Support?

Have you ever contacted computer support and found out you cannot understand them? I wish companies that employ money saving support tactics such as rolling phones over to a different country would insure that they can speak adequate english.

I hate the fact that when I have a problem it is complicated because either the technician cannot understand what I am saying or I cannot understand what they are saying.

Yes I understand it is cheaper on companies to employ such a call center support model, but have they ever studied the fact that communication problems can double or even triple call length? Not to mention how they frustrate us as there “valued customers”.

I think it’s a good idea for companies to save money, but they need to do a better job of screening their applicants linguistic skills for the languages that they will need to communicate in.

Sp1 for Vista?

I recently received an article outlining what to expect with the sp1 for Vista. I received the email notification from Microsoft Technet.

Although sp1 has not been released yet it looks like we can expect the typical issues with implementation. Of course the best way to update is to never use the web updater service. This can result in faulty installations.

When released, you should use the admin download for IT professionals. This process requires you to download the full installer and can take a bit longer.

By using the full installer it removes the possibility of install failures due to communication problems with the Internet web updater. 

parental controls and gaming on vista

Finding and playing games is a lot easier with the new Windows Vista Games Explorer. The Games Explorer is the new interface for all gaming activities.

As a parent, Vista provides you with a new set of Parental Controls that allows you to manage your youths access to games. Built on groundbreaking graphics technology, Vista takes advantage of the latest gaming hardware for more realistic gaming.
 
With Vista, the new Games Explorer allows you to more easily find games installed on your Vista-based PC. Many new games have a “Games for Windows” branding which will install right in the Games Explorer.
 
With Parental Controls you can control which games your children have access to. If you feel certain games are inappropriate for you children you can block the use of these games according to rating, content, or even titles.