Microsoft Answer Desk Launches, US Only Support Site

Martin Brinkmann
Dec 8, 2011
Microsoft
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When it comes to tech support for their products, Microsoft tries to handle most requests via websites like Microsoft Answers or the Microsoft Support website. Depending on the product, problem and country, phone support may be available.

Some support requests redirect users to the new Answer Desk website which - according to Microsoft - is a premium online support service. It is certainly no coincidence that Answer Desk is also the name of Microsoft's in-store service.

The service offers 24/7 support for Microsoft products on the Internet. Customers are either charged by the hour or by service that they request. A two hour virus removal and protection session for instance sets you back $99. You get 60 minutes of premium Microsoft software support or advanced PC tune up for the same price, while one hour long personal training sessions are available for $49 each.

Each page lists what the service may include and the answer tech support members available for the session.

microsoft answer desk

A particular support service, like virus removal and protection may include several support related tasks. It may include removal of viruses, spyware and malware, installation of Microsoft Security Essentials, an audit of the PC's security configuration or a comprehensive PC health diagnosis.

Support sessions will take place over chat or phone, and remote connections to customer PCs will be established should the need arise. Customers need to have a Windows Live ID which they use to sign in on the Answer Tech website.

The service is currently only available to users from the United States. Proxies or vpns may display the site's contents but it is still not that easy to get tech support as a US address is also required for the service (likely a credit card associated with a US address).

Visitors from outside the United States will receive the following notification message:

Sorry,this site restricted to US visitors only
Dear Answer Desk visitor We believe that your IP address may be from outside the United States. If you think we have incorrectly detected from where you are visiting, please proceed. In order to make purchases, your address will need to reside within the United States.
If you are outside the United States, we welcome you to visit any of the online resources listed below to help you with your Microsoft product questions.
Microsoft Answers:
Microsoft Solution Centers:
Microsoft Fixit Center:
http://answers.microsoft.com
http://support.microsoft.com/select/
http://fixitcenter.support.microsoft.com/Portal
Currently, we are working to expand our service internationally to best support all Microsoft customers.

Sincerely,
Microsoft Answer Desk Team.

It all comes down to how effective the service is. I personally would not mind paying $49 for one hour training sessions or even $99 if I had a pressing problem in a Microsoft product that I could not find an answer for. Microsoft backs the service with a 30-day service guarantee.

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Comments

  1. Some Dude said on March 19, 2023 at 11:42 am
    Reply

    Are these articles AI generated?

    Now the duplicates are more obvious.

    1. boris said on March 19, 2023 at 11:48 pm
      Reply

      This is below AI generated crap. It is copy of Microsoft Help website article without any relevant supporting text. Anyway you can find this information on many pages.

  2. Paul(us) said on March 20, 2023 at 1:32 am
    Reply

    Yes, but why post the exact same article under a different title twice on the same day (19 march 2023), by two different writers?
    1.) Excel Keyboard Shortcuts by Trevor Monteiro.
    2.) 70+ Excel Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows by Priyanka Monteiro

    Why oh why?

    1. Clairvaux said on September 6, 2023 at 11:30 am
      Reply

      Yeah. Tell me more about “Priyanka Monteiro”. I’m dying to know. Indian-Portuguese bot ?

  3. John G. said on August 18, 2023 at 4:36 pm
    Reply

    Probably they will announce that the taskbar will be placed at top, right or left, at your will.

    Special event by they is a special crap for us.

  4. yanta said on August 18, 2023 at 11:59 pm
    Reply

    If it’s Microsoft, don’t buy it.
    Better brands at better prices elsewhere.

  5. John G. said on August 20, 2023 at 4:22 am
    Reply

    All new articles have zero count comments. :S

  6. Anonymous said on September 5, 2023 at 7:48 am
    Reply

    WTF? So, If I add one photo to 5 albums, will it count 5x on my storage?
    It does not make any sense… on google photos, we can add photo to multiple albums, and it does not generate any additional space usage

    I have O365 until end of this year, mostly for onedrive and probably will jump into google one

  7. St Albans Digital Printing Inc said on September 5, 2023 at 11:53 am
    Reply

    Photo storage must be kept free because customers chose gadgets just for photos and photos only.

  8. Anonymous said on September 5, 2023 at 12:47 pm
    Reply

    What a nonsense. Does it mean that albums are de facto folders with copies of our pictures?

    1. GG said on September 6, 2023 at 8:24 am
      Reply

      Sounds exactly like the poor coding Microsoft is known for in non-critical areas i.e. non Windows Core/Office Core.

      I imagine a manager gave an employee the task to create the album feature with hardly any time so they just copied the folder feature with some cosmetic changes.

      And now that they discovered what poor management results in do they go back and do the album feature properly?

      Nope, just charge the customer twice.

      Sounds like a go-getter that needs to be promoted for increasing sales and managing underlings “efficiently”, said the next layer of middle management.

  9. d3x said on September 5, 2023 at 7:33 pm
    Reply

    When will those comments get fixed? Was every editor here replaced by AI and no one even works on this site?

  10. Scroogled said on September 5, 2023 at 10:47 pm
    Reply

    Instead of a software company, Microsoft is now a fraud company.

  11. ard said on September 7, 2023 at 4:59 pm
    Reply

    For me this is proof that Microsoft has a back-door option into all accounts in their cloud.
    quote “…… as the MSA key allowed the hacker group access to virtually any cloud account at Microsoft…..”
    unquote

    so this MSA key which is available to MS officers can give access to all accounts in MS cloud.This is the backdoor that MS has into the cloud accounts. Lucky I never got any relevant files of mine in their (MS) cloud.

  12. Andy Prough said on September 7, 2023 at 6:52 pm
    Reply

    >”Now You: what is your theory?”

    That someone handed an employee a briefcase full of cash and the employee allowed them access to all their accounts and systems.

    Anything that requires 5-10 different coincidences to happen is highly unlikely. Occam’s razor.

  13. TelV said on September 8, 2023 at 12:04 pm
    Reply

    Good reason to never login to your precious machine with a Microsoft a/c a.k.a. as the cloud.

  14. Anonymous said on September 18, 2023 at 1:23 pm
    Reply

    The GAFAM are always very careless about our software automatically sending to them telemetry and crash dumps in our backs. It’s a reminder not to send them anything when it’s possible to opt out, and not to opt in, considering what they may contain. And there is irony in this carelessness biting them back, even if in that case they show that they are much more cautious when it’s their own data that is at stake.

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