Thursday, September 14, 2006

No visible signs of support

The virus scanning from my email provider has been flaky lately. When I asked for support, the message below was their response:

This is either the worst support response ever or a diabolically clever interactive phish.

The user has 2 pages of instructions thrown at them, the only one that they can easily perform is the 'provide user name and password' step. It's even first in the list to make sure Vern from Mattawa sees it. "Well jee wiz, why don't I do #1 and see how that helps".

Dear Paul Madsen,

Thank-you for your email. We strive to provide you with the highest level of customer support, and hope we can be of assistance in addressing your questions.

We understand your concern.

Please confirm the following so we can determine the source of the
problem:

1. Username and Password being used to download the software
2. Exact error message received and at what step in the process
3. Steps taken that led to this error and the step where the error is
occurring
4. Operating System and the version of the browser being used
5. Do you have any firewall software installed?
6. Any other anti-virus software installed prior to installing YOP and
has it been removed?
7. Please ensure that your proxies are disabled and that Active X is
enabled
8. Any changes were made on computer prior to the occurrence of the
issue (for example: Windows updates or software install/removal)
9. All information from WINIPCFG or IPCONFIG (PC IP,DNS Server IP's,
DHCP Server IP, Hostname, Nic mac address, Lease times)

========================================

For details on Active X, please refer to the URL shown below. Also, you
may refer to Microsoft at (905) 568-4494.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;154544


To turn proxies off using I.E.:

1) Click on TOOLS - INTERNET OPTIONS.

2) Click on the CONNECTION tab near the top of the window.

3) Click the LAN SETTINGS button.

4) Click the ADVANCED button.

5) Make sure that all of the address fields are clear and click on OK

6) A dialog box will appear asking if you do not want to use a proxy
server. This is normal - click on YES.

7) Click OK.

Your connection to the proxy server should now be disabled.

========================================

To view your IP configuration settings, run the 'winipcfg' utility
provided by Windows 95/98/ME. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Click on START then RUN...
2. In the RUN... dialogue box, enter the following command:

'winipcfg' (without the quotations)

3. This will display an IP Configuration window. At the top of this
window, there is a drop down box that allows you to specify a hardware
device. Make sure you select your Ethernet Adapter (and not your PPP
adapter for instance).

4. Once you have selected your network card (your ethernet adapter),
your IP information will be displayed in the boxes below. Click the MORE
INFO button to view all the configuration information.

5. Once you have released and renewed your IP configuration, click OK to
close the IP Configuration window.

----------------------------------------

If you are running Win2000 or Win XP, you must first goto the command
prompt by following the options below:

1. Click START - RUN , and then type 'CMD' and press Enter.

2. At the command prompt, type "IPCONFIG /ALL" (to view IP address).
3. At the command prompt, type "IPCONFIG /RELEASE" (to release IP).
4. At the command prompt, type "IPCONFIG /RENEW" (to renew IP).
5. At the command prompt type "EXIT" (to exit back to the desktop).

========================================

In addition, please ensure that you have the following minimum system
requirements:

Windows 98SE, Windows 2000, or Windows XP
Internet Explorer 6.0 (or later) with ActiveX enabled or Rogers Yahoo!
Browser 3.0 (or later) with ActiveX enabled
350MB free hard disk space
RAM: 196MB for Windows 98SE and Windows 2000; 256MB for Windows XP
Network Access via Rogers Yahoo! for Broadband

To install further requires:

Administrator rights on intended computer
All other antivirus software must first be removed

If you have any further questions or comments regarding our service,
please fill out the online form on our Customer Support page listed
below or contact us by phone at ...

Regards,
Electronic Support Group

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Holy cow! It might be easier just to write your own virus checking software.

The best use for this support document would be to level a table with a short leg.

Ian