I'm sure it's just because I've just started and probably am inept at setting things up, but my internet connection is truly a piece. I won't mention the names of any companies until I've tried it out a bit longer, but so far I've had the pleasure of speaking to about 14 different people in a call center in India about the fact that I can't surf the internet. Each has given a different, totally useless solution. Last night, the lady said, "Do you have virus protection software?" I said not-so-very-calmly, "Yes! I downloaded it yesterday!!!" She said, "Well, have you run a full-system scan?" No. I did not run a full system scan. Partly because it took about two hours to download the program, but also because I know there were no viruses on the computer when I got it, and I haven't had internet until now. So unless they were in Norton's Virus program or unless they can travel through thin air... But I didn't say that. I just said "No." She sounded relieved (which I find odd) and said, "Oh, well that's it then. It's gotta be a virus. I mean, if you're just getting bootted off the internet, that's kind of strange. That sounds buggy to me." Because it certainly couldn't be anything wrong with their program or their POS server.
But OK. Fine. I started up the full-system scan and went to sleep. Got up this morning to check it. Full-system scan revealed....NO THREATS. So now I have to go home and call India AGAIN to talk about why they suck. Which will inevitiably somehow be turned around into why I suck. Maybe they should invenst in a technical writer and send some instructions with their software. I could do it; I could be looking for a different job. I could move to India. According to an MPR interview, supposedly you can live like a king on less of a salary. I could use a butler and a driver.
But then I'd have to work for them, and here's an example of their exemplary service. (After all, their hold message says it's "award winning.") I can't connect to the internet, so I call in, hold for half an hour, and finally talk to a guy who says, "You know, you can always check out our online support center where you can live chat with a technician." IF I COULD ACCESS THE INTERNET, WHICH I CAN'T! You kind of start to wonder why exactly you've bothered to call them at that point because critical thinking and logic were obviously not subjects they excelled in at school.
Posted by LoWriter at July 30, 2004 08:35 AMTo be fair to India, there are viruses for Windows XP that will appear as if out of thin air if you are connected to the internet even for a short amount of time and haven't patched your computer from windowsupdate in awhile. And one of the symptoms of having such a virus is getting kicked off the internet and/or your computer reboots. I'd assume that your computer being new and all was patched for those before you got it however.
How often does it kick you off? Have you tried other access numbers?
Posted by: schdav at July 30, 2004 08:55 AMIt's new to me, not necc. new. Would the virus scan catch that sort of thing? It boots me about every four minutes or so. It lets me on just long enough to open a page.
Posted by: Lo at July 30, 2004 09:02 AMcheck out the past week's comics for Get Fuzzy... i'll give you the website, and i hope you dont scream when i do... :o) but you can share your pain with the artist... www.comics.com
Posted by: Dr. Gonzo at July 30, 2004 11:23 AMah, i love tech support... in reality we know no more than anyone else out there (unless you are one who doesn't know that a 'desktop' refers to the monitor - and yes I had someone who thought that). We are just as mystified as you :-)
Posted by: 10lees at July 30, 2004 01:07 PMYeah, I've noticed that about tech support. I should just use my old computer as a testing grounds and teach myself how to do all this crap.
Posted by: Lo at July 30, 2004 02:04 PMThe virus scanner probably won't catch the actual infection but a full scan should catch it if you had it, assuming your virus definitions are up to date.
Posted by: schdav at July 30, 2004 02:07 PMI just downloaded it on Wednesday. I think everything should be up-to-date. It's checked as being up-to-date on the status bar. Also, it seemed to work fine this afternoon. I really don't think it's a problem on my end. I actually think I figured out what's causing it. I don't think their software plays well with Internet Explorer. I think the "Task Bar" sponsered by my internet provider is crashing the system. I'm either going to find a way to disable it or remove and re-install the software tonight after I update good ol Windows.
Posted by: Lo at July 30, 2004 03:52 PMOh, and it was a full systems scan that I ran.
Posted by: Lo at July 30, 2004 03:53 PM