Headline Feeds
When you buy a PC, chances are darn good that the service package will be neither very convenient nor inexpensive. Most in-home or in-office service plans amount to little more than a local repair shop guy traipsing through your front door on a first-available basis. Even carting the computer to an in-store service center does not guarantee fast or efficient service. So when PlumChoice Online PC Services offered me an opportunity to try our their remote repair program, I sheepishly accepted.
Working from a very active home office, I break out in a sweat at the slightest sign of distress from my bank of desktop and laptop computers. Each one runs dedicated tasks. At least one machine serves as a backup for one of the other Windows and Linux computers. But having any of my computers come offline only increases the likelihood that some unforeseen intrusion will take them all down.
So I regarded this chance to test a remote repair service with both enthusiasm and trepidation. Could I really trust some stranger sitting at a computer console in Billerica, Mass., to wander around one of my hard drives? I am no stranger to maintaining my own computers and using remote access. So I selected my no-name desktop -- often the first point of entry to programs I download and test -- as the patient and scheduled a diagnostic health check.
The Rundown
PlumChoice offers a 24-hour premium remote PC and technology repair service for the home, home office and small office. The company offers several dozen repair options and configurations for help with desktops, laptops and peripherals.
The computer experts are Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) application trainers, Microsoft product specialists, A+/MCP/MCSE certified professionals, network administrators and HTML developers. Every technician is pre-qualified, has more than three years of help desk environment experience and completes a two-week training course on service delivery and the virtual interface, according to the company.
On average, the fees PlumChoice charges are less costly than those at repair shops and other service plans I've used over the years. For example, a diagnostics session costs US$29.95. Removing spyware and virus infections costs $99.95. A PC tune-up runs $129.95.
For an annual subscription to the PCSMart Plan, you get unlimited online computer support, automated data backup and a complete software security suite for your PC. Of course, you pay $89.95 for a one-time setup fee that includes the first month free. A home PC user can select the Home Basic Subscription of $15.95 per month.
Ordering Help
The log-on procedure was quick and simple. After I logged onto the home page and clicked the Get Started button, I was presented with a screen requiring my basic personal details and the nature of the computer help I wanted. A drop-down menu listed all of the available services and their costs.
One more click presented a scheduling page already adjusted to the service request I was making. I could choose the date and available times for the service to be performed. I was impressed at the flexibility and the ability to put me in charge of the scheduling.
I decided to have a PC tune-up performed. I initiated the service request at 1:15 p.m. on a Sunday and wanted the job to begin at 2 p.m. the same day. But the next available time slot that day was 3 p.m. -- still not a bad wait if my repair need was urgent. Where else could I get such quick help in the middle of a weekend, anyway?
The Hook-Up
The service session began with a call to my designated phone number at precisely 3 P.M. Dimitri, my personal service technician, asked me a few questions to confirm the symptoms. In my case, I replied that I thought the computer had slowed down and wanted to return it to its earlier performance level.
Dimitri, pleasant and friendly throughout the repair session, directed me to enter the PlumChoice Web site and enter a special service code he dictated. That established a 128-bit SSL (secure sockets layer) encryption connection through which he uploaded a diagnostic application to my computer's hard drive.
I had a choice to make. I could stay on the phone and talk to him while he worked on my computer, or I could hang up and wait for him to call me back when the session was completed. I am the kind of guy who likes to hang around my auto mechanic and pester him with questions while he works on my car. So I gave Dimitri the same treatment.
Visibility Counts
Everything the technician did remotely I watched on my computer screen. No stranger to diagnostic tools, I followed his actions with approval -- mostly, that is. Every now and then he checked a program or service for deletion to which I said no.
The technician ran what amounted to a series of standard tools that looked at control panel settings, startup routines, program files and performance benchmarks. Included in the technician's bag of tools was the Hijack This malware scanner.
Since my computer had nothing wrong with it, the tune-up services
merely performed remotely the same tasks that I run on the equipment
periodically. I have numerous specialty applications installed on my
computers to add features not normally active on non-work computers.
The diagnostic scans listed these very
programs as possible intrusions, such as plug-ins to my e-mail 
client and file management
applications.
Had I not remained on the phone line during the health check-up, Dimitri may have removed them. He noted that these specialty programs no doubt hogged some of the system resources and might be causing slower performance. However, since I had used the slow-down as my reason for the check-up, I already knew the computer was running at near-peak performance.
The Results
After some 45 minutes, Dimitri had identified two questionable files but little else. He removed several older versions of Java runtime installations that were adding to the hard drive and startup clutter. Normally, Java should remove these earlier versions when it completes an upgrade.
From a healthy PC standpoint, Dimitri found very little to "fix." The hard drive was not overly fragmented. Some minor clutter in the Internet cache was evident.
Dimitri did remove an installation of Pit Stop diagnostics module and an installation of SpyBot. I didn't object because I was intending to install the newest versions of both anti-malware scanners anyway. But I thought it interesting that the technician removed legitimate programs from other malware detection vendors.
Final Observations
All the tasks the technician performed in giving my computer a tune-up were standard maintenance operations. In fact, several of the tools remotely activated on my computer are part of the Windows operating system for system maintenance.
However, uninformed home users and harried business users not familiar with routine computer maintenance would be well served by PlumChoices's diagnostic service. Anyone with a real computer problem would stand an excellent chance of getting satisfaction.
Dimitri won me over on two counts. The first thing he did was set a system restore point. That reassured me of his competence. The second winning factor was his assessment that the PC was obviously well maintained. Bogus added service pitches never entered the conversation.
All things considered, I would not hesitate to revisit PlumChoice if a malfunction befell my computers. The bulk of service offerings is for the Windows platform. Linux service is available for some but not all conditions. No remote service for Macs is yet available.
PlumChoice can fix 374 software and 17 hardware platforms. That's a
substantial service help line for remote repair assistance around the
clock with little or no waiting for a solution. If necessary,
PlumChoice can dispatch a local repair technician to perform needed
repairs in-home or in-office.
Talkback: 
