Techfriend

stephengulliver

Hi, I hope that this is right forum for this post, apologies if not. I've been paying for Techguys Techfriend phone PC support at £6.99 per month for almost two years and I feel a bit of a muppet because I've only used it 10 times or so. Could anyone recommend a similar 24 hour service where you get straight through to an expert on a premium phone number or something where you only pay when you call please?

Thanks for your time.

rmg1

If you've only used the service 10 times in 2 years, I'd definitely bin it.
What sort of things have you been using the "support" service for?

googler

I get 24-hour free support from google and youtube

I doubt very much there's anything you've called techguys for that couldn't be solved with a bit of searching on the internut.

What kind of things have you called them for?

stephengulliver

Hi, thanks your for help. I'd love to bin it, but I tend to meddle with my computer and occasionally break it so thoroughly I can't recover it with my limited technical ability, which upsets me a lot, hence why I original got the support. One time I deleted a corrupted file after which my computer wouldn't boot up. I then reformatted the hard drive, not realising the backup of the operating system was behind a partition on the same hard drive, so I inadvertently deleted that too. I specialise in catastrophic errors.

googler

stephengulliver wrote: »

One time I deleted a corrupted file after which my computer wouldn't boot up. I then reformatted the hard drive

Why did you feel you needed to delete the file? Who told you it was corrupted?

Also, what do you use your PC for? Business or pleasure?

If you have 'limited technical ability' then you should be working to improve your ability, and again - there's many free resources out there to help you.

stephengulliver

Hi, good point, I'd like to use Google and Youtube, but sometimes I cripple my PC so badly it won't start and then I couldn't get online. I suppose I could use my wife's laptop, but if the problem was my router I'd be stuffed. Also, when I try to fix problems myself, I sometimes can't manage it or I might be in a hurry. In such cases, it would just be reassuring if I knew I could just pay to call someone at any time to get them to fix it for me.

stephengulliver

Hi googler, why did I delete the file? Excellent question, I certainly didn't need to. What can I tell you, I have Aspergers and trivial things irritate me. And I like to meddle. I suppose I deleted it because I felt I ought to be able to have it not cluttering up my PC. In my world, things that don't have a right to exist and should be eliminated. But that's just me.

I believe I knew it was corrupted because when I tried to open it, I think I got a message saying it was corrupt.

GunJack

your best tech support is probably.......

....on here

..and we're cheap

gonzo127

i would suggest getting a nice external hard drive and then making a disk image of your 'in working order' hard drive - (or do a clean install etc and then disk image it once you have everything on it you want)

as to if something else died i am sure there are plenty of local 'fix it' people out there who could do it if it is beyond your ability with google and youtube and here of course, just check you local free papers to make sure there are some

stephengulliver

Hi GunJack, thank you for your kind offer of support, which under normal conditions I would be only too happy to rely upon. However, I would still worry about a router failure or similar at 3am on the morning of a deadline to submit a vital Open University assignment or critical bank transfer. Hence my desire to find a 24 hour phone service. Thanks for all your help.

Sooler

Here's something for you to ... make a backup image of your hardisk, then you can restore anytime and your PC will be back exactly as it was.