Does Microsoft Help.. Help?

[imoldernu]

I cannot remember ever being able to resolve a problem with Microsoft, by using Microsoft Help.

Does God hate me?

Currently trying to allow unsigned powershell scripts to run...


Do IT people use Microsoft Help?

 

[Jack_Pine]

Not sure what you are asking.....use thier web site or phone support? At work my folks use the phone support when a problem is relatively deep. The web site can be helpful but it is spotty.

 

[rbmrtn]

Do IT people use Microsoft Help?

No.

 

[Jack_Pine]

Sorry, I get it now, My folks do not use application help, they would Google first.

 

[bUU]

Not sure what you are asking.....use thier web site or phone support? At work my folks use the phone support when a problem is relatively deep. The web site can be helpful but it is spotty.

Precisely: You get what you pay for. Most consumers don't want to pay the very high price for software that comes with superior technical support, so software distributors sell the product and the technical support separately, so customers can decide for themselves what they want to purchase: software with minimal support, or software with superior support.

 

[Jack_Pine]

I was thinking about the question a little bit more..................

When friends/family ask for help in excel/word/etc (which I am not a deep expert) I occasionally use the help feature to point me in the right direction.

 

[spud99]

I'm not a big powershell user, but had these notes to myself from a previous problem.

Try this if running from a batch file:
powershell -executionpolicy remotesigned -file "C:\temp\test1.ps1"

When finished you can reset security if needed with this command:
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Restricted

The powershell command: set-executionpolicy remotesigned
will allow running unsigned scripts that you write on your local computer and signed scripts from Internet.

 

[Fishingmn]

Precisely: You get what you pay for. Most consumers don't want to pay the very high price for software that comes with superior technical support, so software distributors sell the product and the technical support separately, so customers can decide for themselves what they want to purchase: software with minimal support, or software with superior support.

Having worked for a software company for 20+ years this comment is correct (for businesses as well as consumers). Having the staff with technical expertise to understand and diagnose difficult questions costs a lot of money. Fortunately, we were one of the pioneers of providing high quality tech support that businesses were willing to pay for.

 

[Walt34]

I'm running into all those issues now, trying to set up a new laptop. MS help is useless unless you know exactly what keywords to use. Their keywords, not mine. But if I knew exactly what the problem was then I'd know how to fix it.

 

[meierlde]

I'm running into all those issues now, trying to set up a new laptop. MS help is useless unless you know exactly what keywords to use. Their keywords, not mine. But if I knew exactly what the problem was then I'd know how to fix it.

BTW MS does not publicize that if you want best networking you need to buy the pro version of the OS. This gives you both the ability to put an offline cachce on a machine of a share, and to logon locally. For example I have a desktop and several laptops. The desktop has a far bigger monitor, so I can have the big monitor if working at home on the laptops.
The offline cache means when I travel, I just sync the shares, and then I can make changes if need be and they will be synched with the desktop when I return.

 

[bUU]

Hmmm... I'm not sure that I would consider the offline cache as something that offers the "best networking". It's a feature, and one that quite frankly I've had more trouble with than it was worth - especially in this day-and-age of cloud storage. If I'm worried about having files available to me when disconnected, I prefer something like One Drive or Google Drive, mostly because (unlike offline cache) I can much more directly see it working (in Windows Explorer), and because it actually is more flexible (allowing me to have that offline cache-like capability on multiple devices). I think most non-power users can more readily understand the idea of files sitting up in the cloud, synchronized with a folder on their device, rather than the idea of a cache for files stored on a local area network. Of course, there are applications where network file storage is essential or perhaps even best, but I think, for the typical PC user, cloud storage services have made that no longer the case.

 

[meierlde]

Hmmm... I'm not sure that I would consider the offline cache as something that offers the "best networking". It's a feature, and one that quite frankly I've had more trouble with than it was worth - especially in this day-and-age of cloud storage. If I'm worried about having files available to me when disconnected, I prefer something like One Drive or Google Drive, mostly because (unlike offline cache) I can much more directly see it working (in Windows Explorer), and because it actually is more flexible (allowing me to have that offline cache-like capability on multiple devices). I think most non-power users can more readily understand the idea of files sitting up in the cloud, synchronized with a folder on their device, rather than the idea of a cache for files stored on a local area network. Of course, there are applications where network file storage is essential or perhaps even best, but I think, for the typical PC user, cloud storage services have made that no longer the case.

since I have a fairly slow internet connection (1 mbps) the cloud does not make sense as the transfer times would be huge. Also I would just as soon not have data be on the cloud. I also used group policy to turn off the MS account and the sky drive on my windows 8 and 8.1 machines. As an example it took 8 hours for the windows 8.1 upgrade to download.
As I currently have over 100 gb of digitized photos, the cloud is not realistic, at the connection speeds I have available, even if I wanted to use it which I do not.

 

[bUU]

You would love it if you're ever able to upgrade your connection up to 21st century speeds.