Recently I had occasion to call upon Microsoft's tech support. I am running Vista Home Premium and was attempting to install Service Pack 1. That update as well as several others failed to install on my machine.

I worked through all the self help troubleshooting techniques offered on the Microsoft site to no avail. Following this I proceeded to click on their chat feature, which puts one in touch with their tech department.

I was connected to an individual with whom I spent about ten minutes total. He informed me he would direct my inquiry to a separate department who is devoted to the issue I was experiencing.

I was connected to a tech named Kokila. I allowed her to remotely connect into my machine and poke around a bit to see if she could resolve my issue. I spent four hours in this session with her. She stayed on the chat line with me during the entire download of the SP1 and provided excellent instructions for a reconnect after I rebooted. She placed icons on the desktop that pointed right back into the chat session. She also took my phone number in order to maintain contact during the session.

Unfortunately, this attempt also failed. She informed me the Vista DVD was needed but I did not have it handy. After discussing this at length with Kokila, I also received a follow up call from the supervisor to make certain I understood how to reconnect with them to complete the support process, after I had the DVD present.

I found the disk and reconnected to the support line via chat a few days later. I was able to connect with the same tech, about five minutes after the session began. This was terrific since she was already familiar with what had previously been attempted.

This session lasted between four and five hours, and again she maintained contact through the entire time. She reinstalled the Vista software on the PC and then proceeded to install the SP1. This time the effort was successful.

I had pretty low expectations when I initially contacted support. I have heard all the stories about Microsoft. What I received was far beyond what I thought would happen.

The tech Kokila knew her business and never left me to figure anything out on my own. She provided enough simple instruction to allow me to reopen and reinstate the chat sessions during the several reboots, and kept constant contact by phone throughout the long intervals while the installations occurred.

Each time I worked with her, I received follow up calls from supervisory staff to make certain all was well. I am very pleased to report the exceptional service I received from the Microsoft tech support.