Last November we installed Windows Service Pack 2 which Microsoft had downloaded to us through the magic of automatic update. Our computer gave a cough and a burp and then lapsed into a coma. We called Microsoft and it took them eight days for a tech to reach us. Meanwhile, we had a local tech revive our machine by formatting the hard drive and re-installing Windows without Service Pack Two. He charged us $200 for this (and some other) service and we suggested to Microsoft that they reimburse us but they denied any fault saying that we should have consulted our manufacturer (Gateway) before installing SP2 or any other Windows update.

In the process, our Norton Anti-Virus software was wiped out and our tech installed the latest version of NAV. About a month before this, we had paid Symantec $30 for a year's subscription to updates for the old AV software. So, we called Symantec and, after waiting on hold for several minutes, reached someone whom we could barely understand (sounded like India). We asked if some adjustment could be made and we were told they would be happy to refund the entire $30. Although we did not believe this would ever happen, we did not follow up on the matter because of the difficulty of speaking to Symantec.

Well, much to our surprise, a check from Symantec for the $30 arrived today.

This has somewhat mitigated our cynicism about software manufacturers and shows that they are not all unsrupulous knaves.

Bev and Jerry