Microsoft
Reviews and Complaints

Whoever owned that machine had modified it and it was banned for those mods. It wasn't something you did rather it was the previous owner who KNEW this had happened and reloaded rather OS clean BEFORE he sold it out traded it in.

There's a LOT of those machines out there and unfortunately for you Buddy, YOU GOT ONE, LOL. :cry

You seem to be unable to read the posted info. "I bought the Xbox new and have never opened the case myself.

When I got the flashing read light problem I sent it to Microsoft to be repaired." How are you coming up with your conclusion that it was a used machine? Reading comprehension would be a nice asset for you to have.

Technology is not flawless. People were mistakenly banned due to an error.

The error was acknowledged and consumers were compensated with Microsoft points. There is a chip in the Xbox that detects tampering and handles the modded console bans. Complaints and other violations of the terms are handled by the team. The bans in error were corrected.

A person will not ban you unless there is substantial evidence.

You have to speak to the policy enforcement team via the forums if you'd like to find out the reason for a ban. Phone support is just for billing and technical troubleshooting.

File a consumer complaint with the Attorney General in your state, the BBB and the Federal Trade Commission, they did the exact same thing to us, refusing to listen to our complaints and refusing to allow us to prove our innocence by letting us send in our console. As it turns out a "software error" on Microsofts part flagged consoles incorrectly despite the fact that we were told many times and directed to their console suspension policy countless times that assured us that they "take console suspensions seriously, and only take such action after a lengthy investigation by multiple teams, " yet when it turns out they made a mistake they blame it in software and say the mistske had nothing to do with the "normal actions" taken by their enforcement team, so it would appear Microsoft was lying to us because it was apparently software that decided we were banned not a "lengthy investigation by multiple teams".

Our exoerience with Microsoft revealed to us that they are full of hypocrisy and half truths, we do not believe or trust anything they say. Who is Microsoft accountable to?

How does anyone know that they are not arbitrarily banning consoles and accounts or that mistakes are not happening if they are accountable to no one when their policies are full of " no recourse" statements. Enough is enough, it is time for consumers to take back some of the control, there are no profits without the customer and Microsoft needs to be reminded if that.

I called Microsoft Support and they said that they WOULDNT turn off autorenewal because they would send an email a week before the renewal date, asking me what i wanted to do ( buy another month or quit).

And guess what?

They didnt send an email and charged me another month.

heh :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

I completely understand where you are coming from, but the best way to avoid autorenewal is to simply buy the prepaid cards for Xbox Live Memberships and Microsoft Points from any places that sell Xbox. That's what I do.

So I don't even have to worry about autorenewal. Because you paid that store you bought the card from for the membership and there is no autorenewal involved.

If you just don't want to go out and buy the cards. Amazon.com & Gamestop.com sells them online and they email you a code.

Your problem is probably you have your PC set to automatic updates. If this is the case, no matter how many times you remove it, it will re-install. You should change automatic updates to on request updates (Microsoft notifies you and you decide if you want to download it. There are 3 options: automatic, on request and none.)

First you should change this (Go to "Control Panel" select "Windows Update" and in the left panel select "Change settings" and in the drop down box select "Check for updates but let me decide to download and install them". Then you should do a System Restore to before the first installation of IE9 (Note: Anything else you have installed after this date will also be removed. Go to "Control Panel" select "Backup and Restore", Select "Restore files", select "Repair Windows system restore" look for a point before IE9 was first installed and follow instructions).

Then, when you get a request to update to IE9 right click the update and select "Hide update" and it shouldn't ask you again.

I do not understand..how did Microsoft download and then take Explorer 9 off? And how is Microsoft scamming you for money when Microsoft Explorer 9 is free?

If it was downloaded by the user and there were problems you could have used a previous restore point to "reset" your PC to a time before EXP 9 was downloaded. Thats what I had to do when I had problems with EXP 9.

Sounds like you should be complaining about Firefox rather than Microsoft. I use IE, have a hotmail account, and use Yahoo as my default search ...

it's never changed. Microsoft could care less what your search engine you choose to use.

ds22 is so ignorant. I've been using computers since 1950s when they were room-sized.

Microsoft does destroy computers albeit unintentionally through their "technician"s stupidity or lack of English. Microsoft is now 1984's big brother doing things "for your own good." Now they have locked most of my pictures. Since my cat is not computer literate, I am the only one with access so NOTHING should be locked. Their solution was for me to unlock each one individually.

Noto practical when I have thousands. Gates should use some of his millions to keep Win-7 backwards compatable so pensioners dont have to replace perfectly working old programs.

OH by the way, I never allowed my other Gateway computer to update again.Staying away from Mirosoft Authentic Verification update. It lasted a few more years til I contracted the TR.TRASH VIRUS.

Today I have a WalMart Acer Aspire and it already has MAV installed. So far no problems.

Back several years ago when microsoft came out with the Authentic Verifacation update. I had two Gateways and one of them crashed after the update.

I like yourself trusted their updates, tho' I didnt have them setup on automatic. I rather manually everyother night. So I held back the MAV till morn so I could monitor it. My system never logged back on.

It verified windows as Authentic and then went blackscreen. I had an 80g drive almost full. Lost, gone.

No help anywhere. CORPORATIONS...Shutup, Suckup, Payup and OBEY

Back several years ago when microsoft came out with the Authentic Verifacation update. I had two Gateways and one of them crashed after the update.

I like yourself trusted their updates, tho' I didnt have them setup on automatic. I rather manually everyother night. So I held back the MAV till morn so I could monitor it. My system never logged back on.

It verified windows as Authentic and then went blackscreen. I had an 80g drive almost full. Lost, gone.

No help anywhere. CORPORATIONS...Shutup, Suckup, Payup and OBEY

Thank you shocked, it's great to see people taking the time to read and comment on my story.

Mack 6701

so maybe people on pensions should not buy computers...this is so *** i can't beleive he spent the time to write it.

Thanks' for your comments, perhaps people who can't understand shouldn't pass comments.

mack6701

Computers are like cars ... people who can't operate them shouldn't have them!

I use three computers, all are up-to-date, and the updates on all of them combined don't come close to 1GB. Sounds like you got a virus.

Personally, I don't like Microsoft but they don't go around destroying computers. Get the facts before complaining and stop acting like a complete dumba$$.

Microsoft is totally ***. This is why I only get pirated versions of Windows, completely unrestricted. If you don't like the idea of piracy, I would just buy or build a computer with a blank hard drive and start without a bunch of *** already installed on your machine.

What is a BING BAR?

Were it not for the following, I likely would have run my own side-by-side comparison of Google vs. Bing and made my own decision. I've observed that although this question has been asked in multiple spaces on the internet, but the standard responses given don't address these problems:

1. Microsoft insists that you install the Bing toolbar as a condition of using Internet Explorer with Windows 7. There is no way of declining the Bing toolbar; Microsoft insists that you agree to install it, thereby forcing you to uninstall it.

2. Windows updates include the Bing toolbar, forcing you to go in each time and specifically choose the updates you want instead of the convenience of "automatic" updates. I constantly have to check my updates and the Bing toolbar has been reinstalled several times, thereby forcing me to uninstall it each time. It's as if Microsoft assumes that this software version of Chinese water torture will eventually browbeat consumers into submission.

The only responses from Microsoft refuse to address the fact Microsoft is forcing you to accept the Bing toolbar as a prerequisite for using Internet Explorer, and they hurriedly try to redirect you with the standard Control Panel Uninstall response. Even Dell support refuses to address the issue, simply saying there is no choice and you can go in and uninstall it. As a Microsoft partner in distribution, they certainly have to be aware of this business practice.

IMHO these are sneaky business tactics, and I'm considering a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission. I'd love an actual response to this very specific complaint rather than an avoidance of the issue.

If you installed Bing and then go through the steps to uninstall it, it will pop up again every time that you do automatic updates. You can set your updates to manually select what updates you want and not choose Bing but it will still nag you that an update is available each and every time.

The BEST thing to do is to check for updates, click the Bing update, then right-click Bing and choose HIDE. This will prevent that update from showing up again automatically. You may have to do this more than once. Most people find that they have to do it twice however I had to do it three time.

Do it once, exit from Windows Update, launch Windows Update again and check for updates. Check the box and hide it again if it shows up again.

Repeat these steps until it no longer shows up. Good luck.

FIRST! control panel, uninstall Bing in ;

Add remove programs or Programs and Features,

internet options, bing, remove, in ;

change home page & change search defaults ,

firefox , tools, options ,preferences , general, home page, kill bing

add-ons , uninstall or disable bing in all tabs

I get the annoying pop up box that says congratualtions bing bar is ready to use. I do not have the bing bar.

I have went to website after website to find a place with some help. Everything that has been suggested on several websites including microsofts had been no help at all. After trying all suggestions I refuse to install it and then uninstall it to remove that ANNOYING box. Besides I did do that once and after uninstalling guess what?

The ANNOYING pop up still kept coming. So that is a useless suggestion. What a shame for microsoft to cause people to hate msn.com because of their audacity to not give users a choice to refuse their bing bar. Because they do not give us the choice to refuse microsoft is not respecting the users at all.

Why do they want to chase off customers by not removing that *** congatulations box? I have read many reports of people not wanting to deal with or purchase anymore microsoft products. Microsoft should be ashamed of bullying users trying to use their msn.com site.

Or is microsoft not smart enough to put a polite "no thanks" option in the box? Is microsoft that insecure that they don't want to give us an option to refuse?

I'd like to know the federal agency with which I can file a complaint for the forced install of the bing toolbar and the tracking software...

Don Varnau, listed as a community moderator at answers.microsoft.com, had the following conversation with someone who didn't want to click OK:

When I open msn.com I get a popup that prevents me from being able to use the page at all. It says:

Your new Bing Bar is ready to use.

There is only an OK button. How can I get rid of this without clicking OK?

Hi,

I'd suggest that you click OK, then disable the Bing Bar from IE> Tools> Manage add-ons.

I have several toolbars installed which I use only rarely then disable between uses.

Don

Microsoft seems to have their moderators suggesting that we click OK even though that's EXACTLY WHAT WE DON'T WANT TO DO!

It should be illegal to not give users the option to click 'no thanks'.