Available Help

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Help is available from many sources. Please read the following information so that Microsoft Product Support Services can direct you to the appropriate help.

Microsoft Product Support Services

The following services and prices are available in the United States and Canada only. Support outside the United States and Canada might vary. Prices, terms, and conditions for using Microsoft support services are subject to change without notice:

For information about International Support, see Microsoft Product Support Services.

Self Help

Whether you are an IT Professional, developer, reseller, consultant, solution provider, or user in an organization, Microsoft Professional Online Support can help you get quick, up-to-date answers. You can use self-help tools and search on a wide range of technical information. If you need more extensive help, Professional Online Support provides a convenient way to submit incidents directly to Microsoft by using the Internet. Two recommended self-help Web sites include the Microsoft Support Web site and the MSDN Web site.

Assisted Support

To work directly with a Microsoft Support Professional, you can use Assisted Professional Support on the Internet or telephone.

No-Charge Assisted Professional Support

  • If you acquired this product as a stand-alone retail product, you are eligible for two (2) no-charge assisted Professional Support incidents by using any of the Professional Support Offerings. You can receive no-charge Personal Support on the Internet or by telephone. When contacting a support service, you are asked for your Product ID (PID) number.
  • For Development Tools, the PID is a 20-digit number on your application Help menu, which you can find by clicking About on the program's Help menu.

Paid Assisted Professional Support

  • You can gain access to Paid Assisted Professional Support by using Professional Online Support or the telephone. Support fees are billed to your VISA, MasterCard, or American Express account.

Getting Assisted Support

When you contact Product Support Services, it is important that you be at your computer and have the following information at hand:

  • The version of your Microsoft product
  • The type of hardware, including network hardware, if applicable
  • The operating system (DOS, Windows 95, Windows NT, and so on)
  • The exact wording of any messages that appeared on your screen
  • A description of what happened and what you were doing when the problem occurred
  • A description of how you tried to solve the problem

You can obtain no-charge and Paid Assisted Professional Support on the Internet or by telephone, as follows:

Internet:

  • Microsoft Professional Support is available on the Internet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at this Microsoft Web site.

Telephone:

  • The United States and Canada: (800) 936-5800 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including holidays.
  • Paid Assisted Professional Support fees are billed to your VISA, MasterCard, or American Express account. In the US and Canada: $195 US per Internet incident; $245 US per phone incident. Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays.
  • Text telephone (TTY/TDD), available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including holidays. In the United States and Canada, call (425) 635-4948.

 Last updated on Friday, April 02, 2004

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