After attempting to use the Chat Help, twice, and spending hours in queue before getting kicked off, I finally called Support to find out why my new Vista computer was not running the Internet Security Suite that I downloaded. Yes, I found the link to "download to a second computer" and went thru all the steps. Got lots of positive feedback: little bars were filling in letting me know I was 40%, 72%, 100% done, etc.. Was given a window allowing me to Run or Don't Run the software. It all seemed to go very well. However, when the "download and installation" was complete, there was no new software running anywhere on my computer. Couldn't find it in the Control Panel, the Start menu, or the system tray. Called Support and spent at least 30 minutes on the phone with a "technician" (and I use that term VERY loosely) who had to have major assistance from a co-worker before he could even start screen-sharing with me and, during the course of our time together, made the following brilliant remarks:
Upon seeing my desktop wallpaper (which is a lovely photo of some cliffs and a lake - and it came with Vista), he wanted to know what the picture was. Not where it was taken, but just what it was. His exact comment was "Does your screen always look like that?". I had to dig deeper to determine if he was asking about a particular icon or some other computer related concern that he saw (he was "technical support", after all), but he was just asking about the stupid photo.
He couldn't find the Control Panel in the Start Menu until after trying several times, and then he couldn't navigate to the Programs area very well (I had to give verbal hints as to where it was), and his brilliant comment then was "I really need to go to my mom's house and get on her new laptop and try out Vista." Can you believe that Verizon has technical support folks who have never used Vista? It's not like Vista just came on the market yesterday!!
So, when he finally decided that he was not going to be able to help me, he didn't offer me any other recourse. He just stated over and over that he was not sure how to solve this issue. Oh, and this was after I re-downloaded ISS (again, "successfully"). I had to ask if there was someone else there who could possibly help me. He offered to put me on hold (for the 2nd or 3rd time at this point) to check around. When he returned to the phone, it was obvious that someone else was operating the mouse in the screen sharing mode because the operator moved confidentially around the screen and went immediately to system properties and saw that I am running Windows 64 bit. The other operator then told my guy to tell me that ISS only works with Windows 32 bit. Their final resolution was that I should call billing on Monday and end my subscription. I think that may be the only good advice I was given that day.
So, am probably going to renew my trial version of Norton on this new computer and remove ISS from the laptop and put Norton on there as well. Apparently, they are up to date with this fancy new technology. At least they probably know about sophisticated and highly technical stuff like desktop wallpaper.
