I've been offline since last Wednesday after I downloaded the 2011 version of my Kaspersky anti virus software.
I've used Kaspersky since 2008 without any problems and my 2010 version had reached it's expiry date so I paid my fee and began the 2011 download which seemed to be going ok. When it was time to reboot the computer to complete the installation my computer screen became 'frozen' and nothing that I could do would free it.
The mouse cursor was stuck, neither the mouse or keyboard would work and all that I could get on the phone was various automated messages because their helpdesk staff had gone home for the day.
I managed to get in touch with them last Thursday (at 10p per minute
) but they couldn't do much after 45 or so minutes of passing various telephone instructions.
They posted a rescue disk which arrived on Friday but even with their technicians helping on the phone the computer remained hung up. I swapped my wireless keyboard and mouse for wired usb models at their suggestion but still no joy.
Kaspersky agreed to pay for a re - install of my Windows and a data save and the cheapest local quote was £95
PC World wanted £145
Needless to say that the quotes had to be sent to Kaspersky head office for approval by their accounts dept so that was the situation until this afternoon - no computer.
My youngest son happened to pop round after lunch and he offered to 'have a look'.
To be honest I wasn't keen, I was scared in case he made things worse. He did however go to technical college (at his own expense, he's unemployed but the Jobcentre wouldn't help) so I agreed for him to have a look.
He fixed it inside 30 minutes!!
He saved Kaspersky the £95 that they had agreed to pay and my computer is now running as well as it was before and it has my new 2011 Kaspersky anti virus software installed.
There are two morals to this tale of woe
The first is to make sure that a download won't conflict with older software and the second is to get someone who is in their early twenties to 'have a look'
I've used Kaspersky since 2008 without any problems and my 2010 version had reached it's expiry date so I paid my fee and began the 2011 download which seemed to be going ok. When it was time to reboot the computer to complete the installation my computer screen became 'frozen' and nothing that I could do would free it.
The mouse cursor was stuck, neither the mouse or keyboard would work and all that I could get on the phone was various automated messages because their helpdesk staff had gone home for the day.
I managed to get in touch with them last Thursday (at 10p per minute
They posted a rescue disk which arrived on Friday but even with their technicians helping on the phone the computer remained hung up. I swapped my wireless keyboard and mouse for wired usb models at their suggestion but still no joy.
Kaspersky agreed to pay for a re - install of my Windows and a data save and the cheapest local quote was £95
PC World wanted £145
Needless to say that the quotes had to be sent to Kaspersky head office for approval by their accounts dept so that was the situation until this afternoon - no computer.
My youngest son happened to pop round after lunch and he offered to 'have a look'.
To be honest I wasn't keen, I was scared in case he made things worse. He did however go to technical college (at his own expense, he's unemployed but the Jobcentre wouldn't help) so I agreed for him to have a look.
He fixed it inside 30 minutes!!
He saved Kaspersky the £95 that they had agreed to pay and my computer is now running as well as it was before and it has my new 2011 Kaspersky anti virus software installed.
There are two morals to this tale of woe
The first is to make sure that a download won't conflict with older software and the second is to get someone who is in their early twenties to 'have a look'