Computer Tech Support Issues

With new advancements in technology and computer tech support services are available for all computer related problems , users and customers have also become wiser and more aware. Before making a purchase for a new computer, everyone makes sure that they have set their eyes on a good computer tech support service which can provide good tech support as well.

This makes more sense when a user is on the look-out for computer systems which can serve businesses, since the machines will be the best tool for administrative needs. Choosing and selecting for the best tech support services is trciky and needs careful analysis before a user zeroes in on one. Most companies with tech support usually subscribe to a single product and there is always the chance of having to purchase an additional product when assistance is asked for. This makes the user bear some extra cost.

There is the need for good tech support services created by leading computer tech support individuals who are experts in the field. The experts should have good knowledge of what goes into many different types of computers and should have a thorough understanding of the way that all models of these computers will function. Technical glitches, irrespective of what computer you have, should be fixed quickly and efficiently by tech support specialists.

These experts should have complete understanding of the most complex of issues releated to computers in order to give you the computer tech support that a user or a customer will need. They should be referred to in order to find the best method to ensure that all technical issues are dealt with at the right time. When running a business, one cannot afford to have a computer which has been lying dormant for a long time.

Computers are vulnerable to technical glitches and so getting the right computer tech support to fix the issue without putting the computer into any further risk is very essential.

Read More

Microsoft Office 2010 With Sharepoint 2010

One of the remarkable features in the new Microsoft Office 2010 is the Sharepoint 2010. Like the other applications, it also has a ribbon UI, which makes the document-hosting tool likely to Microsoft’s flagship products, like Word. A lot of features has been enabled in Sharepoint which comes with Microsoft Office 2010. One thing is that from now the authors of documents can be easily tagged and sharing of documents and files have been simplified. The software giants added that its browser versions have been tested on all the big browsers apart from Internet Explorer, including Firefox and Safari. Microsoft Office 2010 is still undergoing fine tuning and modifications to enable it to work alongside Chrome. Microsoft said that it is bringing down the number of Office editions from eight to five.

Office Web applications can now be accessed in three variant ways. Firstly, with Windows Live, consumers will have access to Office Web applications for free, and then with on-premises versions and via Microsoft Online Services, now users can make purchases for a subscription of MS Office. Microsoft Office 2010 will be made availlable from the first half of 2010.

The free, browser-based versions of Microsoft’s high-demand Office products play the key roles here. The software developers expect the browser tools to be easily absorbed by students, but enterprises will be attracted by the web-based applications. Security precautions should not be ignored and should be kept in mind while putting documents in a safe part.

Read More

Windows 7 - Certain limitation regarding security

Windows 7 users got a nice surprise on Tuesday, Nov 10, 2009 when Microsoft released its first set of security patches since unveiling Windows 7 last month. It will focus on the Windows 7 security outfit.
When Microsoft launched Windows 7, it was billed as the company's best secure release ever -- the result of a nine-year "Trustworthy Computing" effort to shore up a product line that had been riddled with major security holes.
But does stress-tested windows 7 how to software really matter to Microsoft's customers, seemingly besieged by more online attacks than ever before? Microsoft had years to improve Windows XP, but the Conficker worm, which began spreading last year, has till date infected more than 7 million Windows machines. And for every Windows bug that gets squashed, hackers seem to get new problems in the software that runs on top of latest Windows7-- Flash Player, QuickTime and Java.
No doubt Windows 7 is definitely by far the most secure operating system, said Dave Aitel, chief technology officer with Immunity, a security company that spends a lot of time finding the latest software bugs. But the question that everybody is asking right now is will it be sufficient?
The man behind Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing initiative, Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie, says the industry still needs to improve.
This is Microsoft's conundrum. Windows may be safer, but cyber-criminals still have plenty of other places to attack. And when you can target hundreds of millions of customers with a single attack, why change the game plan? So most of the worst attacks today still target PCs running Windows, whether the OS itself is safe or not.
Consider spear-phishing. Attackers are so efficient at sending these highly customized e-mail messages, complete with malicious attachments, that the underlying security of Windows 7 is almost irrelevant.
According to Alan Paller, director of research for the SANS Institute, a security training company, the problem with the targeted attacks is that there's so much money that they can actually trump the security. Hence the governments and large industrial crime groups have to spend huge amount of money to trump any of the defenses.
In a report released last month for a congressional advisory panel, Northrop Grumman analysts detailed exactly how this happens. Looking at known attacks, the report found that targets are carefully selected, and then sent very believable e-mails with maliciously encoded attachments that exploit bugs in a product such as Adobe Reader -- something that's outside of Microsoft's control. The victim opens the .pdf and suddenly attackers have a foothold on the network.
Microsoft has taken initiation step in this direction with its Windows CardSpace identity management software. This will make people to check any fraud while online dealing.

Read More

Remote managed services are gaining a lot of attraction these days. Companies are looking to outsource the maintenance and monitoring of their IT infrastructure to a third party to improve efficiency and save costs. BizTech2.com caught up with Uday Challu, founding partner and CEO, iYogi, to see what the company has to offer in this space.

As far as Enterprise and SME customers are concerned, which verticals are you focusing on?

Our focus will mostly be on small companies with around five to 100 users and also firms that have multiple small branch offices like travel agencies, retail stores etc.

What kind of support services do you provide to your customers? What is the Green PC service?

iYogi provides the next generation of remote computer support services for consumers and businesses. For consumers, our live 24/7 support extends to technologies we use everyday, including hardware, software applications, devices, peripherals and networking equipment. iYogi also offers a full range of business IT solutions including managed monitoring, managed services, set-up and installation services, and incident-based services.

Green PC Service

With the current state of the global climate and increasing dependency on the computer, iYogi helps PC users reduce their carbon footprint and save money at the same time. iYogi’s Green PC service is the first in the independent computer support industry to offer customers a way to save money, conserve energy and protect the environment by optimising their PC’s efficiency. Consumers and businesses can save up to $200 per year, per desktop, in energy costs with iYogi’s Green PC application. This green application makes the computer environmentally friendly by reducing power consumption by almost 50 percent.

Our Green PC dashboard helps customise power settings and calculate power savings in kWh (kilowatt hour). The Green PC dashboard also gives a status on the reduction of CO2 and how responsible usage will benefit the environment by saving trees. A customised service that increases the energy efficiency of computers, undertakes the below-mentioned three primary initiatives:

- Computer assessment, analysing settings and PC energy use
- Customised efficiency planning geared specifically to the individual’s usage patterns
- Implementing setting changes to maximise the computer’s energy use

What are the technologies that allow you to offer 24/7 support and ensure there is no downtime at the client site?

We have invested significantly in developing a comprehensive monitoring and management tools stack. This enables us to manage and monitor all devices in the office network as well as for branch offices and mobile users. Our tools continuously monitor the customer’s network and notify our NOC (Network Operations Centre) in case of problems. Based on the set of events, tickets are automatically generated and escalated to corresponding teams. Over and above our proactive approach, the customer always has an option to call our 24X7 support line for issues that are not identified via the monitoring tools.

Please throw some light on your proprietary iMantra technology.

iMantra is a CRM system, which is tailor-made to suit the emerging business needs at iYogi. It allows for the formation of individualised customer relationships with the aim of providing personalised services to each subscriber. This tool is built on the latest java technology with a layered architecture that makes it scalable and secure. This architecture provides a seamless workflow and independent channels for various business needs: sales, support, quality and customer service. The entire system can be exposed in the form of secure APIs and Web services, which makes it a re-usable entity.

Your business model is similar to BPOs in India providing technical support to offshore customers. What unique values do you bring to this ecosystem that would help a potential client choose you over a competitor?

iYogi’s business model is different from traditional BPOs. Some key factors that differentiate iYogi include:

- Direct-to-consumer and -small business: iYogi delivers technical support services directly to consumers and small businesses and is a global technical support brand based out of India. Unlike traditional BPOs in India, iYogi does not provide any private label support and/ or work on behalf of large OEMs or software publishers.

- Optimised Processes: iYogi has developed proprietary processes for consistently delivering on a resolution rate of 87 percent, which is among the highest published benchmarks in the support industry, where averages hover in the range of 50 percent.

- Comprehensive technology platform: iYogi’s global delivery platform, iMantra, gets smarter with every customer interaction. It documents every problem, the solution and relevant hardware and software aspects, while capturing each customer’s demographic information and creating a behavioural profile. All of this information is at the fingertips of iYogi’s Global Tech Experts. This set-up combines a knowledge base with a comprehensive set of tools and technology expertise. iYogi offers a range of tools that complement its remote support services for helping customers maintain technology at peak performance levels. iYogi’s products include iYogi Smart PC Scan, iYogi Support Dock, iYogi Green PC and iYogi PC Optimisation.

How do you plan to move up the value chain in the times to come?

The growing use and penetration of the Internet and new Web-based applications has consequently opened the door to threats and vulnerabilities, which affect the system performance and ultimately lead to degrading performance. If the threats are diagnosed early on, the impact on efficiency can be minimised considerably. Currently, a user only realizes that he needs technical support once the damage has occurred and reactive methods of support are used to recover from the loss.

At iYogi, we are developing our capabilities to not only provide support when demanded, but to also monitor, pre-empt and fix threats before they can cause any damage to the computer. This will be possible only by combining technology with processes that are capable of re-defining the way technical support is delivered today.

What is your India strategy?

Technically, we are capable of servicing any geography including India. At this stage, we are looking for the right kind of partners to find access to potential customers and provide them a consolidated, 360-degree solution and services for issues relating to hardware, software, network etc. We aim to launch our India services in the coming six to eight months. Our services will offer clients a one-stop solution for all their business needs.

Source : BizTech2.com

Read More

IYogi Press Release: iYogi Acquires Clean Machine Inc.

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.ca.

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.

CONTACT:

iYogi Contact
Vishal Dhar
President Marketing
iYogi Inc.
Phone: 212 229 0901
Email: vishal@iyogi.net

The Press Release is available at its source: iYogi acquires Clean Machine Inc.

Read More

Fix when your bluetooth device not detected

What you can do when your device is not detected, This post provide technical support and step by step instruction to troubleshoot this issue.

Follow the instruction

1. In Device Manager, locate Bluetooth Radios, and then verify that the radio is listed. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type devmgmt.msc, and then click OK.
3. Locate and then click the Bluetooth radio device.



2. Determine what other USB devices are currently connected. The Bluetooth device may not have enough power.

If there are no entries in Device Manager or in Control Panel, the transceiver is not obtaining enough power for detection. Try unplugging other USB devices.

If Device Manager and Control Panel entries exist for a device, but the device is not detected or it is not connecting correctly, the device may not have been authenticated through the software.

Read More

How to Reduce Boot Time for Windows

I know that Windows runs super slow in some people's machine. And try as hard as you can but you can seldom find a good reason for the slowing up or a remedy to it. So here is a surprising Technical support which can improve your Windows booting time. if you uninstall your unused fonts. Believe it or not it happens because it simply frees up a whole lot of memory of Windows when it boots.

Technical Trick

1. Simply go to Window’s Fonts Folder. Using CTRL key select all fonts that you never/rarely use and just press the DEL key.

Though I don't like the first method because it deletes all the fonts. Here is a very dumb but effective process to retain the fonts and still delete them from that folder.
2. Simply stop the loading up of unused fonts at system startup (instead of completely deleting them). For this, just COPY all unused fonts from the Window’s Fonts Folder and PASTE them at any other location on hard drive. Now DELETE all the unused Fonts (those you recently copied to another location) from the Window’s Fonts Folder.

The next time Windows Boots up, it will definitely be faster than previous boots.

Read More

How to Check the Video Driver

In this post I have to discuss How to check video driver. Here some technical support tips listed for check video driver. I hope it is useful for you. If you are facing any problem talk to Microsoft certified technician for tech support.

If you are having problems loading the video driver on your computer, you may have a program that has replaced some files. Symptoms of this problem include:

• The system continues to default to VGA mode or only boots in VGA mode from the boot menu.
• Your video driver is not loading properly.

To verify exactly which video drivers that your Windows operating system is expecting to load:
1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Go to the following location in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hardware\DeviceMap\Video
3. The Device\Video0 value points to a registry key that has the location of the video driver that Windows is configured to load.

For example the value may be:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\\Device0
4. Go to the following location in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\

To see what the value setting, double-click on the value InstalledDisplayDrivers. This is the driver that was loaded.

If it is set to another registry location, a third-party driver may be being loaded when Windows starts.

For example if PcAnywhere is installed, Device0 does not have the name of a file, but instead displays another registry location that gives the video driver name.

For example:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\AW_HOST\Video0.

Verify the following:
1. Verify that the file or files in step 4 is present in the WinNT\System32 folder. This file has a .DLL extension.
2. Verify that the file or files are also present in the \WinNT\System32\Drivers folder. This file will have the .SYS extension.
If the links and values are not correct, or if the files pointed to are not present, then resolve the problem so the system starts properly.

If the links and values are correct, and the files are present, then there may be a video driver conflict. Verify that you have the latest drivers for the video card.

Below is an example of what these registry settings would be like when using an S3 video card:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hardware\DeviceMap\Video

The value Device\Video0 = \REGISTRY\Machine\System\ControlSet001\Services\s3\Device0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\s3\Device0

The value InstalledDisplayDrivers = s3 vga

Read More

How to Debug "Stop 0xC2" or "Stop 0x000000C2" Error Messages

Hi, Today I am going to add a new tips in our computer help services which is help to fix the problem related to BAD_POOL_CALLER. In addition to BAD_POOL_CALLER_Stop 0xC2 error. This error when you try to print a document in windows 2000 or open a document in windows explorer. Windows 2000 contains many included features that enhance the pool allocation process. A number of new stop codes have been added that help you find drivers that do not function correctly. Because of these extra features, you may be able to find the root cause of the driver's malfunction by simple debugging.

The following procedure describes how to debug a OxC2 stop.

First, check the stop documentation. For example:
BAD_POOL_CALLER (0xC2)

The current thread is making a bad pool request. Typically this is at a bad IRQL level or double freeing the same allocation, etc.

1 - type of pool violation the caller is guilty of.
6 - the pool address being freed is already free.
7 - the pool address being freed is already free.
8 - parameter 2 is the IRQL allocating at, parameter 3 is the pool type
9 - parameter 2 is the IRQL freeing at, parameter 3 is the pool type

Parameter 1 = 0x1, 0x2, or 0x4 : Pool header has been corrupted
Parameter 2 = Pointer to pool header
Parameter 3 = First part of pool header contents
Parameter 4 = 0

Parameter 1 = 0x6 : Attempt to free pool which was already freed
Parameter 2 = Reserved (__LINE__)
Parameter 3 = Pointer to pool header
Parameter 4 = Pool header contents

Parameter 1 = 0x7 : Attempt to free pool which was already freed
Parameter 2 = Reserved (__LINE__)
Parameter 3 = Pointer to pool header
Parameter 4 = 0

Parameter 1 = 0x8 : Attempt to allocate pool at invalid IRQL
Parameter 2 = Current IRQL
Parameter 3 = Pool type
Parameter 4 = Size of allocation

Parameter 1 = 0x9 : Attempt to free pool at invalid IRQL
Parameter 2 = Current IRQL
Parameter 3 = Pool type
Parameter 4 = Address of pool

Parameter 1 = 0x40 : Attempt to free usermode address to kernel pool
Parameter 2 = Starting address
Parameter 3 = Start of system address space
Parameter 4 = 0

Parameter 1 = 0x41 : Attempt to free a non-allocated nonpaged pool
address
Parameter 2 = Starting address
Parameter 3 = physical page frame
Parameter 4 = highest physical page frame

Parameter 1 = 0x50 : Attempt to free a non-allocated paged pool address
Parameter 2 = Starting address
Parameter 3 = Start offset in pages from beginning of paged pool
Parameter 4 = Size in bytes of paged pool

Parameter 1 = 0x99 : Attempt to free pool with invalid address (or
corruption in pool header)
Parameter 2 = Address being freed
Parameter 3 = 0
Parameter 4 = 0


After you have collected detailed information about the 0xC2 stop, use the debugger:
E:\bin>i386kd -z K:\DOWNLOAD\memory.dmp
Loading Dump File [K:\DOWNLOAD\memory.dmp]
Full Kernel Dump File
...
0: kd> !reload GOOD HOUSEKEEPING DONE HERE

0: kd> dd kibugcheckdata l8 DUMPING THE ERROR

8047fba0 000000c2 00000007 00000b68 815bade0
8047fbb0 815bade8 e1007000 00000000 818988c0

0: kd> kv DUMPING STACK

ChildEBP RetAddr Args to Child
bdce0348 be11dc84 e1fff000 a08d0008 000007f8 banshee!vH3ImageTransferMm32
bdce037c be116f18 be85fd78 00000001 bdce03dc banshee!vMmXferNative
bdce03ac be113eec e1fff000 e25e2a38 bdce03dc banshee!vPutBits
bdce03e8 a008e47f e1ff86f8 e25e2a38 e1fef908 banshee!DrvCopyBits
bdce0430 a008e899 be113d40 bdce04d8 e1ff86f8 win32k!OffCopyBits
bdce04e4 a008e4d1 e1ff86f8 e25e2a38 00000000 win32k!SpBitBlt
The stop documentation indicates that memory is being freed. This information is indicated by the following line:
Parameter 1 = 0x7: Attempt to free pool which was already freed.
But the stack shows that the video card is in the process of a write, so you must continue to investigate. First, you must determine if this computer is a multiprocessor.
0: kd> ~1 SWITCH PROC

1: kd> kv DUMPING STACK

ChildEBP RetAddr Args to Child
bde81b7c 8046894d 815bade8 00000000 be03bb2b ntkrnlmp!ExFreePoolWithTag
bde81b88 be03bb2b 815bade8 be03ca94 815bade8 ntkrnlmp!ExFreePool
00000128 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 BADDRIVER

The preceding text indicates that memory is freed through the driver drivername. This could be the possible root cause.

Next, define the driver:

1: kd> !drivers
Loaded System Driver Summary

Base Code Size Data Size Driver Name Creation Time
80400000 139f40 (1255 kb) 4f3c0 (316 kb) ntoskrnl.exe Tue Dec 07 14:05:26 1999
80062000 ffe0 ( 63 kb) 3d60 ( 15 kb) hal.dll Tue Nov 02 20:14:22 1999
ed410000 1760 ( 5 kb) 1000 ( 4 kb) BOOTVID.dll Wed Nov 03 20:24:33 1999
ed49c000 1b00 ( 6 kb) 680 ( 1 kb) gameenum.sys Sat Sep 25 14:35:57 1999
ed080000 a000 ( 40 kb) 20c0 ( 8 kb) VIDEOPRT.SYS Sat Nov 06 16:55:20 1999
bfdcf000 1d480 ( 117 kb) 7520 ( 29 kb) mga64m.sys Mon Nov 29 20:47:46 1999
bfdbc000 11600 ( 69 kb) 1600 ( 5 kb) el90xnd5.sys Fri Oct 29 17:54:34 1999
ed090000 3a60 ( 14 kb) 5980 ( 22 kb) banshee.sys Fri Oct 29 19:00:56 1999
ed5df000 2e0 ( 0 kb) 4a0 ( 1 kb) audstub.sys Sat Sep 25 14:35:33 1999
ed370000 33e0 ( 12 kb) a40 ( 2 kb) raspti.sys Fri Oct 08 16:45:10 1999
ed0c0000 c5e0 ( 49 kb) 20e0 ( 8 kb) parallel.sys Fri Oct 22 18:00:54 1999
ed5e0000 580 ( 1 kb) 540 ( 1 kb) swenum.sys Sat Sep 25 14:36:31 1999
be552000 72a60 ( 458 kb) 13c40 ( 79 kb) mga64d.dll Tue Nov 30 04:33:19 1999
be113000 36f00 ( 219 kb) 7a20 ( 30 kb) banshee.dll Tue Nov 30 04:31:18 1999
be031000 FFFF ( FF kb) FFFF ( F kb) BADDRIVER.sys Mon Feb 30 23:22:43 2000

TOTAL: 7f8dc0 (8163 kb) 172140 (1480 kb) ( 0 kb 0 kb)

The preceding text indicates that the driver is used by a third-party software package. This driver is most likely the cause of the error. To further investigate this issue, search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for more information. Also, check the file properties with Windows Explorer or by using a Hex editor on the file itself. You can also check the vendor's Web site for any updates or known issues.
Note: If you have any problem relates to Printer you can follow my another blog Computer Printer Repair.

Read More