Network-based platform for providing customer technical support

Abstract

A technical support system includes a problems data store storing a problem information related to a plurality of problems identified in response to other reported incidents, a problem search module configured to search the problem information based on one or more key words to determine problem information that is relevant to the one or more key words and that is applicable to a general population of computer systems, and a problem filter module configured to filter the determined problem information based on the parameters associated with the end-user's computer system configuration to determine problem information that is specific to the end-user's computer system. A method for providing technical support to an end user includes receiving system-specific parameters characterizing a hardware and software configuration of the end user's computer system, determining one or more possible causes of a problem exhibited by the specified end user's computer system by searching a set of problem information related to one or more problems reported in other incidents, and filtering the one or more determined possible causes based on the system-specific parameters to derive one or more targeted possible causes specific to the specified end user's computer system configuration.