COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE Best Buy's Geek Squad members may have their pseudo-cop uniforms, ersatz detective parlance and VW Beetle patrol cars, but a Kelowa, B.C.-based tech support firm says its technicians are even "geekier." Steve Wandler, CEO ofYourTechOnline.com Inc. (YTO) is never ashamed to say he "only hires real geeks" and that his technicians don't even drive but stay indoors hooked to the Internet all day long. One of the main advantages the six-year-old Web-based company has over Geek Squad is that YTO personnel are available 24/7 and are guaranteed to start working on a client's computer within 15 minutes of being contacted, says Wandler. The YTO technicians basically control and fix a client's computer through the Internet . "This is a faster method than waiting for a technician to show up on your front door, more convenient than lugging your computer to a repair shop and cheaper than maintaining your own IT department," Wandler said. To accomplish this, YTO uses GoToAssist, a collaboration and support software product developed by Citrix Online LCC of Santa Barbara, Calif. that enables remote sharing of screen, mouse and keyboard controls. Clients simply call YTO to sign up for the service and download the software. The charges range from $49 for 30 minutes up to $179 for three hours. The clock on the service doesn't start ticking until technicians actually commence working on the computer. If you don't use all your minutes, they remain available for a year. The service is also transferable to any machine. Among the services provided by YourTech technicians are virus and spyware detection and removal, application and device support and reformatting. Wandler says his online technicians are based across North America and serve more than 53 countries around the world. The benefits of YourTech Online go beyond savings for Karen Farrington, principal of a Florida-based consultancy firm called Suntoast Meetings & Events. The head of the 10-person meetings and events firm has been using the service for the last four years, but just last week her YTO account paid off by way of invaluable client relations “brownie points.” She was working with the executive director of client organization when the officer's computer started to malfunction. Using her transferable service account, Farrington contacted YourTechOnline. Within an hour a technician was able to resolve the client's computer problems. "They (YTO) made me look very good to my client. Here I was a mere SMB (small and medium scale business) and I was able to help them with a big problem in minutes." | 
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