Mike's NBC-TV stories

Getting tech support

It’s a couple of weeks after Christmas now and if your new gift gizmo isn’t working, you need tech support. It’s hard to get through on the phone these days but if you are willing to follow some do-it-yourself suggestions yout just might get that gadget running.

First rule, don’t pay for online support. Use free sites, like the Tech Support Forum, one of several such sites run by volunteers and organized by category. Enter the problem on the search form or post your own, chances are somebody has already posted an answer or knows exactly what you need to do to fix it.

5Star Support is another resource with free help.

tehhelpCheck the big help sites. For Macs, it’s at the Apple support site. It has help for every single Mac or Apple product from the iPhone and iPad to computer systems.

Microsoft also has a huge support site, too, for its Windows operating system, for hardware compatibility problems and for all the Microsoft software. These are really deep and detailed sites, totally free and filled with up-to-date suggestions and troubleshooting information.

You really can fix most issues on your own. So don’t be discouraged if that new Christmas gadget doesn’t work. 

Mike is a veteran journalist whose video "PC Mike" reports have been distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations since 1994, making him one of the most experienced tech reporters in the country. His tech stories and videos have appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, the Today Show, The New York Times, USA Today and in numerous national newspapers and magazines. In addition to the PC Mike tech blog, he also publishes the Roadtreking.com RV Travel Blog in which he travels North America in an RV reporting about interesting people and places.