Microsoft has so many support web pages it’s often hard to find what you’re really looking for. For example, you won’t find answers to a Windows 98 problem if you happen to wind up on their Office Suite support web page. This article is an attempt to make some sense out of how MS organizes their support web pages so you can find answers to your PC problems.

First of all I suggest that everyone should have an icon on his or her desktop for Microsoft's Product Support Services’ main web page. This icon will be a starting point for getting help because it appears to be the main web page from which all links to other Microsoft support web page are available. You can create the icon by going to http://support.microsoft.com/ and clicking on File, Send and select "Shortcut to desktop." This works for Windows 98 but may have to be done slightly differently for other versions of Windows. Now that you have the icon on your desktop let’s explore Microsoft’s support pages.

Click on the MS Support icon (or the above web page) and you'll see "Welcome to Microsoft Help and Support." You are now on Microsoft's Product Support Services main web page from where you can visit the following places depending on what you’re looking for:

Search the Knowledge Base:

This is a database of support articles where you can find answers from MS on just about every Microsoft software problem. Start by selecting the software product or topic that your question or issue concerns and enter search words to find answers. Search words are where most people get hung up and fail to find what they're looking for because of their poor choice of words. It will pay you to read the Help section of the Knowledge Base to learn how to select productive search words.

Download Software:

This is the area where you can find software updates, Service Packs, patches, device drivers, and downloadable Microsoft products. For example, Windows Update can update your version of Windows. What’s really nice about it is that when you go to Windows Update and select Products Update it automatically scans your PC to determine what you have installed so it can provide you with a list of suggested updates. That way you don’t waste time downloading something you already have. Be sure to download Critical Updates recommended for your system. These will fix known problems, such as security issues specific to your computer. To ensure privacy, none of the scanned information is sent to Microsoft or over the Internet. Similar to the Windows Update page is the Microsoft Office Suite Update web page. Also on the Download Software web page are Service Packs, Internet Explorer and Other Microsoft Products. If you haven’t yet updated your Windows XP or your Internet Explorer 6.0 with Service Pack 1 (SP-1) released on September 9, 2002 go to Service Packs. If you want the latest Internet Explorer 6.0 that has the latest Outlook Express mail program included go to Internet Explorer.

Product Support Centers - Support Information by Product:

In this area you can select the particular Microsoft Product you are interested in and see lots of "how to" tutorials, frequently asked questions (FAQs) and issues concerning the product.

Contact Microsoft:

If you want to get assistance from Microsoft either online or by phone you’d better read this link because it could get pretty expensive.

Customer Service Guide:

This section has a lot of miscellaneous non-technical assistance concerning product purchases, online services, courses, etc. Not much of interest here.

Post your Question to a Community Newsgroup:

Last but not least is the link to Microsoft’s Newsgroups of which there are hundreds. Here you can consult with others who use MS products. What’s nice is the index that lets you converge on the exact Newsgroup where discussions are going on in the subject you’re interested in. If you don’t find your answer already discussed, post your own question.