As part of its ongoing effort to provide effective computer Help Desk service to the Lab, the Computing Infrastructure Support Department (CIS) is providing access to a new state-of-the-art suite of technical support services on a four-month trial basis. Lab employees will be able to use the service at no charge during the trial period. Each employee's email address will serve as his or her user ID for the service.

In July, CIS conducted a two-week test of the PCsupport.com Internet-based system and concluded that it has the potential to provide additional cost-effective support in the Windows/PC area. During the four-month trial period, CIS will solicit feedback from customers of the service, assess the quality of support, measure the volume of help requests that can be handled by the system, and then decide whether to enter into a longer-term contract.

The new PCsupport.com service is scheduled to begin on Monday, Oct. 1. Employees will be sent an email describing details of this service before the start date.

PCsupport.com will provide access to an online team of technical support experts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The system will handle questions and problems relating to electronic mail, calendar, desktop applications, and the Windows operating system (user interface and general diagnostic).

All other problems, such as hardware, password or account management problems, Remote Access, Mac, Novell, Lab-specific printing problems (Novell NDPS, AppleTalk and Unix Distributed Printing) and ISS applications, will continue to be directed to the Lab's computer support Help Desk.

The PCsupport.com system provides a number of innovative support tools:

• Chat with an Expert - This immediate two-way dialogue with technicians resolves problems quickly and easily without leaving the Internet.
  
• Email an Expert - Email your support question to a team of experts and they'll get back to you with an answer within four hours.
  
• Browse the Help Directories - Access thousands of tips, tricks, FAQs, and tutorials relating to Internet software and hardware products.

"Hopefully, Lab PC users will find this service useful and responsive," said Desktop Support Manager Charlie Verboom. "By providing alternative methods for asking for help, we hope to reduce the number of phone calls to the Help Desk, with the result that we can provide faster problem resolution overall."