Tip: Get Faster Tech Support Sending A Screenshot

Many complain about poor tech support.

But many people are bad at helping tech support get them answers.

There is one very simple thing you definitely should do when you need support - take a screenshot and send it.

You can certainly do more if you know how (take logs, detail specs, etc.) but this should be the bare minimum.

Common Support Problems

Many people do not know or do not think about listing the details involved. The typical support request we see falls along the lines of "X is broken" or "Y is not working" or "What the hell, why isn't Z working?". With that input, tech support is left to guess or to delay a response by getting those details one by one.

Benefits Screenshot

With a screenshot, even if you know nothing about the technical details of a system or have the time to share any of them, you can convey lots of information quickly.

Take a look at the screenshot of our IPVM Camera Calculator a user shared:

Even if that user says nothing else, support can learn a lot about the problem:

• The OS being used
• The browser being used
• What settings are selected
• What else is running on the machine
• What the problem actually looks like

All of these give support clues about what the issue is. In this case, it turned out the user was using a quite old version of FF, upgrading FF or using another browser solved it.

Use This For Cameras / Recorders / More

Use this same approach if you have issue streaming video from cameras, connecting to a camera on a recorder, getting search results to display on a VMS.

That screenshot can help tech support make an educated guess about what the problem is, allowing them to focus on the most likely problem.

Most support requests can be solved fairly quick once a screenshot is shared and it helps the user by freeing them from gathering lots of technical details up front. 

Take a screenshot, help your vendor's tech support and help yourself.