If your Windows PC is acting up or you think it has a virus, malware, or spyware, you should know that the Microsoft Store offers free basic maintenance for anyone with a Windows PC, regardless where you bought it.
The only catch is that you need to be close to one of the over 100 Microsoft retail stores across the U.S. and Canada. Although, Microsoft Stores aren’t everywhere just yet, more stores are opening quickly. To check if a store is available near you, visit the Microsoft Store locations web page.
This is one of those services that stores offering tech support will charge premium to customers. Even better, this isn’t a promotional offer Microsoft uses to lure customers to the store. The company doesn’t even advertise the free Windows PC maintenance service. It’s just about giving people better support on their Windows systems to be more productive.
The service is part of the Microsoft in-store “Answer Desk” service.
The Answer Desk web page is where customers want to go to find a store nearby and make an appointment. When you arrive at your appointment a “Service Advisor” will clean up your Windows computer free of charge.
As part of the free service, you’ll get: “extended diagnostics”, “software repair or support”, “virus and malware removal”, and “PC tune-ups”. This is an excellent deal, when comparing to the $200 cost for the “Virus and spyware removal” service offered by Geek Squad from Best Buy, which is obviously not recommended.
Of course, there are a lot of things you can do on your own, such as install Windows from scratch, creeate a custom recovery partition, perform a full backup, and a lot more. However, sometimes it’s a good idea to have a professional helping you to have your computer working properly.
Although, there is not an actual catch on the Microsoft Store clean-up offer, companies are here to make money. So, you’ll find that the store also provides paid services. For example, with a $49 service you can get “Warranty Concierge”, where the Microsoft Store will act on your behalf to deal with your PC manufacturer to get your computer fixed under warranty, that way you don’t have to. For the same price, you can also get “OneDrive setup”, which is a bit illogical as configuring OneDrive is perhaps the simplest task to perform on a computer.
Hardware upgrade/install is also free when you purchase the hardware at the Microsoft Store and you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself. It cost $49 to install a new hardware if you buy it elsewhere.
This is one of those things that every Windows customer should know, whether you need it or not. This is also helpful in those times when you get friends and family asking you to clean-up their PCs. You can simply tell them to go to one of the Microsoft Stores to get their computer fixed, and now you’ll be off the hook — you’re welcome.
Source How-To Geek
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].