Help Wanted: Affordable, Decent IT Support for Frazzled Home Worker

Well here I am again, talking about a familiar topic so close to my heart: my computer. But today, instead of whining, I'm going to talk solutions. Because I refuse to let this rectangular box of metal sour my attitude indefinitely. At least, that's my statement today.

As an independent consultant, it can be a hair-tearing exercise to effectively do your own IT support. Unless you have a geeky teenager living with you, which unfortunately I don't, you have to either try and solve the problem yourself or find an IT consultant who will charge a minimum hourly fee of $70 and higher. Plus, you've got the hassle of taking the computer to his or her office, and being without a machine for a half day or longer. Okay before you say it: please, don't tell me to buy a Macintosh. I'd love to, really I would, but I have to use Dragon speech recognition software so that I can minimize keyboarding due to a repetitive stress injury. And the Dragon consultant tells me that the product is horrible, virtually worthless, on the Mac. So there you go, I'm stuck with PC/Windows bug hell.

There are times when having an IT consultant nearby for major problems is invaluable. I've had one in the past and was more than happy to fork over the dough to get several problems diagnosed and fixed and the laptop back in running shape. What's tough is determining what can be solved through a minor configuration or hot fix, instead of having an overdiagnosis and subsequent overcharge from the computer techs.

Increasingly, it's a minor little hiccup that drives me to the brink of insanity. Outlook is misbehaving, or I am having intermittent instability issues with Internet Explorer (Gee, do you notice a Microsoft connection here), or the machine is running slow and no amount of antivirus and anti-spyware seems to be turning things around. I like to dream that a five-minute tweak from a knowledgeable expert could solve the problem.

I have resorted to online forums to help me determine the nature of bizarre error messages. But this doesn't always work, and besides, I spend much of my day trolling the web for information and research to support client work and the last thing I really want to do when I'm having a problem is more of that. I just want a nice, pleasant, capable professional to help me, right now, for a reasonable fee.

After posting my complaint on a few online forums, I quickly found that I am shockingly not alone:

“I am in the process of a GEEK Squad virus repair that I thought I had paid for when I bought the service plan..alas that was just hardware and accidental damage ( important!) but not software. Now I am out another $130 and three days downtime..not a good start but I am willing to give them benefit of doubt until everything is finished.”

“This is becoming an increasingly aggravating issue for me. I made the mistake of upgrading to Office 2007 and Norton Internet Security 2010 at the same time. The Office applications crash almost daily and there are times my system slows to an absolutely crawl. But I don't know whether it's archiving in one application or some background activity in the other, because neither give any indication of something going on.”

Here below are a few ideas, pulled from several ever-helpful colleagues, as well as my own experience:

1. Get a professional local consultant for the major stuff. For nasty issues such as viruses, malware, OS reinstalls and grinding performance issues, find a local IT person who can be available quickly for emergency work. Ideally, your consultant can provide both in-person and remote support, depending on the situation. Always seek out references for quality consultants, since there are plenty of horrible ones out there. Based on personal experience, using the people at Best Buy and other electronics stores provide sub-optimal results and sometimes unnecessary recommendations. Your IT expert shouldn't also be trying to sell you stuff, you know?


2. Learn how to do a few things yourself. Install 2-3 antivirus and anti-spyware programs, many of which are free downloads, and perform regular scans (that would be monthly, at least). Download regularly all the necessary a.k.a. "critical" security updates from Redmond. Run your utilities at least monthly, especially Defrag and Disk Cleanup in Windows. Subscribe to at least one e-mail newsletter that talks about PC security and maintenance. Purchase and install one industrial strength security software package, such as Norton. The latest version does automatic scans and proactive fixes, so you don't have to think about it in the middle of the night. Clean up your e-mail inbox regularly. That means deleting unneeded files including the Deleted Items and Sent folders, activating your junk mail filters, and so on. Learn about security settings in your browser and regularly delete tracking cookies-- if your security software doesn't do it for you. Set your pop-up blocker to "medium” or higher, if you can stand it.

3. Investigate online troubleshooting services. This is the most interesting area for the working-from-home professional, and one which requires a good deal of research. A colleague recommended a couple of subscription services, Symantec End Point Protection and N-Able managed services. Just the other day,  the Wall Street Journal did a largely favorable review of the following services: AskDrTech.com (the cheapest at $20 per call), BoxAid.com, AskPCExperts.com, and ComputerGeeksOnline.net (the priciest, with a minimum fee of $75). There are many other reputable services to look at such as PlumChoice, and also, niche services including cheap online backup and storage from sites like Carbonite and Mozy. Check out CNET or other top tech review sites to learn what the editors like best and why.

I've not deployed option #3 yet, but I'm curious and tempted. Any other ideas? Share your tips. Because working for yourself shouldn't be this hard.