This is why we can't recommend anything....

[sld72382]

Over the phone, you can't make recommendations. Just advise them to go to the store and let a salesman help them.

Sometimes, even that can be dangerous, as in the case here. Salesperson recommended Norton 360 to this guy.

SC: Thinks we should work for free.
SLD:

SC: I'm having an issue with my Norton 360, my old Norton ran out and I went to the local store and the salesguy recommended me Norton 360. I installed it, rebooted and now I can't get online. SLD's note: he used Norton's uninstaller during the new install rather than going through add/remove or using SymNRT to remove the old program first.

SLD: Sorry you're having that problem, let me explain the types of support we offer (*blabs off the type of support we have*).

SC: Well I don't think it's advisable that you're telling me I have to pay for support, after all it was your salesperson that recommended me the product.

SLD: If you don't want to pay us, then call Symantec.

SC: They're going to charge me too! Look, your salesperson recommended me this product, YOU need to support me for free!

SLD: Sorry sir, but for this time of issue we do charge. I'm sorry you're frustrated but I can't override that.

SC: Come on, I promise it will be a simple fix, just help me and don't charge me!

SLD: The issue sir is that it's many times not simple, the old version of Norton for example may have been corrupted and not uninstalled properly, too many things may have been running in the background, or your PC may be infested with spyware. There could be many different things and thus we can't do this for free of charge.

SC: I do not except any of those! This is a simple fix, now come on, don't you want to stand behind your products?

SLD: Sir, at this time the only thing I could do is transfer you to customer care (aka the "no" department) as I cannot assist with what you want me to do.

SC: Let me speak to your supervisor!

So my sup gets on the phone, and more of the same, although the client said two things to him which made me laugh:

"How do you sleep at night knowing that you're trying to charge people to get products to work right?"

And...

"You just want to get rich while I have no internet!"

One thing I may add: this call came in as a misdirect, so I wouldn't be able to help him anyway, but he refused to even let me transfer him to the right place!

[digilight]

Ok so the shortened version is that he bought Norton and is now fucked (yeah norton will do that to you). Sorry I couldn't resist.

[sld72382]

Ok so the shortened version is that he bought Norton and is now fucked (yeah norton will do that to you). Sorry I couldn't resist.

Basically, yeah.

[gunsage]

Yeah, we're specifically told not to recommend software. It does get humorous at time, though...

Me: "Well, ma'am, it appears a trojan program got in your computer and started spamming people on our network."
SC: "But...but how does this happen?!"
Me: "It's just as I said. Typically these files are small enough that they can attach on to most anything. It's a good idea to scan your computer on a regular basis."
SC: "You know, come to think of it...my computer was running REALLY slow the other day and had all kinds of pop-ups."
Me: "Right, so it sounds like-"
SC: "Yeah I was scanning the computer for a WHILE trying to fix that. Could that have been it?"
Me: "...Well, yes, most likely."
SC: "So I'm using Program X and Program Y...what would you recommend?"
Me: "Well, ah...we're not supposed to recommend anything. Program X is okay and I'd never heard of Y...some people use Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky..."
SC: "Well, which do you use?"

This is tricky because I don't want to say, implying that it's so good that even tech support uses it or something like that. Besides, I'm going to know better as far as doing regular updates, making effective use of standby, etc. that I don't want to have to add in with the already overwhelming information I relay to the customer (such as where the start button is).

[Aressel]

So, what DO you use?

[JustADude]

So, what DO you use?

Me, I use "Avast!" for my personal tower and other items I don't feel like spending money for protection on, and "Kaspersky" for situations (such as building for someone else) where the absolute best protection possible is needed/requested.

[gunsage]

Kaspersky. Never heard of it, actually (as they say, security through obscurity), but wifey picked it up because there wasn't AVG at the store. I had been using a trial of AVG and really liked it, so when it went out, she went to go get it and, well, there you have it. Kaspersky does slow down the connection a bit, which is unfortunate. However, it's been pretty reliable so far and apparently it won Consumer's Choice or something like that.

[BravoOrig]

I wish we would just go back to providing cable tv and internet, no telephone, no internet security software, not even email. I swear, we offer something for free, the price of service doesn't go up, a customer has a problem, and then suddenly they complain about it citing how much they pay each month. You paid the same before we offered it, don't get so spoiled! Though we haven't had many issues with it, the day we started offering security software is the day I don't care to remember. I liked when there was the clear distinction between our problem and their problem. Atleast I can pawn the more difficult stuff off to the software company's tech support.

[earl colby pottinger]

I love my answer

So, what DO you use?

My reply: I use BeOS!

The great part about this is that the company failed so they can't buy it in the stores here in North America. Also I simply make the claim "if you don't know about it already, you can't use it".

It is lovely to make the statement, "Sorry, can't help you. I don't use Windows".

[Rapscallion]

My reply: I use BeOS!

0.03% of our visits this last week!

Rapscallion

[JustADude]

0.03% of our visits this last week!

Rapscallion

Soooo, basically just ECP, then?

[technical.angel]

Kaspersky. Never heard of it, actually (as they say, security through obscurity), but wifey picked it up because there wasn't AVG at the store. I had been using a trial of AVG and really liked it, so when it went out, she went to go get it and, well, there you have it. Kaspersky does slow down the connection a bit, which is unfortunate. However, it's been pretty reliable so far and apparently it won Consumer's Choice or something like that.

Kaspersky called a piece of software spyware.
Company sues Kaspersky.
Kaspersky wins.

[sld72382]

Kaspersky called a piece of software spyware.
Company sues Kaspersky.
Kaspersky wins.

Sunbelt's CounterSpy is like that too, "MyWebSearch" sued several anti-spyware vendors because they claimed by labeling their software as spyware (which it is!), it was damaging their reputation. Sunbelt software was one of the few companies that said "screw you" and continued to do the right thing - label MyWebSearch as a threat.

WinAntivirus tried to do the same crap, but again Sunbelt refused to remove it from it's definitions. Which is why Spysweeper won't even find WinAntivirus whereas CounterSpy will go crazy when it gets installed on your System.

[technical.angel]

Wait, Spysweeper isn't classifying WinAntivirus? No wonder!

CRAP! :: googles Sunbelt's CounterSpy ::

[sld72382]

Wait, Spysweeper isn't classifying WinAntivirus? No wonder!

CRAP! :: googles Sunbelt's CounterSpy ::

I will tell you this. CounterSpy is the only spyware scanner on my call center's approved tools list that I like to use. One call, a previous tech ran Spysweeper and it didn't find a single entry for WinAntivirus, and it was sitting nice and pretty in add/remove! I uninstalled it, rebooted and installed and updated CounterSpy, and when I ran it even though I uninstalled WinAntivirus it still found tons of entries for it.

Enteresting story on CounterSpy - when Giant Software closed up shop, both Sunbelt and Microsoft bought the basic engine from them. The difference was, Micro$oft dumbed it down to the point where it became crap (like they do with a lot of things). Sunbelt wanted it to become their bread-and-butter product, so they made improvements up the wazoo and actually made an effort to have an excellent detection database that actually detects and removes things. Which is why someone runs Windows DefenseLESS and finds nothing, I install CounterSpy and within 2 minutes find 250+ items!

One more thing: CounterSpy, as long as it's run in safe mode is the only commercial scanner that is able to successfully remove that fake "you are infected" alert that a lot of people seem to get infested with.