Iowa company repairs computers remotely

Iowa company repairs computers remotely

	Published : Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:03 By : Agencies Print this Story

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A Cedar Rapids computer security company is adding an online service this week that it describes as OnStar for the home computer.

SecurityCoverage Inc.'s new program offers computer repairs by allowing a technician to take over a computer remotely and diagnose the problem.

The program, PCLive Instant Online Support, is the company's answer to Best Buy's Geek Squad, Circuit City's Firedog installation and other repair services.

'We are able to resolve about 95 percent of the calls that we take through the instant online support model,' said Bob O'Dell, SecurityCoverage's CEO. The other 5 percent are hardware-related issues or a machine that needs rebuilding.

He said the new product will hopefully alleviate some of the frustration computer owners experience when they must take their machine to a store, wait in line and wait several days for the repair -- often for about $100 or more.

The company's around-the-clock remote repair service costs $49.95 per session. It guarantees the repair or promises a refund.

The remote repair technicians can be reached by phone or through an Internet chat from the company's Web site, PCLive.com. The technicians will be based in Cedar Rapids, where the company is expanding, O'Dell said.

SecurityCoverage employs 70 workers. O'Dell said he expects to have 90 workers within the next three to six months. By the end of next year he expects to have 130 to 150 workers.

The expansion involves all facets of the business including technical support, administration and sales support.

O'Dell said computers were damaged by malicious hackers through the Internet to the tune of $8.43 billion last year.

'The problem isn't the security software. It's that consumers find it difficult to renew security subscriptions and manage the updates required to keep protection current,' he said.

PCLive Security offers free software on its Web site, which it promises will protect computers against the Internet's most malicious threats, including viruses, worms, Trojans, malware and spyware. Once installed, PCLive Security manages security updates to keep the computer protected.

Technicians can install PCLive Security for a customer remotely and remove any conflicting security programs.

The company plans to offer later this year or early next year a premium security product that will include around-the-clock technical support, more robust software and a program to optimize computer performance for $4.95 per month, O'Dell said.