Re: Problems with Windows Update should not be charged to report.
- From: ReneeFox <ReneeFox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 11:14:02 -0700
I just used WinDoctor from Norton as an example of the registry-key point I
was making. I never let it automatically fix anything until I look closely
at the errors. It has never messed anything up for me, because I let very
few products automatically do anything to my computer. I've been around a
long time, Sir Bob.
Also, I still don't like the idea of giving anybody my credit card for
things like this, because I honestly believe that most people on the
front-end of trouble support aren't very trained and could deny everything
just to take my money. Because of the vast amount of software on my machine,
I have been dealing with many tech support personnel. Somewhere in the 90's,
they either stopped liking their jobs, or corporations hire folks off the
street, tell them how to read, copy, paste canned-answers, and most have no
clue how to trouble-shoot anything. Oh, don't let me go on about a problem I
had where I spoke with at least 15 Microsoft employees, none of them knew
what they were doing, and another student gave me a utility that rebuilt my
TCP/IP stack and solved the problem. Everybody at Microsoft kept telling me
I had to reinstall my Operating System while I was in the middle of an
accelerated school. I knew there was a better answer, but getting it from
Microsoft just wasn't happening.
So, I say all this to say, there isn't a tech-support team that I've seen in
this world that is worth $35 (or my credit card #) to even deal with them.
Sad to say, even Microsoft. It wasn't that way 10+ years ago, and everybody
has gotten ... what's the word I'm looking for ... disinterested in their own
level of expertise, overly protective of the products they support, and lousy
at trouble-shooting. I did track the update problem down (before) to the
product id being embedded one level deeper than the Excel update was looking
for it. Those are simply lazy errors; or again, some versions of XP Pro have
that key in one place, while others have it in another. The software should
check both places, and employees should know that it exists in more than one
location in the registry. Okay, I'm done! LOLOLOL :)
"Bob Buckland ?:-)" wrote:
Hi Renee,.
If you use MS Product Support to report a problem and if the problem does turn out to be one that is in the update then MS does not
charge for the assistance (be sure to stay on the one topic though during the call <g>).
In your other post you mentioned using a 3rd party registry and inspection product. For some reason a number of those, especially
Symantec-Norton, have a record of breaking MS Installer based products and sometimes take out more than they should, especially if
folks use the 'take it all' options <g>.
I'd be a bit more careful with your $100,000 though <g>
FWIW, the MS Update (combined Windows and Office) and MS OfficeUpdate sites don't use the same checking.
The .CHM files aren't versioned and that can cause some confusion for the installer, but so can a damaged Local Install Source
(\MSOCache) or if multiple SKUs or versions of Office have been installed at various times. That can confuse things more than a bit
:)
One thing you can try before doing the updates is to see if a repair/reinstall of MS Office can be completed successfully from
Add/Remove Programs in the Windows control panel. If not, then the installation of the update will likely not work and that issue
would need to be corrected first.
============
<<"ReneeFox" <ReneeFox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:66D78412-198B-45C6-8F58-5FC13C863B25@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It is really frustrating when downloads from Windows or Office Update sites
have a problem installing themselves, and I have nowhere to report the
problems. This isn't the first time this has happened, but it NEVER happened
before 2004 and I'm wondering why developers are getting so sloppy with
updates. Plus, why should I pay $35 to tell Microsoft that something in the
update package can't identify my product id for Office Professional 2003
programs (Publisher to be specific) which have been on my computer for 2
years. Pulease! Also, those silly messages saying that the update was
unsuccessful don't help anybody. I had to download the hotfix and run it
manually to see exactly what the problem was. Outlook 2003 Junk-Email Filter
update has the same problem, and from my own software development experience,
I can tell that whatever you call your update packages are probably looking
in the wrong place for the product id for both products. I bet $100,000 that
if I manually run what I downloaded for Outlook 2003, I get directed to the
same error message in C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\Office11\1033\Setup.chm. I can't tell you how many times those 2
updates have downloaded and installed; it was obnoxious and interrupting
other things I was doing. I finally told Automatic Updates to stop telling me
to download/install those products since someone at Microsoft has made a
programming error for both Office 2003 products. Geesh! >>
--
I hope this helped you,
Bob Buckland ?:-)
MS Office system products MVP
>>*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends<<
LINKS to the 2007 Office System
1. Free MS Office 2007 book from MS Press, 213 pages:
http://microsoft.com/learning/office2007/default.mspx#booksfrommspress
2.. Office 2007 Beta 2 Online Test Drive, Downloadable beta,
e-learning courses, doucmentation and movies:
http://microsoft.com/office/preview
3. Send 2007 Office System Beta 2 feedback directly to the MS Office 2007 product team with this feedback tool:
http://sas.office.microsoft.com/
4. Try the 2007 OfficeOnline preview website , without Office2007
a. Install the ActiveX access control
http://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?AssetID=XT101650581033
b. then visit
http://officebeta.iponet.net
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