stability, and overall attitude of each person. The goal is also to maintain long-term staff (more on this later), so you will want to live with the consequences of your selections for a long time. Consequently, spend some time thinking about what you really need in a support person.

The first step in this process is to create a list of the minimum technical skills you want your new team to have. You can then prioritize that list and decide which skills will apply to which position. Skills may include:

Operating system, database and specific application knowledge
Problem-solving skills
Phone presence
Spelling and grammar skills

You should also think about what character traits you want your team to have. Here are some important ones for technical support staff:

1. Trainability

Some people learn faster than others and fortunately you can test a candidate for this during an interview. Find a few puzzles that build upon each other in complexity, show the first to your candidate, and then ask him/her to solve the second one. Can this person apply the information under pressure? If not, he/she is probably the wrong person for your team.

2. Responsibility

Your team members will constantly be taking care of other people’s problems, so they need to have a strong sense of responsibility. This is easy to determine—look for people who take responsibility in their personal lives. This can be gauged by asking questions about one’s connections to family, or even how they are paying back their student loans.

3. Empathy

We once hired a management consultant to help us figure out how to cut costs. She was dubious about one of my technical support people, so she chose to sit at a desk where she could hear him doing support. After a few weeks she revised her opinion, saying, “The angrier and more frustrated the customer gets, the more he communicates, ‘I understand your frustration.’” Empathy.

I usually ask a candidate’s references, “Would you describe this person as empathetic?” If you want to get candidates to take a Meyers-Briggs personality test, you will find that the ‘F’ personality types tend to be more empathetic than others. I didn’t give my people personality tests until after they were hired, but as it turns out, all of them are ‘F’s. My wife also happens to be an ‘F’. What does that say about me? In part, it says that I’m an INTJ, and I over-analyze everything.

4. Logic

Logical support people have the ability to approach a tricky system with the assumption that somehow it all makes sense. That is very important, so I test for logic during all of my interviews. All you have to do is find a few logic puzzles online and make them multiple-choice. Give them to the candidate and let them work on them for five minutes before going over it. See how they do before you consider hiring them.

5. Curiosity

Working in technical support is essentially solving a long series of rational problems. Sometimes, however, the problems aren’t so rational. A person who is naturally curious will be much more diligent in searching for solutions than someone who is not. In interviews, I ask about hobbies to find out if a person is curious. Curious people tend to have active hobbies (e.g. building things, learning how various systems work, etc.).

6. Character

Imagine that you are going on a long vacation, and the person you are interviewing is a friend of yours. Would you trust this person to take care of all of your personal business while you are gone—feed your pets, get your mail, water your plants, pay your bills? If not, don’t hire them.

Management 101

Hiring is important for getting the right people in the first place, and management is important for both keeping them and helping them be successful. Here are some key things to address in your management plan:

Proper Training

Just imagine trying to do technical support on systems that you aren’t trained on. “No ma’am, I don’t know how that is supposed to work.” This is why proper training of new staff is extremely important. In addition, your current staff are probably under-trained. As you reinvent your technical support processes, get real product training scheduled for their first few days. And make ongoing training—especially around new releases—a priority.

Note that you are going not going to be able to train people on the exact problems they will need to solve. Don’t put them into entirely unfamiliar systems and ask them to demonstrate proficiency quickly. Be reasonable and realistic when you train.

Goals and Boundaries

Goals are easy. Make them SMART. (SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely. Do a search on ‘SMART’ goals if you need help—it’s an article series by itself.)

Boundaries are a bit more complicated. People need to know what they can promise on behalf of the company and what they cannot. It frees them from guesswork and hesitation, as well as responsibility for the tough decisions. My father, who worked in the contracts department of a large company, knew exactly how much money his signature could vouch for. That is an example of a well-set boundary, in my opinion.

Communication

Someone once told me that a manager’s job is to help people do their jobs better. I take that to mean that I am the one-man technical support team enablement department. Every member of your technical support team will need help and advice, and they have to know that your door is always open. Not only that, but you should also try to be proactive in your leadership, rather than wait for them to call with problems.

Performance Reviews

Everybody needs to know how they are doing, which is why your staff will benefit from performance reviews. If you want to keep your people long-term, and you do, then you will also need to have a job growth plan in place.

Holding regular team meetings will allow you to review the performance of the team as a group. For example, each team member might be burning through cases twice as fast, but if the incoming case load has tripled, the team has a problem. Everyone needs to be aware of this dynamic and understand how the team is doing on the whole. If there is a problem, I usually approach it without assigning blame. “I was thinking about this process, and I’m not sure that we’re really following it like we should be. I’m also not sure that it’s the best process. Let’s discuss the process—why it is the way it is, why we don’t follow it when we don’t, and how we might improve it.” Letting the whole team participate in such discussions will provide you with significant insight and suggestions that will benefit your department in the long run.

Trusting Your Staff

The point will come when you just have to trust your people to do their jobs. This gives them a sense of self-confidence that will ultimately improve their performance, so go get a hobby. Do whatever it takes to allow yourself to stand back and let the magic work.

Keeping Morale Up

Your team will have plenty of reasons for morale to drop, considering the anger and frustration they will deal with day in and day out. For this reason, you need to do small things for them to keep them happy. For example, my team gets lunch more often than any other department in the company, and when a customer compliments them, I ask them to email it to the entire company.

Source : accountingsoftware411.com/Press/PressDocView.aspx?docid=9974

Market undergos huge pressure due to lack of technical support

2008-06-09T03:14:00.000-07:00

The breach of important technical support invited more spec selling, which put the market under a lot of pressure throughout the week. After some damage was done on the daily chart over the last couple of months, the market was trying to hang on to a major uptrend line on the weekly chart, which ran through about 66.50 cents this week, but to no avail. The market clearly broke through this line of defense, which triggered a lot of spec selling that forced the market down to a low of 63.10 cents before rebounding slightly.

Speculators were clearly the driving force behind this selloff and there was again a lot of talk about the potential impact the CFTC investigation might have on spec long positions. Some prominent market commentators stated that a regulatory backlash against hedge funds could lead many of them to exit positions. However, we do not necessarily share this pessimism, because in the case of cotton these specs do not have that much of a long position left to liquidate.

According to the latest CFTC "Commitment of Traders" report, large speculators held just 45'000 contracts of outright longs, down from almost 99'000 contracts at the end of February.

Meanwhile, large outright spec shorts increased their position to almost 27'000 contracts, up by over 9'000 contracts in the week of May 20 - 27 alone and up by over 21'000 contracts since the end of February.

Source: http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/company-news/plexuscotton/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=57691

UC launches new online library

2008-06-02T03:48:00.000-07:00

With a new online resource that became available Tuesday, users can browse the collections of all libraries throughout the , as well as thousands of libraries worldwide.

UC officials joined with the OCLC Online Computer suppport Library Center to create what they describe as a "next-generation, shared online catalog" that allows computer users to view and find collections from each campus library, including UC-Berkeley, UC-Davis, UC-Santa Cruz and UCLA.

Founded 41 years ago, the OCLC Online Computer support Library Center of Dublin, Ohio, is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization that works to expand access to library systems worldwide. At present, more than 60,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories around the world use OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend and preserve library materials.

"OCLC's vision for seamlessly integrating discovery of locally held library resources with resources held elsewhere across the international bibliographic network is similar to ours," Karen Butter, UC-San Francisco librarian and chairwoman of the UC/OCLC executive team, said in a statement. "The partnership with OCLC offers an opportunity to present the vast UC library collection in ways that are consistent with the discovery needs of today's faculty and students..."

OCLC's WorldCat system permits users to find a selection of article citations, archival materials and UC and other universities' digitized books. Other features include a single search box, relevancy ranking of search results, result sets that bring multiple versions of a work together, easy ways to refine results, citation formatting options, reviews and cover art.

Source : http://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2008/05/26/daily14.html

Technical support global partner program

2008-05-23T04:39:00.000-07:00

Xceedium, a company providing security and compliance solutions, said it has launched the Xceedium Xcelerate Partner Program to expand its market presence.

The debut program is designed to enable partners to quickly tap into compliance requirements for the financial, utility, manufacturing and government markets, and to enhance their current security practices with products and services revenue.

"We're a high-growth startup that's been growing very rapidly, in a direct manner with our own sales people," explained Cheryl Traverse, CEO for Jersey City, N.J.-based Xceedium. "We've now reached the point where our volume demands to go and build a channel. So we hired Dave Ballard -- an experienced channel person from HP Opsware -- to basically build this channel for us."

Moreover, Xceedium identified its pain points and subsequently delivered new requirements for the estimated $15 billion (US) compliance markets, Traverse continued.

"Where we come in is the privileged (internal IT operations) user and external user (vendor, applications developer, or outsourced IT operations person)," she said. "Eighty-six percent of all internal attacks came from a current or former technical support employee and 60 percent of all companies do some sort of technical outsourcing . . . in the government (sector) that figure is 70 percent.

"Lay all the compliance regulations on top of that . . . and you've put the pressure on companies to come up with ways to take the privileged and external users and figure out a way to implement and validate controls for them."

"We are targeting a select group of partners with existing security practices that are looking for differentiators in key hot markets, such as PCI compliance, vendor access control, enhanced security for the Citrix environments and secure touch free support," said Ballard, the vice president of sales at Xceedium. "Most importantly, we've put together a solid team dedicated to enabling and supporting these partners."

The Xcelerate Partner Program includes:

Channel Commitment -- a dedicated team of partner resources to help partners quickly roll out and sustain their businesses.

Partner Portal -- an exclusive online repository of partner-specific sales, marketing and technical tools.

Dedicated Technical Support -- a separate 800 number and exclusive instant messaging link directly to technical support reps.

Opportunity Registration -- Partners can register their deals and receive all the support necessary to close opportunities; also provides partners with price protection and qualifies them for additional margin.

Maintenance Renewals -- Xceedium would work with partners on renewal tracking and alerting to ensure regular, up- to- date maintenance for their customers.

Education -- all the necessary training to sell and install Xceedium solutions from delivering pre-sales tools through to implementation.

Field Support -- Xceedium works directly with partners in the field to ensure clients receive the highest level of service and education both prior to and following their deployment of Xceedium solutions.

Joint Marketing -- joint press releases, seminars, tradeshow exhibits, conferences and webinars to increase their visibility in the marketplace.

Joint Development of Security Assessment Practice -- For solutions partners and systems integrators, Xceedium provides a comprehensive set of tools and services for risk assessment, policy creation and deployment, and reporting and usage data for privileged users.

Xceedium channel and solution partners benefit from a comprehensive training process, including sales training and pre- and post-sales technical training. Additionally, partners at the solutions partner and systems integrator level receive Xceedium Security Assessment enablement training. Xceedium also offers a Referral Partner Program for those organizations that would like to recommend Xceedium Gatekeeper and Xceedium services to their customers.

http://www.foxriverantiques.com

Source : http://www.echannelline.com/usa/story.cfm?item=23303

GlobalLogic Speeds Software Time to Market with Open Source Application Framework

2008-05-19T04:46:00.000-07:00

VIENNA, Va., April 16 - GlobalLogic, Inc., the leader in global product development, has introduced an open source framework, Velocity Objects, that can shorten a product's time to market by as much as 30 percent. Velocity Objects, based on the company's award-winning GlobalLogic Velocity(TM) Method and Platform for distributed agile software development (, combines J2EE components with best practices so that GlobalLogic's engineers can bring client products to market even faster.

"There is no need to reinvent the wheel each time a software product is developed," said Peter Harrison, CEO of GlobalLogic. "There are many components that are common across products, and code can be re-used. GlobalLogic has spent the last six years assembling a library of reusable components and frameworks that can accelerate the development of the next generation of software products and services."

Velocity Objects provides a sound architecture, framework and building blocks for developing high quality products swiftly. It ensures quality by integrating best-of-breed open source technologies and code components developed by GlobalLogic and its partners, which have already been used successfully in other commercial products. The offering speeds development by making components reusable and eliminating the need to write infrastructure code or research the hundreds of available frameworks to find the right one for a given product.

"We needed a cutting-edge technological solution for meeting our aggressive automation needs. The solution needs to scale linearly and at the same time be extensible enough to cater to future requirements," explained Ashish Sharma, Manager Technology at iYogi, a VC-backed company in the technical support industry. "GlobalLogic's Velocity Objects helped iYogi craft a product by assembling the 'best-of-breed' components available in the open source world. Sound design principles, along with reusable frameworks and components, helped us reduce the time to market. Additionally, the flexible architecture served well to seamlessly incorporate our growing demands."

GlobalLogic Velocity is employed across a growing number of the company's 140 technology client software product development initiatives Objects is particularly applicable to the company's newly announced Version 1.0 service offering, which helps both entrepreneurs and established technology companies rapidly launch new products and enter new markets without the need for an engineering team Velocity Objects is already helping these clients accelerate quality products to market.

source : http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/543200

Digital Support Technology Releases New Computer Support Automation Utility

2008-05-15T04:15:00.000-07:00

Menlo Park, CA May 2, 2008 -- Digital Support Technology, Inc. a pioneer in automated computer support over the Internet, announced the release of PC Fixer, a proprietary computer technical support automation utility today.

With an innovative Reverse Search Engine and a comprehensive knowledgebase of support procedures, Digital Support Technology has the ambition to empower individual computer user to diagnose and fix problems on a computer. By downloading and installing PC Fixer, a computer user connects the computer to the Reverse Search Engine, which not only detects problems on the computer but also explains the problems to the computer user. After going through details of the computer problems, the computer user may decide which problems to be fixed by PC Fixer. At present, Digital Support Technology fixes the majority of computer problems for free and charges a nominal fee for some specific fixes.

Since the beta release of the automation utility, thousands of computer users have tried the simple, secure, fast and easy-to-use tool and provided enthusiastic feedback. One user of the tool acclaims, "Great job in fixing my problem. I only wish I had discovered your service sooner, I could have saved myself a lot of time and frustration. Kudos to you!"

Although the online computer support landscape is already crowded with established players like Geek Squad and Firedogs, and new comers like iYogi and Support.com, Digital Support Technology intends to differentiate itself as the most innovative and the most cost-effective online technical solution provider for millions of computer users. In addition, the company commits itself to protecting privacy and security of computer users and builds its software on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/05/prweb908264.htm

'Consumer Reports': Apple technical support is aces

2008-05-12T04:30:00.000-07:00

The surveyed its readers to gather their experiences with technical support for personal computing, and Apple's organization far outpaced its rivals in the PC industry. Readers assigned the company a score of 83 for its computer technical support, which translates to "very satisfied" on Consumer Reports' rating scale. You have to be a Consumer Reports subscriber if you want to access the articles and graphs on its Web site.

Lenovo and Dell ranked second and third, respectively, with scores of 66 and 60, or "fairly well satisfied." Hewlett-Packard, , received the lowest score and the worst rating for its technical support staffers. Apple also led the desktop technical support pack with a score of 81, trailed by Dell and Gateway with scores below 60.

Apple has also ranked well on the , a yearly measure of consumer taste in various brands. The company solves problems quickly, especially for customers who take their Mac to one of the company's retail stores for service. But if you don't live near an Apple Store, the company offers the shortest amount of free telephone support of any of the PC companies.

When it comes to the number of problems that appear, Apple's record wasn't as stellar. The company was ranked last in the number of defects that cropped up in its notebooks between 2003 and 2007, although the margin of error in that survey meant that all the surveyed manufacturers essentially tied with defects found in between 20 percent and 23 percent of their notebooks.

source: news.com/8301-13579_3-9937231-37.html?tag=nefd.only

SCC Soft Computer Improves Customer Service With Knowledge Management Module Of Soffront CRM

2008-05-05T04:53:00.000-07:00

the leader of mid-market CRM software, recently announced that SCC Soft Computer (SCC) has implemented Soffront Knowledge Management System (KMS), a module of the company's popular Soffront CRM solution. SCC, a leading Laboratory Information Systems (LIS) vendor and one of the largest LIS programming houses in the world, is using Soffront KMS to improve customer service and save time.

"We needed a better way to organize, maintain, and reuse knowledge," explained Mary Ann Cavener, Knowledge Base Administrator, Team Leader. "We found it difficult to provide customers with timely technical data in our manuals alone. We stored important data in notes, documents, and emails--resources that were unavailable to customers. Additionally, if a knowledgeable employee left SCC or documents were misplaced, our resources were negatively impacted."

SCC evaluated many KMS solutions before selecting Soffront. "Soffront offers robust features, such as a powerful search engine, category assignments, and hot topics," continued Cavener. "Soffront has all of the features we needed at a lower price than other leading KMS solutions."

Cavener noted that their favorite feature of the software is its data storage structure. "Soffront KMS categorizes data and multi-assigns articles to different areas of interests, thereby streamlining the information. The robust search engine and advanced search options also enable SCC to organize the data by interests and categories. These features allow customers and employees to find data quickly."

Soffront has helped SCC meet the needs of both their internal users and customers by improving the documentation available to them. "Since deploying Soffront KMS in 2007, our computer Technical Support Center Resolution rates have improved dramatically," concluded Cavener. "We resolve issues faster, which saves us time and money."

source: crmmarketplace.com/content/news/article.asp?DocID=%7B83CB8A49-0A73-41B1-8FB6-038FAFDD23B6%7D&Bucket=Current+Headlines&VNETCOOKIE=NO

Amazon LaunchesTechnical Support For EC2 Developers

2008-04-18T04:19:00.000-07:00

Customers of Amazon Web Services can signup to get questions answered or to receive TECHNICAL SUPPORT for operational issues during development, testing or integration of applications running on Amazon's infrastructure. The service covers an unlimited number of technical support cases and is available through a monthly subscription with no long-term contracts.

Amazon leases processing power and storage on its giant data center over the Web. The retailer's Elastic Computer Cloud is the development and deployment environment; storage is through its Simple Storage Service, or S3; and the Simple Queue Service, or SQS, covers storage, computing and query processing. The new technical support plans cover all of those services.

Amazon is offering two premium support plans, a Silver and Gold. The former offers response times ranging from four business hours for high severity issues to two business days for less serious problems. The cost is the greater of $100 a month or 10% of total monthly usage of the applicable Amazon services.

The Gold plan provides 24-hour phone technical support and response times of one hour for urgent issues. Pricing is the greater of $400 per month or 10% to 20% of total monthly usage of the applicable services.

In addition to the support plans, Amazon launched a Web-based dashboard that provides information on the operational status of each of its services. The dashboard uses green, yellow or red indicators to display the health of services with additional information "provided as relevant," Amazon said. Customers have access to this service at no charge either through the status page on the Web or via an RSS feed.

For developers who don't want to pay for support, Amazon offers online forums, FAQs and a resource center. Amazon has launched a site for customers who want to sign up for the premium service.

Source: informationweek.com/news/software/development/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207400320

Chaos as bank computer crash wipes out ATMs

2008-04-11T02:24:00.000-07:00

Tens of thousands of people were feeling short changed last night after a massive system failure wiped out all the Northern Bank's ATMs.

Throughout the province yesterday, frustrated people found themselves unable to withdraw money from hundreds of machines.

Customers trying to use Northern Bank debit and credit cards also faced misery as their transactions were refused, leaving many embarrassed and unable to make purchases.

The problem - which arose after the Danish- owned institution's central system crashed - affected all of the Northern Bank's 94 branches nationwide, including 25 in the greater Belfast area.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph last night, a spokesperson for the bank apologised to customers and blamed a glitch in the ATM network.

"This issue is the result of a technical problem with IBM who support this network," she said.

"We are working closely with IBM to restore service to our customers as soon as possible.

"We apologise unreservedly to any customers who are being affected by this situation."

Last night, the Belfast Telegraph tried to withdraw money from cash points at two of the major branches in the city centre, but found them still 'temporarily out of service'.

The spokesperson, however, stressed that engineers were making every effort to repair the fault and said the network would be up and running again as soon as possible.

"Any customer who urgently needs to withdraw cash can still do so at any Northern Bank branch or can use their chequebook," she added.

Messages outside the Northern Bank's headquartwers in Belfast yesterday alerted customers to the problem.

But it is understood that the system crash went wider than Northern Ireland, also affecting machines in Europe owned by the Northern's parent Danske Bank.

This is the second time in recent months that the Northern Bank has been at the centre of a problem with cash machines.

In February, it emerged that Nationwide customers using Northern cash machines were not having pay-outs debited from their accounts.In that case, however, the error was not linked to Northern Bank technology, but to Nationwide's.

source:belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article3598167.ece