Priscilla A. Maine, Atoka, Oklahoma

OYS responds: Maine was one of several PC World readers who contacted us about problems with BitDefender's Anti-Virus software. Though their issues varied, they all complained about unresponsive customer service. Several company executives--Vince Hwang, global product management director; Vitor Souza, global communications director; and Vali Danielescu, global technical support director--responded to our inquiries.

Souza said that BitDefender is aware of the difficulties that customers are having with the Customer Care team, and is taking steps to improve its quality. He attributed the problem to an unexpectedly high surge in customers resulting in part from favorable , and in part from the recent .

Though BitDefender was not prepared for that influx of users, shortly after the virus reemerged, the company launched a to help consumers find answers to frequently asked questions and to provide access to Customer Care. And to increase the number of Customer Care representatives, BitDefender is teaming up with a third-party support company. Meanwhile, Hwang said, the company is working to fix some of the installation and activation issues (such as Maine's) that prompted people to contact support in the first place.

If you're having similar issues with BitDefender, OYS recommends using the Knowledge Base before opening a ticket. Additionally, browse the for a solution, or post a new topic there if your problem isn't covered. If you open a ticket and you don't receive an answer in a timely manner, reply to the confirmation e-mail you received and restate your problem; opening a new ticket only confuses matters for customer support. As for our readers, including Maine, BitDefender resolved all of their issues.