LiveTech Service

I have been having computer problems a lot lately and my friend sent me this article he saw in PC MAG on LiveTech:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372447,00.asp

I was thinking I could get my parents to pay for it since the article says "A subscription to protect five PCs for a year costs just 25 percent more than the subscription for a single PC". And I think they will find the service helpful too.

But before I go convincing them, does anyone have any experience with this LiveTech? . . . or a service like it? thoughts and recommendations appreciated. thanks

 

There are many on majorgeeks that are that can help with any pc issues,without having to pay anything-
Totally free, and any downloads are virus checked before making available to download.
Also because it is worldwide, any time at all, someone will try to give help to anyone who needs it. 12 midnight in UK, can be 7/8 o'clock in America- different again in Australia.
I have seen more real experts here, than anywhere I have looked- Many are Microsoft Certified .
Why pay,

 

$239 ?? No way ! Get your help here, free . I have tried using help(less) desk tech support and its an enormously frustrating process, often never fixing your problem, or coming to an incorrect conclusion such as "buy a new router" or something similar just to get you off the phone when the problem could have really been fixed, and if you let Major Geeks help you here in the forums, you get to learn the reasons WHY you had the problem(s), WHY the solution works, and before you know it, you are able to fix these problems on your own. While I don't have anywhere near the knowledge of some of the guys here at MG, I know TONS more than I did when i first started coming here, and now I'm able to help some people on occasion, while the real pros are tackling the tougher problems. You'll be glad you did if you stick with these free forums. I know I am ! :major

 

I always thought that we WERE live support.:confused

 

Semi . Sometimes theres a lag between question and answer, which can actually take a few days - especially in the malware forum. But the help you receive in the malware forum on MG is always top notch . I've never even TRIED another forum for malware help - and I've had my share of problems.

 

$239!:eek First of all Aubry, always back up your important photos and documents as soon as you put them on hard drive, burn them to a CD/DVD and/or e-mail them to yourself or a place like photobucket so if the worst thing happens, you'll always have a back-up somewhere.

Then, if you have an issue, you won't have to work so hard to retrieve info and just reformat though one learns nothing from a reformat. Good luck!

Hmm, $239 can buy me this in the US. :drool
SAPPHIRE 100314-2SR Radeon HD 6870 1GB

+1 to use help tech sites like MG's.

 

I suppose if someone isn't interested in or have time for learning how to fix computers themselves, then a service such as aubry is mentioning may be just what the doctor ordered. But $239 really does sound pretty steep .
I love the learning and problem solving aspect of fixing issues myself, with or without the help of MG . Many times issues are already solved and solutions posted here or on other forums and websites . I guess it's all up to Aubry and what Aubry wants to do .

 

I think the support services would not be so busy if people did three things. Purchase an external hard drive and backup your important files to it daily and spend some time learning how to use a system imaging program, creating system images at set intervals. Get a virus, no problem, restore the system image and recover those important files from your hard drive. Hard drive smokes, put in a new drive and recover the system image. I don't know how many times a system imaging program has saved my butt. And third, invest in a good UPS (Uninterpretable Power Supply) Battery Backup.

 

Well, the OP is obviously a student and may instead wish to invest in a paid for off site backup solution for ease of use though I personally know nothing about them. It's another option if one has the bucks but not the time.

AFAIK, anything computer related needs some sort of sweat equity involved. It's just like taking a basic driving course or attending seminars for work or learning a language. It's all the same. Once in a while you need expert(or not so expert) opinions from folks who have been there.:major

 

I recently contracted with QRESOLVE for service on 3 computers. I am retired, and usually sweat bullets if I have to open the case on one of my computers. I worked in a mainframe computer shop that later evolved into a server farm, but the only training we ever got was hands on, and only toward hardware setup and replacement of failed components, So I am not versed in working with software. I have since retired in part due to memory problems that make it difficult to concentrate, much less remember what to do as far as computer maintenance.

I did this because it looked like Kim Komando had said that they were up and up. 3 days after I gave my cc information to them, I saw a post from Kim saying that qresolve had illegally used her name as a ploy to hook new customers.

Imagine my surprise,, unfortunately this was after I paid for the services for 3 years.

I started searching around for any other issues of shady business practices, and found a link pro-porting to be from MajorGeeks linking directly to qresolve. Are you aware of this URL majorgeeks.qresolve.com

I have had 2 contacts with them so far, and while they are very polite, I really wonder if the have actually done anything on the one computer I have given them access to. The problem I was having was a system running XP professional sp3 that was running at 100% activity nearly all the time, often with only Windows running and no browser, and no email program running. After 2 contacts with qresolve my system seems no better, (system still PEGS @100% most of the time), with the added nonsense of popup adds on my Mozilla browser that i did not have prior to my contact with qresolve. I am really starting to wonder if this is a huge waste of money. I would like to give them a chance to succeed, but not at the expense of my systems.

System information follows:

System Manufacturer: HP Pavilion 061
System Model: RC671AA-ABA s7600n
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.2GHz
Memory: 3518MB RAM
Page File: 1510MB used, 4913MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

I am really starting to be concerned about this.

 

This was an oldt hread,but worth studying.
I looked up as much as I could about your pc, and although a few years old it should give sufficient service for normal needs.
These pages from HP might be handy to keep available.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00069442&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en#N27

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...destPage=document&lc=en&tmp_docname=c00193144
And their troubleshooting page might help jog the memory a bit (I am also retired, and 70 )
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...lc=en&product=425994&tmp_track_link=ot_search
As an old IT man yourself, you can use the HP troubleshooting to look for some problems-
Assuming it is not related to a virus/malware problem - otherwise it can be worthasking the Malware section, aafter therelevent readme page http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407
However, just reading through your post- I see you have the 64 bit processor, that allows for the extra ram (the specs show only a max of 2gb ram- The next thing is the 100% usage of processing power - and the extra popup bits on Mozilla.
If at this point we rule out Malware, then I would disable add ins to the Mozilla brouser , for a start.
As this seems to be topping out processor usage, I would suggest trying the Black Viper suggestions
http://www.blackviper.com/2002/04/17/black-vipers-windows-xp-super-tweaks/

As you say you are not so up with software, only use this following page if you feel you can understand it fully- If you do use this following page then remember there are risks that you can mess the pc up, and have to do a reinstalltion as the worst scenario .Always set a system restore point, and backup any important files (copy to usb, or, burn to dvd/cd, and backup the registry settings as advised on this page before messing with the registry- minimum startup setttings (make sure to also note the "antidote" to replace as original too. You need to read it through a couple of times, and note the last reset to default button
http://www.blackviper.com/custom-se...ce-pack-3-custom-services-registry-file-tool/