[H-GEN] Expert software

[Harry Phillips]

(Note reply-to: being general at humbug.org.au vs Harry Phillips <hfphillips at iname.com>)

Does anyone know of any software or a web site that helps users diagnose or at
least narrow down the problem area on their computer.

I work on a help-desk and we often get a job logged like "Can't print from
Word", it turns out to be they haven't even tried printing from anything else
and they can't print as their printer is setup connected to LPT1 when the
printer is actually on the network.

The reason I'm asking is that I am thinking about creating a system where the
user is prompted to answer basic questions that will narrow down their problem.
I was thinking of doing it via a Web interface on a intranet site hosted on a
linux box.

Taking the above example:

My printer isn't printing

Is the printer local or on the network?
A. Local
B. Network.
C. Don't know.

If C is selected then it goes through steps to determine if they should have
selected A or B. When the customer gets down to as far as they can ie. fixed or
needs someone to visit, I want to be able to enter the information into a
database that the techs can access to find out what jobs they have to attend to.

Is there an all-in-one solution that is available for a linux machine. (ie web
serving, database entries, mail notifications, etc ) or will I have to install
separate components and get them interacting and working the way I want to
(Apache, SQL server, sendmail etc). My feeling is the latter will be the case.

Regards
Harry
 --
"My train of thought is a runaway"
	Calvin and Hobbes


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