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NEW YORK -- A start-up online-only tech support service is opening its virtual doors, aiming to fill the void after hardware warranties expire--typically, these days, after only a year.

LiveRepair.com showing its wares at PC Expo/TechXNY here this week, is designed to help you out of your PC jams for $99 a year--regardless of your vendor brand. The flat fee entitles you to unlimited help for hardware and software problems (including peripherals) and how-to questions. The company also provides an emergency disk to save your PC after the hard drive has failed.

LiveRepair offers only online support, but technicians are standing by 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help. The techs will handle problems related to PCs of any age, starting with Windows 95 up to Windows XP. Linux is also supported; Mac systems are not.

The company also offers a three-month plan priced at $30, and a six-month plan for $50. If you're using the service for business PCs, you pay the fee for every computer. Consumers are charged one fee for a household. If you're unhappy with the service, LiveRepair will let you back out of the plan after 15 days without any charge.

Online Contact Options

Here's how LiveRepair works: If you need help with a PC problem, such as a printing conflict, you initiate the dialogue by whisking off a description of the problem in the LiveRepair Web-based application. Your query is routed to a technician and a chat will follow.

The tech may request remote control of your PC in order to diagnose and perhaps fix the problem. The LiveRepair tech can also launch a screen-sharing application so you can both watch the operations on the screen. The tech may run automatic repair tools or take some other actions to fix the problem. The company's goal is to fix a user's problem in 15 minutes, on average, says John Becker, LiveRepair.com's president and chief executive officer.

You can also contact LiveRepair via e-mail, if you don't need help immediately. A tech will respond using the instant chat feature or e-mail. LiveRepair aims to have the average problem solved via e-mail within two hours or less.

LiveRepair does not offer any telephone help.

"Phone support is something we are considering," Becker says. "Going that route would change the economics of our business." It might cost customers more, since it's typically more expensive to provide, he acknowledges. LiveRepair expects to learn whether virtual contact solves the problem--in more ways than one.

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