Update: We got the following statement from Microsoft.

We are aware that some customers have expressed confusion about whether Microsoft provides no-charge support for issues related to security updates. Microsoft has provided no-charge support for issues related to security updates and viruses for several years and there has been no change to that policy.

If a customer believes they're experiencing a security or virus related issue they may contact Microsoft directly for support using the country specific numbers provided at support.microsoft.com/security. In North America, customers can call 1-866-PCSAFETY for this support.

To help improve the customer experience, Microsoft has recently made changes to the PC Safety line in order to ensure customers are connected directly to a PC Safety agent, at no charge, when they dial the PC Safety line.

If customers feel that they have been inappropriately charged for a security or virus related issue they should contact: 1-800-Microsoft.

We got reactions to some of our previous stories that some of the patch support relating to the recently released patches was not being offered for free in reality.  We are being assured by our Microsoft contacts that it is indeed intended to be free, and that they are willing to work with us to find out what went wrong.

So if you want to participate in a little study together with Microsoft, let us know what you tried that they (tried to) make you pay for and add in your contact details such as telephone numbers to be shared privately with our Microsoft contacts.

More anonymous reactions can go to the new poll, but we're looking for a few cases that are usable to find out where it goes wrong.

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Swa Frantzen -- NET2S