NOT happy with Dell!!!

[RadioPatrol]

Dell is not that bad... on the consumer side the first layer or two of support can be frustrating... on the government side it is not bad - we are spoiled with Gold Support and 4 hour parts and/or tech on our doorstep when something goes wrong.

I love my Dell's!

Unless you get some goat herder on the phone that does not speak very good ingrish .....

Yeah that is nice

..... then billable hrs rebuilding the PC ....

 

[ItalianScallion]

So, are you happy with Dell again?

Only slightly. I am still dealing with the aftermath of bringing everything up to date.

Unless you get some goat herder on the phone that does not speak very good ingrish .....

Is there any company that has an English speaking tech support?!!! I was really patient with this guy because he knew what he was doing but I wish I had a dollar for each time I had to say: I'm sorry, what did you say? I'm almost sure I was talking to a guy in India.

 

[clevalley]

Unless you get some goat herder on the phone that does not speak very good ingrish .....

I got accidentally routed to what sounded like someone who ran a 7-11 one day... after 10 seconds of his babbling I asked to get transferred back because I could not understand one friggin word they were saying!

After blistering the person who took my call originally (routed me back to call taker) she told me she accidentally pushed me to the top of consumer support, she read the support contract wrong - that was my first and only encounter.

I really do sympathize with the people who have to go this route...

 

[The_Twisted_Ear]

I've been "playing" around with computers since the 70's. One thing I have noticed...many problems revolve around people running AOL. As the years moved on most of the problems are now with people running AOL and McAfee or Norton. Anyone else notice that?

 

[clevalley]

I've been "playing" around with computers since the 70's. One thing I have noticed...many problems revolve around people running AOL. As the years moved on most of the problems are now with people running AOL and McAfee or Norton. Anyone else notice that?

Just AOL in general - AOL use to embed itself REALLY deep in the O/S, now it is not as bad as what it use to be - but still a bit tricky to remove; shows a dialog box to uncheck what you WANT to remove - POS in my opinion...

We use Corporate Symantec AV (10.0.2) and have little issues - but people who load AOL in seems to bring problems on to themselves.

 

[ItalianScallion]

I've been "playing" around with computers since the 70's. One thing I have noticed...many problems revolve around people running AOL. As the years moved on most of the problems are now with people running AOL and McAfee or Norton. Anyone else notice that?

I've seen that too; first hand. I used both Norton & Mcaffee until I couldn't stand them anymore! They would take up sooo much of my boot up time and kept popping up stupid messages at the worst times. When I reloaded my operating system this week, I had to go back and remove the Norton software and it acted like it didn't want me to! That's why I now use AV Grisoft as my antivirus and I use Verizon as my ISP. Grisoft updated every day right at startup and only takes about 45 seconds to do it. Much better than the others.

 

[The_Twisted_Ear]

Just AOL in general - AOL use to embed itself REALLY deep in the O/S, now it is not as bad as what it use to be - but still a bit tricky to remove; shows a dialog box to uncheck what you WANT to remove - POS in my opinion...

We use Corporate Symantec AV (10.0.2) and have little issues - but people who load AOL in seems to bring problems on to themselves.

My sister can't run without AOL. Every week or two she has another problem. I'll clean up her system(s) (remove McAfee and the other crap AOL loads) - turn it over to her and boom - she starts having problems! The only difference is she just has to load up AOL. I finally got her to agree to turn down every damn thing AOL offers her for free. One time (last year) AOL noticed that she wasn't using McAfee and actually disabled Grisoft's Spyware module and loaded up McAfee crap! I know you have to agree but AOL has a way of getting you to say ok (for someone who is not computer literate). I just bought her ZoneAlarmPro and loaded up Grisoft again and life is good. Her system has never run so smooth and fast. I told her NOT to load anything that AOL tries to say she needs - so far, life as been good. Unfortunately, to someone that doesn't know any better - AOL makes it look like your system will die and burn if you don't load their crap. I get a few calls a week now when AOL tries to get her to load up their stuff - I wish AOL would just go belly up!

 

[The_Twisted_Ear]

I've seen that too; first hand. I used both Norton & Mcaffee until I couldn't stand them anymore! They would take up sooo much of my boot up time and kept popping up stupid messages at the worst times. When I reloaded my operating system this week, I had to go back and remove the Norton software and it acted like it didn't want me to! That's why I now use AV Grisoft as my antivirus and I use Verizon as my ISP. Grisoft updated every day right at startup and only takes about 45 seconds to do it. Much better than the others.

My last four systems have been Dell. The first thing I would do is remove all traces of Norton and McAfee. Mind you - it isn't easy the way they load their crap into the system. When you Remove them - you have to know the exact order to remove each module. THEY know exactly what they are doing. For the last 5+ years I've only used ZoneAlarm, Grisoft and CounterSpy and haven't had any problems.

 

[RadioPatrol]

I really do sympathize with the people who have to go this route...

If you have any intelligence when dealing with your Dell, you will have already run / downloaded and run the 32 bit Diags ..... so when you call TS about a

"Boot Device Not Found"

error you will already have the appropriate Dell Error code and can skip the:

press F2 go into the BIOS, scroll down to Hard Drives .....

where you really need the Drool Proof Paper ....

Dell Business Support is ok, the people are fairly smart .... but for the Dimension and other Consumer PC's .....

you get FRED with a thick Indian Accent ...........

which reminds me I need to contact HP about a 500 Gb external the whines badly after running for a couple of days ....

I do not want to lose 260 Gb of Movies ....

 

[PsyOps]

My last four systems have been Dell. The first thing I would do is remove all traces of Norton and McAfee. Mind you - it isn't easy the way they load their crap into the system. When you Remove them - you have to know the exact order to remove each module. THEY know exactly what they are doing. For the last 5+ years I've only used ZoneAlarm, Grisoft and CounterSpy and haven't had any problems.

I use NAV Corporate and never a problem.

 

[The_Twisted_Ear]

I use NAV Corporate and never a problem.

I knew there was someone out their that never had a problem with Norton!

 

[RadioPatrol]

I knew there was someone out their that never had a problem with Norton!

Hey now he is using Symantec CORP

..... vastly than Norton Consumer

 

[The_Twisted_Ear]

Hey now he is using Symantec CORP

..... vastly than Norton Consumer

And, who do you think makes Norton?

Norton 2008 Products: Antispyware Software - Internet Security

 

[PsyOps]

I knew there was someone out their that never had a problem with Norton!

Not quite sure why you find that funny?

 

[The_Twisted_Ear]

Not quite sure why you find that funny?

Sorry, I sure didn't mean to offend you.

I've spoken to a bunch of people running Norton (and McAfee) and 80%+- of them have had problems (at one time or another) with the way they burrow into the Operating System. They all go nuts when they decide to move to another package and then start the ongoing battle of removing all the code (ADD/REMOVE just doesn't seem to do it successfully). IMHO - Norton and McAfee are no different then the way AOL "takes over" a system.

Again, sorry for offending you.

 

[Rael]

So far I like my Dell, but I don't like McAfee. I may have to look for a way to uninstall it correctly and try another option.

Listening to music, enjoying it, then "DEE DING" Renew now, or Renew later for an optional service I don't want...

 

[The_Twisted_Ear]

So far I like my Dell, but I don't like McAfee. I may have to look for a way to uninstall it correctly and try another option.

Listening to music, enjoying it, then "DEE DING" Renew now, or Renew later for an optional service I don't want...

I hope you aren't running McAfee's Security Center...anyway

1. ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS and select McAfee and then make sure you reboot.

If McAfee still raises its ugly head.

2. Download a tool that McAfee itself wrote (does that tell you something? How many vendor's have to write a separate uninstall program because of the way they embed their crap): http://download.mcafee.com/products/licensed/cust_support_patches/MCPR.exe

Save the file to your desktop and run it. Reboot.

If McAfee still raises its ugly head.

3. We have to make sure that all McAfee modules are disabled.

1st thing you have to do is make sure that McAfee doesn't start. Once it starts - their are a few modules that won't go away (McAfee doesn't mention this!).

A. Start
B. Run
C. Enter: services.msc
D. Under NAME scroll down to McAfee entries and tap Startup Type and tap right mouse button and select properties. Select Disable from Startup Type then hit the Recovery tab and select take no action.

Reboot computer and then try to remove with Add and Remove again.

If McAfee still raises its ugly head.

Let me know - four other things you can do.

 

[Rael]

I hope you aren't running McAfee's Security Center...anyway

Yep, that would be the window that pops up each time I log in. Thanks, Twisted. I'll take what you wrote and have it available for when I have to reboot. Maybe one reason it takes so long is that I have AVG, too. :shrug:

Merci beaucoup.

 

[The_Twisted_Ear]

Yep, that would be the window that pops up each time I log in. Thanks, Twisted. I'll take what you wrote and have it available for when I have to reboot. Maybe one reason it takes so long is that I have AVG, too. :shrug:

Merci beaucoup.

No - McAfee builds in the delay.

AVG has one of the smallest footprints available yet provides super protection. Check your AVG settings and see if you don't have it doing a complete system scan every time you boot. That would be the only reason AVG would slow down your system. I always do my system scan's when I don't plan on using the PC. If you can't find the setting - just let me know and I'll step you through it. I will need to know if you are using the free version or not.

 

[Rael]

No - McAfee builds in the delay.

AVG has one of the smallest footprints available yet provides super protection. Check your AVG settings and see if you don't have it doing a complete system scan every time you boot. That would be the only reason AVG would slow down your system. I always do my system scan's when I don't plan on using the PC. If you can't find the setting - just let me know and I'll step you through it. I will need to know if you are using the free version or not.

Ah, that makes sense...I usually turn my computer off (you must either leave yours on, or have the subscription version I'm guessing). So even though I can have an update scheduled with the free version, it won't update until I turn it on. Yeah, I downloaded the free version on a whim when I started getting tired of the McAfee reminders.