Monday noon, I had a Skype conference with a long time client and agreed to do a project. Murphy went into overdrive. That afternoon internet speed went from 60 to 0 in five seconds. Wet weather affects the reception of my dial up wireless modem. Next day it was back up to snuff, then the real problems started.
I switched from Office 2003 to Office 365 (2013) last April. I am beginning to like it as it does more things than the old program but is less handy to use, I find still. When your client is in a foreign country, even when correspondence and reports are in English, there are lots of foreign words and the custom dictionary is absolutely critical, else your paper is covered with red lines indicating "misspelled words". My custom dictionary was not working. Went on line to find out why. Not logged in to Office 365. I was logged in last time I checked. I am logged in on My Account page on-line but this is not sufficient.
I cannot log in. Click NEXT and nothing. At 1:30 I end up on chat with an MS Office support tech. In Indonesia. MS has a great program to allow remote messing with your computer. This guy seems pretty competent, does all the right stuff, even takes my mobile number just in case. Downloaded Office 365 about three times. The last GB cost me $5 as it was over my daily limit. Then at 4:30 he wants to reboot to make sure everything is installed. He does a limited reboot and of course disappears. I could not reconnect my internet so I could not get at the MS tech and he did not bother phoning to see where I went.
I tried a normal reboot which took time to figure out how and everything crashed. Error message said install Windows rescue CD. I actually had one, believe it or not. Must have been an accident. An hour later I had figured out how to boot from the CD and was back to normal. Still could not connect to the internet. Error message 741. Your computer is not equipped to handle the encryption. Neither am I.
Next day (today) I went to Mir Computer where I got the modem. Took my laptop, forgot the modem, had to take a taxi home and back. Everything on my computer is in English. The poor girl at the internet desk was totally baffled. She checked to make sure the modem was working which it was. I went home. Tanya called her IT guy, a young man named Andrei who must be all of 20, but is awesome in computer including English language stuff. He came at 6:30 after work.
In 15 minutes I am up and running - Andrei simply rebuilt the connection from scratch. I think I can do that next time. By 7:30 I had a connection to MS Office Tech Support and a nice young lady with a sweet smile named Kate took over from yesterday's dweeb. She did all the same stuff except download Office three times and is totally baffled. We simply cannot log into Office. She gave up at 9:30 pm. I am being booted upstairs to a second level tech tomorrow.
Last night, Tanya's son, Andrei, phoned his mother and said "What are you doing?" She said "I am downstairs watching the movie, Dostoevsky's 'The Idiot' on TV. Upstairs I have another idiot."
I switched from Office 2003 to Office 365 (2013) last April. I am beginning to like it as it does more things than the old program but is less handy to use, I find still. When your client is in a foreign country, even when correspondence and reports are in English, there are lots of foreign words and the custom dictionary is absolutely critical, else your paper is covered with red lines indicating "misspelled words". My custom dictionary was not working. Went on line to find out why. Not logged in to Office 365. I was logged in last time I checked. I am logged in on My Account page on-line but this is not sufficient.
I cannot log in. Click NEXT and nothing. At 1:30 I end up on chat with an MS Office support tech. In Indonesia. MS has a great program to allow remote messing with your computer. This guy seems pretty competent, does all the right stuff, even takes my mobile number just in case. Downloaded Office 365 about three times. The last GB cost me $5 as it was over my daily limit. Then at 4:30 he wants to reboot to make sure everything is installed. He does a limited reboot and of course disappears. I could not reconnect my internet so I could not get at the MS tech and he did not bother phoning to see where I went.
I tried a normal reboot which took time to figure out how and everything crashed. Error message said install Windows rescue CD. I actually had one, believe it or not. Must have been an accident. An hour later I had figured out how to boot from the CD and was back to normal. Still could not connect to the internet. Error message 741. Your computer is not equipped to handle the encryption. Neither am I.
Next day (today) I went to Mir Computer where I got the modem. Took my laptop, forgot the modem, had to take a taxi home and back. Everything on my computer is in English. The poor girl at the internet desk was totally baffled. She checked to make sure the modem was working which it was. I went home. Tanya called her IT guy, a young man named Andrei who must be all of 20, but is awesome in computer including English language stuff. He came at 6:30 after work.
In 15 minutes I am up and running - Andrei simply rebuilt the connection from scratch. I think I can do that next time. By 7:30 I had a connection to MS Office Tech Support and a nice young lady with a sweet smile named Kate took over from yesterday's dweeb. She did all the same stuff except download Office three times and is totally baffled. We simply cannot log into Office. She gave up at 9:30 pm. I am being booted upstairs to a second level tech tomorrow.
Last night, Tanya's son, Andrei, phoned his mother and said "What are you doing?" She said "I am downstairs watching the movie, Dostoevsky's 'The Idiot' on TV. Upstairs I have another idiot."
Oh, dear! Sorry things are going so poorly.
ReplyDeleteYes, I understand the need of a brain upgrade. As for a wife upgrade, . . . I won't go there.
Blessings and Bear hugs!
Okay; my brain ground to a halt at the words "chat with an MS Office support tech". You actually got support (albeit ineffectual support) from Microsoft?!? I'm so shocked I don't even know what to say.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, having wrangled with uncooperative software far too many times, I feel your pain. Hope it all gets sorted out soon.
MS Level 2 tech got me going about 3:00 pm yesterday. It was an Internet Explorer problem. "IE is an integral part of Windows, disguised as an app". System Mechanic and Skype also depend on parts of IE and they were not working either. This was the first time I had ever needed MS tech support and if I discount the first guy who did not call when I did not get back to him on line, I would rate them 4 out of 5.
ReplyDeleteOh my you still use IE? That's a dirty word around this place. And you can set up your own video chat for free using Tiny Chat although it can be buggy since it relies on Adobe Flash. Skype was great when it first came out, now not so much.
DeleteHad a similar problem here. Turned out it was the ISPs problem and not on my end.
I don't use IE as a web browser; haven't for years. My computer does as the software I mentioned above needs it to function, which is what the problem was and which is what my complaint is.
DeleteI have recently purchased a computer with Windows 8,I and installed Word 365. I have had to go through the tec fix at least three time. Everything is working now (????) I hope, though I still have a Pop UP telling me I am unable to send e-mail on Yahoo Mail -though regardless of the message mail seems to come in and go out. You have to be more savvy than me... I just turn it on and type or serf or watch movies.
ReplyDeleteEven with the problems and annoyances I remember life before computers (slide rule days) and when I think of the advances we take for granted that computers have allowed I am blown away - It is hard to type with a cat in my lap grabbing my hands....
the Ol'Buzzard
My cat sleeps on my keyboard tray so I have to move the keyboard or the cat
DeleteI have been forced to learn a little bit about repairing software problems, mostly because I sometimes like to push buttons to see what they do. Also I watch what the techs do and learn what I can from them. It helps. sometimes.