Microsoft Abandons Some Tech Support Forums

Microsoft is abandoning its technical support forums for a range of different products, including Windows 7, Office 2013, and the Surface Pro. This means users looking for advice for these products will have to rely on other people for help.

All Microsoft products have a limited lifecycle. When that comes to an end, Microsoft stops supporting it. However, even after official support ends, there are Microsoft employees lurking in online support forums waiting to help users out.

Microsoft Pulls Support

Microsoft has announced it’s pulling out of some official support forums. This means that, from July 2018, Microsoft staff will “no longer provide technical support,” and there will be “no proactive reviews, monitoring, answering or answer marking of questions”.

Ironically, the affected forums will “still be moderated by Microsoft agents to ensure participants can engage in a safe and positive environment”. So, as far as Microsoft is concerned, stopping harassment is more important than providing tech support.

Microsoft support forums;

"I have Issue A, I tried the things."
"Issue A is solved like this!" *Marked as answered*
"No that didn't work"

— Tsumei (@TsumeiMeyren) December 21, 2015

According to a post on the Microsoft Community, the support forums for the following products are affected:

• Windows 7, 8.1, and 8.1 RT
• Microsoft Security Essentials
• Internet Explorer 10
• Office 2010 and 2013
• Surface Pro, Surface Pro 2, Surface RT, and Surface 2
• Microsoft Band
• Zune

Some of these are more understandable than others. I’m pretty sure no one is going to miss the Zune forums, for example, because, well, no one has used a Zune in years. However, plenty of people are still using some of the other products affected.

A Kick in the Teeth

This move shouldn’t come as any great surprise. After all, Microsoft stopped supporting the products affected years ago. However, for those products— such as Windows 7—which are still used by many millions of people, this feels like a kick in the teeth.

It should go without saying that if you do have any issues with the Microsoft products affected by this decision, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to find help on MakeUseOf. And if not, there’s always these sites for troubleshooting and tech support.

Image Credit: Marco Verch/Flickr

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