Microsoft Assure - Answer Desk

Thank you a thousand times over.  I had a great tech person, but he has retired  I will definitely look for another.

This issue was raised because he had retired, and for about the 5th time in the last year, yesterday I was on a website (Google Finance) and the screen changed to all red, with a dire warning that the world was coming to an end, or so to speak.  My only option was to call the number listed, and don't leave the page or close the page.  I promptly went to task manager and closed my browser, closed everything down and would have ran my virus program Advanced System Care 11, but it had disappeared and all the shortcuts do not work and I can no longer find the program.  Last tech guy had me run a root kit, but nothing has found any problem.

I can and will reload Advanced System Care, but until I can find a tech adviser, would it be a "better than nothing" approach to have Geek Squad remotely try to clean/scan, whatever to see if they cannot resolve my red screen issue?

Thanks again in advance, but most of all for your generosity in participating on this help forum.  I am very much a "newby"  and without people like you, we would have to just give up.!

I did not realize I was being "positive" in any manner.  Indifferent I could go with.  :-)

Breaking with the indifference, giving my opinion:

Personally, I don't see the use of such a "assistance" subscription for anyone at that level.  Most would be better served finding someone local (near them) they trust and don't mind paying for such things as opposed to this call-center type help-desk Microsoft-only assistance.

RE: "Are you associated in anyway with Microsoft, i.e. an employee?"

No.  This is a peer-to-peer volunteer-based public international forum and I have been giving my time and expertise in this and other such forums for... decades.

RE: "Do you recommend the Assure Support Plan and are you using it yourself?"

No to both.  See above where I give my opinion.  RE: "Geek squad"

Please, PLEASE... if you have any other choice - find something else (mom & pop type shop, some professional IT person who does work on the side, etc.) to get your support from.  Big-box type solutions should be avoided.  It makes life a little better and you aren't treated like a $ more often than not (when compared to going to a big-box type or even online subscription-type situation.)

My opinions are based off years and years of IT professional work managing hundreds/thousands of computers with 10's of thousands users and hundreds of various applications (often all installed on the same systems - so 60+ different third party applications on a set of systems with multiple users in some cases) and doing work on the side for people at home and for smaller businesses.  Despite the advances in technology, etc. - many things are still fairly difficult on a computer / operating system (despite arguments to the contrary) and given the sheer number of variables involved, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who thinks about it for more than a moment: computers are complex devices and sometimes an expert can save time, frustration and effort.

So... there's that.  :-)

I have been following a lot of the posts regarding problems with the Assure Support Plan and have noticed your replies.  I'm trying to decide if I should sign up or not.  It seems there are a lot of complaints especially about getting help, yet you seem to always have a positive answer.  So a couple of questions.  Are you associated in anyway with Microsoft, i.e. an employee?  Do you recommend the Assure Support Plan and are you using it yourself?  It is very hard to get any information on exactly what the plan is, the most information I found on Microsoft website is a bullet point page that doesnt give much information, here is the website:  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/answerdesk/purchase?oguid=272b5c0a-6795-4343-9da9-5e2506d06285&aid=844428419967142&cid=SoftwareSupport\_Assure\_CP1  The information is very limited and that concerns me.  Frankly when I do a Google search or ask for reviews, all I get are complaints.  I don't understand why Microsoft is not giving more information, especially in comparison to the other service I'm looking at, Geek Squad.  It is especially hard to find a place to sign up on the Microsoft website, the only thing I have found is the above link.  I know there are some false Assure plans out there, is the link above the correct one.  In some ways it sounds like I'm answering my own question, don't do this!  But I would like your perspective.  Thank you for your time, I appreciate any assistance you can offer.

They used to be good. I haven't tried them lately.

They're supposed to help you with things like looking inside your computer to find out what's slowing it down, any crazy things that Word, etc., is doing that you can't fix. Now, I notice that cartoon assistant, which is almost useless, pops up first. Chat was great because it was written. The last time I called with a problem, I couldn't understand the man I was speaking to. He didn't understand what I was asking. I could hear the room was filled with people talking on the phone. I was so upset I wrote to the head Microsoft office and of course never got a reply.

The problem I had was that Word kept making me save-as my document with a new name constantly. I finally bought a Dummies book and found the answer.

There seems to be no place to complain about the service to. Why spend all this money to get tossed into the community and get a thousand conflicting answers.

I finally got thru to the Assure Team.  I got a new case # but have not had time to get back to them when we can have a work session thru remote access by them.  That's the next thing to do.  The problem is that it takes so long to get hold of them & get attention right when I am needing to solve the problem.  My problem was with my Surface while on the road & as soon as I got back to home base I have had to catch up using my desktop rather than work on getting the Surface fixed.  It's all about timing.  Hopefully I will find a gap in my schedule before I hit the road again.  I think the process did narrow my identity/description of the problem area so we might get it fixed with a shorter work session.