Over the next 45 minutes, we looked up IP addresses in a DOS screen, changed some of the system configuration settings and re-booted a half dozen times to solve the problem. My technician, fondly known as Bob the Geek, even offered a few tips on how to bypass those pesky applications that launch every time the computer boots up.

Bob is an over-the-phone technician at Speak with a Geek (www.speakwithageek.com), a San Diego tech support service that, along with a couple of others like it, offers an alternative to support services offered by Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Apple and other big-name computer manufacturers.

These third-party tech support services - growing in popularity in the last year or so - are finding that consumers want a one-stop technician for all the questions, concerns and problems they have with their computers and are willing to pay a premium for it.

The fees, which range from $89 per year for entry-level services to $300 per year for enhanced service plans, are proving profitable for these companies while their main competitors, PC makers, software companies and hardware manufacturers have cut back in-house support services when it comes time to trim costs.

The idea behind Speak with a Geek and the others - notably Ask Dr. Tech and PC Pinpoint - is that the technicians with these companies don’t care if your Dell computer has an HP printer, Canon scanner, Linksys router or Logitech keyboard connected.

Jim Pojda, vice-president of business operations at San Francisco’s Ask Dr. Tech, said one of the most frustrating experiences with traditional tech support services is the tendency for one company to point the finger at another and advise consumers to contact the other company when they can’t figure out the problem.

When a technician at Ask Dr. Tech (www.askdrtech.com) answers a call, he’ll diagnose and problem solve, not finger-point, Pojda said.

‘‘We don’t point someone to Microsoft or HP as a remedy,’’ he said. ‘‘We want to make sure the remedy is found.’’

Finding the remedy is often the easy part. It’s uncovering the problem that’s the challenge.

That’s where PC Pinpoint - a similar yet uniquely different company - enters the picture.

PC Pinpoint (www.pcpinpoint.com) is trying to re-invent the traditional methods of tech support by using the Internet to pinpoint the problem before involving an actual technician.

Via a dial-up or broadband Internet connection, PC Pinpoint scans a customer’s computer to identify the operating system, recognize added peripherals and locate critical files.

In some cases, PC Pinpoint can fix the problem without the customer ever having to talk to a technician - sometimes just by uploading a missing file. In other cases, the technician can walk the customer through the fix in a matter of minutes - simply because no time was wasted trying to locate the source of the problem.

‘‘I think we’re revolutionizing the way tech support is being done,’’ said Bob Wing, CEO of Colorado-based PC Pinpoint. ‘‘We can solve 65 percent of the problems without getting a technician involved.’’

Sometimes what seem to be big problems stem from little things such as missing files or corrupt drivers.

‘‘It makes the business model efficient because you don’t have a technician on the line all the time,’’ Wing said.

But that way of doing things may be too much, too soon for some consumers.

Cindy Torres of Fremont, Calif., has been a PC Pinpoint subscriber for three years and is a big fan. She’s been impressed by the service’s way of identifying problems, more than satisfied with the knowledge base of the technicians and happy with the subscription fees.

But sometimes, she said, she just wants to call in for a quick fix of some sort without having to go through the Internet scanning process.

‘‘Sometimes, I would have preferred a person on the phone from the beginning,’’ she said.

While customers are welcomed to call in as a first step, the folks at PC Pinpoint said the scan is intended to give the technicians the information they’ll need to solve the problem without having to diagnose it in the slower, old-fashioned way.

Technology has improved dramatically over the past few years and that’s resulted in changes to the way people use their computers, said Dan Sullivan, president and co-founder of Speak with a Geek.

Subscribing to an alternative tech support plan allows consumers the means to check on the computer’s well being, not just having to wait for it to break down.

‘‘The general idea had been ‘If it’s not really broke, then don’t fix it,’’’’ Sullivan said. ‘‘But technology should work the way people want it to work. Period. There shouldn’t be exceptions. With adding new computers and networking new devices, there’s a new issue of connectivity.’’

Computers should work right, not just good enough, Sullivan said. Computers deserve preventative maintenance, just like we give our cars, he said.