Plusnet Assist: Tech support on your PC

[#1]

We're pleased to announce the launch of Plusnet Assist, a new tool to help with common Internet problems. Plusnet Assist is now available to download free from our website and, once downloaded, will sit in your system tray ready to help you whenever you need. Connectivity issues no longer need to be a headache. Plusnet Assist can resolve the majority of them simply and efficiently, saving you valuable time when it comes to getting back on line. As well as resolving problems, Plusnet Assist will direct you to the best place for answers to your questions. It's like having your very own Plusnet Support assistant at your fingertips. www.plus.net/assist What does it do? In a very user friendly interface, Plusnet Assist will help you to:- Diagnose and resolve connectivity issues using step-by-step guidance for: • Thomson 585 • Thomson 516 • Netgear WNR1000 (FTTC) • Other routers (generic help) Diagnose and set up Plusnet email for: • Outlook • Outlook Express • Windows Mail (Live Mail) Plus: • Help connecting to Wifi. • Offers simple PC Health checks to speed up browsing. My Network: a powerful visual tool to set up and share files & printers. Links to useful support inc. speed advice, service status, forums. Links to My Account inc. billing, usage, webmail, Help Assistant. Links to value-adds inc. Protect, Referrals, Home Phone. Regularly checks for latest version and updates itself with new content. So, if you aren’t sure of your email settings or have entered these incorrectly, Plusnet Assist can check and fix the problems for you in a few simple steps. Even if you are having connection problems Plusnet Assist will help to diagnose the issue and get you back online. If that’s not possible it’ll provide details on how to contact our support team. Click here to find out more and to download and install Plusnet Assist today.

[#2]

Very good. Now, Where is it downloadable from?

[#3]

Available at http://www.plus.net/assist/

[#4]

It seems to be Windows only.

[#5]

It's a great program. The only downside to me thus far is it has so far taken 2 hours to uninstall - still ongoing.

[#6]

@Chris, did you get there in the end? If not then try accessing the Task Manager and killing any Plusnet Assist related processes.

[#7]

I wonder if it will help with speeds of "ping 67, d/s 0.08, up 0.72. complete shite, will be looking elsewhere soon.

[#8]

@Pete, have you reported your problem to our support team?

[#9]

What about Firefox (on Win 7 or Mint 11??? Please!

[#10]

@Colin http://www.plus.net/support/assist/help.shtml#otherBrowsers Not on Mint 11 though.

[#11]

The "My Network" option is just like the "Network and Sharing Centre" in Vista. Nice to have it on XP though makes up for what XP lacks.

[#12]

I use Opera and I have UAC turned off so I can't use it. And don't suggest I can always turn UAC on and use Internet Explorer.

[#13]

@Jon, the interface opens in IE but you can still keep Opera as your default browser. AFAIK the only thing that having UAC switched off affects is the installation procedure when there's a software update.

[#14]

I'm getting fed up with the pop-ups telling me I have problems when I don't can they be turned off?

[#15]

Hi Peter, If you have a browser open, try to access a webpage and do not have a live Internet connection, Plusnet Assist will recognise the browser error and prompt a ‘fix’ via an alert box. Similarly if you have an email client open that is trying to connect to the mail servers whilst connection is down or if the server settings are incorrect for example, an alert box will be triggered. If you have custom settings (working) but do have a ‘net connection no error message would be generated so you shouldn’t see an alert notification. If you wish you can turn off Plusnet Assist when you’re not connected to the ‘net by right-clicking the Systray icon and ‘Exit’. There isn’t currently an option to disable the notifications separately to the rest of the program, however if we have enough requests for such a feature we can certainly look at that.

[#16]

Peter J Thanks for your reply is this the best place to conduct this dialogue or shall I open a thread on the Forum? I have two computers with Plusnet Assist loaded one runs XP and is connected by Ethernet to the router and not causing the problems although it doesn't recognise BullGuard. The problems above are on a Vista laptop connected by WiFi. I think I take up your offer to request an option on "PA" to configure its responses to what it sees as problems requiring fixes because I am happy with the computers performance including the Vista e-mail client, Google Chrome and MS IE, although I am only running IE because PA defaults to it. All my e-mails on this machine match those on my XP machine running Outlook and my IPod Touch so there is no issues for me with e-mail on the Vista Machine. None of these pieces of software are themselves reporting any issues so why should PA? I think I am a middle range middle knowledge user who probably would benefit for such an aide but I am probably going to uninstall it on the laptop so I would have a copy for fault-finding if needed on the XP. I am aware also that many of the habitués on the forum run Linux or have Apple machines so that I don't expect the quality of help with this particular initiative on the forum as I am used to!

[#17]

Hi Bob, Later that evening I did have to kill the Plusnet Assist in Task Manager, which was a bit of a pain, should not really have to do that to uninstall a program. This was with Windows 7 SP1.

[#18]

You know something could be done for mac users ? Shock if I was a BT Internet user and enter my email address in 10.6/10.7 mail it would auto set up! Now why can't plusnet do the same fir the new non tech users. James

[#19]

I am using a vista laptop with IE8 and have downloaded the Plusnet Assist but the program will not open. It seems to download ok but i get no reponse when i click on Open, either on the desk top icon or in the system tray. Have given up in the end and uninstalled it.

[#20]

@jennyBA, Are you logged in on the computer as the administrator? As you have to be to run it. Jojo

[#21]

Yes i am logged in as administrator, perhaps there's something wrong with my laptop. All my other programs open ok though without any trouble, could it be my security program thats not allowing Plusnet Assistant to open, i am using Norton.

[#22]

@jennyBA, Could be worth a look to see if it's restricting it. May need to specifically allow Plusnet Assist in the firewall settings. Jojo

[#23]

Still no luck getting this Plusnet Assist to open up, it seems i need a Plusnet Assistant to help me get this program to run on my laptop.

[#24]

At last iv'e managed to get it working, changed a few settings am not sure how i did it but at last i have Plusnet Assistant opening.

[#25]

I had no problems downloading Plusnet Assist but you do need Windows Internet Explorer to do so. Just installed a new Thomson 'Technicolor' N router which connected very quickly and easily to my new laptop which has an N wireless adaptor, but I could not connect to my old laptop which has a G adaptor until I used Plusnet Assist. It did the job in a few minutes. Used Plusnet Assist to do a health check but because I am using PC Tools Security it reported that I had no firewall protection: Apparently it only recognises Windows firewall which is a pity.

[#26]

I downloaded Plusnet Assist using Firefox and it appeared to install OK but I cannot open the application from the desktop icon or the system tray. I am running Vista on a Dell and using an Ethernet cable connection to a Thomson router. Now I will uninstall Plusnet Assist and look forward to receiving a properly tested and functional version.

[#27]

@StevieW, the software's undergone significant testing and a variant of the underlying code is used by hundreds of thousands of BT Retail customers (proving that it certainly works for the most part. What's happening when you try launching the application? Anything at all? Presumably you have Internet Explorer installed?

[#28]

Does anyone know if there is going to be a Mac version before long should be really Plusnet there are a lot of Macs out there.

[#29]

How do I stop Plusnet Assist telling me that I am connected to my network every time I boot up my computer?

[#30]

I can download Plusnet Assist OK but can't open it no matter what I do. So I've uninstalled it.

[#31]

@Kevin, there's no MAC version in the pipeline I'm afraid :( @Rob, that can happen if you're not running the latest version of Internet Explorer. If you're using XP then make sure you've version 8 or above installed. For Windows 7/Vista you ideally want to be using 9.

[#32]

Installed Assist on XP Dell and Win7 HP laptop. Took an age but got there in the end. Tried to fire it up on both (not at the same time) XP set IE to Connect which did not happen. Win7 fired up McciBrowser (never heard of that) which also went to Connect but achieved nothing. Do these suggest some fiddling with Firewalls is required? I use Firefox 9 on both machines as default browser. Looks like a good subject for a thread in Forum somewhere.