Avantrix – The Software Developer That Could & Would

Posted: May 3rd, 2007 | Filed under: Culture, Ruminations | No Comments »

Everybody’s got a horror story to tell. About an attempt for support for something or another on their computer, that is. It is one of modern life’s inevitables.

Maybe your CD burning software locked up the whole system. Or all of a sudden you can’t get email. Perhaps your fancy new CPU from a highly recommended boutique computer maker won’t shut down.

So you call tech support. Some fellow who keeps asking you to wait just a second, continually puts you on hold, eventually suggesting a reinstallation of Windows. Which, of course, is not only unnecessary but takes an hour. “Call me back,” he says, signing off, “if that doesn’t fix the problem.”

Which it rarely does.

Which isn’t to even mention getting that tech support person in Delhi, who probably knows enough to fix the problem. If only you could understand what “Benjamin” is saying, given his thick Indian accent.

I’ve been there. Way too many times, since I like to diddle with my computer way more than I should. So have you.

Well, here’s a story that will warm your heart. It did mine. With a thumbs up for a little software developer called Avantrix. (www.avantrix.com).

Sometime in their early years, the folks there developed a nifty little program called SafeCheck. It’s a godsend for those like me who have a bunch of different email accounts. Without downloading any emails, SafeCheck goes to your accounts and tells you what’s waiting there. You can delete unwanted emails without having to download them. Simple. Quick.

And free. I didn’t even get the program from their site — it’s not available there — but from one of those places on the internet that lists free programs and shareware.

One vexation. When SafeCheck opened there would be ads for other Avantrix programs. Being an assertive type, I emailed the company asking if there was any way to get rid of the ads. I even offered to pay for the freeware. (Which, I always do, since people deserve to be paid for R & D and their creativity.)

About half an hour later, Avantrix support wrote me back. Attached to the email was a tweaked program they had developed in that short time, just to satisfy my request. Which, I thought, was way cool, and unheard of in this day and age. And, “no need to send any money,” they said, “just tell people about our programs.”

Well, it turned out, that tweaked program wouldn’t install. So, I wrote back. Long story short, the support staff there spent the entire day, working to satisfy my request for an ad-less SafeCheck. There must have been at least a dozen emails back and forth with various attempts to salvage the situation.

Around 4:30 or so in the afternoon, I stopped hearing from them. Not a problem, I thought, since they had gone above and beyond the call of duty, to try to help some assertive guy with a piece of freeware they no longer even offer on their own website. I figured the nameless fellow at the other end had gone home.

Then, about 9:00 that evening, I get another email. “Here,” they say, “install this version, it should work.”

It did. I can now check my email ad-free.

Turns out the fellow’s name is Jim. In this nothing-worthwhile-comes-for-free era, Jim spent an entire day working to satisfy a request to tweak a free program. Amazing frankly.

Here’s the quid pro quo. Avantrix (www.avantrix.com) has a bunch of nifty little utilities. One that backs up data. One that burns CDs. A zip extractor. Several others. Check ‘em out.

So, if you find yourself needing something along those lines, have a go with the folks at Avantrix. I can tell you for sure that support will be there if something isn’t working right.

---