314: Give Your Dough To The Baker

Topics:

-Sam has some follow up regarding his “Ubiquiti Hell” from a few weeks ago.  In the end, it turned out to be a bad UniFi USG device.

-Joe has some wise sayings to share that ring true in our industry and the value we bring as consultants:
"Let the Baker Bake the Bread, even if he takes half the Dough" - Persian Saying 

“Give your Dough to the Baker, even if he will eat half the bread.” 

-Sam says we are like bomb technicians.  “You are paying us to know which wire to cut.”

-Jerry has some follow up about two factor authentication being baked in to one of our favorite apps, 1Password.  This was brought to our attention by long time listener, Michael Reinhart.

-Jerry is curious about the various methods of how 1Password can sync you data and what Joe & Sam use

-1Password’s secure options for recovering your security related data can sometimes be off-putting for some users and drive them away from password management tools

-1Password has an affiliate program that is fairly easy to sign up for.  It is run by commission junction.

-Moving back to Addigy territory, Joe expresses his frustrations with the interface at times

-Joe shares a tip about creating a custom table view. There is a view option in the column toggle icon in the top right of the Devices list.  Then you can adjust it and Save the changes using the table view menu in the top left of the Devices list.

-Joe encourages the group to scratch beneath the surface of Addigy and find resources available in the community

-For Sam, he’s been utilizing Addigy to enable MDM features like white listing Kernel Extensions (KEXT) and deploying PPPC profiles.  In the case of PPPC, there is a great Git Hub project that makes the process easier for those who are not familiar with these profiles:
https://github.com/jamf/PPPC-Utility

-Joe covers the topic of User Approved MDM and Sam tags along with a discussion of Apple Business Manager and enrolling into MDM at Setup Assistant.

-Another Git Hub project, UMAD, provides a nice GUI interface to encourage your users to onboard and enroll into UAMDM
https://github.com/erikng/umad

310: What Is Your Specialty?

Topics:

- Jimmy Obomsawin at jimmymacsupport.com in Washington DC and suburban Maryland had some followup to Joe's story about batch renaming files using the Finder, which Joe found out through this iMore article. Jimmy did some investigative work to determine this feature was released back in Yosemite!

- We discuss clients taking matters into their own hands: Jerry's client unplugs Ethernet cables because they claim he told them that would fix it, and Sam's client reset the AirPort back to factory defaults... "was that bad?"

- Joe shares the story of a one-time client with all the wrong equipment, which had been recommended and configured by a "computer friend". The Seagate NAS RAID enclosure failed, and now she's running off of RAID 0 primary storage. Needs new primary storage and new backup, and new workflows, and doesn't have the budget or interest. Sam points out the importance of walking away from a scenario like this before taking on the responsibility (and liability), and Jerry seconds this: "run away!"

- Sam has an update about a client forwarding his recommendations to the former (current?) "IT guy" who will be doing the new equipment setup remotely from Florida.

- Sam talks about lessons shared by Jerry and Joe on a previous show, about how to navigate personal relationships with clients.

- Sam talks about the challenges of selling subscription security services on firewalls, and clients finding parts for cheaper online.

- Jerry reveals a new wrinkle with his MacBook Pro 13-inch 2015 model that may have fallen off the back of a truck, when it comes back from repair and shows it's under management by Amazon

309: The Tech Power Of Magnets

Topics:

-Sam discusses the work/life balance when he’s on the road

-Jerry describes being in “BusyCal Hell” with a small medical office. Joe & Sam weigh in with their thoughts

-As Jerry describes this situation as a hornet’s nest, it reminds Joe of Apple Knowledge Base Article HT201657 where they describe sync services “as if it were a swarm of bees”.

-Jerry reminds us of how BusyCal/BusyMac has changed hands some time ago

-The former “IT guy”. Trust is large part of our relationships and Sam spins a yarn about how that trust was completely broken with a new client relationship.

-An episode of Command Control Power wouldn’t be complete without a gripe from Joe. Safari suggestions is his latest target.

-In some truly amazing sleuthing, Joe shares a client story where he diagnosed an issue with a Mac going dark at seemingly random moments. From afar, he appears to have correctly pointed towards a multitude of magnets that the customer wears. He also recounts a similar story from episodes of the past where he diagnosed an issue with lighting and solar powered keyboards.

-Jerry shares a PSA about Startup Security Utility on Mac computers with a T2 chip: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208198

-Joe has real time follow up! While recording the show, he heard back from the magnetized client who confirms that he was right on the money with his diagnosis.

308: Don't Fear The iCloud

Special Thanks To Our VIP Sponsors!

Topics:

-The Command Control Power team has a call to action to request reviews on iTunes to help support the show. And if you feel so inclined, become a patron:
https://www.patreon.com/cmdctrlpwr

-Joe has experienced some oddities when using Messages at times when he has poor internet connectivity

-Jerry questions why Joe doesn’t use iCloud Messages. Sam admits that he doesn’t use it either.

-An explanation of “SIM hacking” has Jerry & Joe quite concerned. An episode from the Reply All Podcast is what started Joe down this road:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/130-the-snapchat-thief/id941907967?i=1000423456775

-Another show called Cyber Motherboard also discusses this topic:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sim-hijacking-and-the-phone-number-ransom/id1441708044?i=1000423673553

-Joe describes how some clients are skeptical of technology - not using Touch ID because "it will all be hacked eventually". Also not using a password manager and not using secure passwords because they are "giving up control"

-While Sam isn’t entirely convinced, it is a security topic that we should all be paying attention to.

-Sam transitions to a story about how he had to dig into his mindset and workflow for a client he hadn’t touched in many years. It gave him a moment to see how far he had come but at the same time, showed how his lack of notes caused the investigative work to be done.

Thank you to our Patreon sponsors!

307: Don't Get Too Comfortable With This iPad

Topics:

-Joe starts off the show with some follow up and a PSA

-Long time friend of the show, Dave Provine helps clear up information regarding /private/var/db/fpsd/dvp.  Dave explains that those folders are in reference to the fairplay streaming daemon.

-Joe provides a PSA to the team about accessing a computer remotely when Apple Remote Desktop is running.  A simple checkbox in the preferences will allow this functionality.

-Joe shares some of the settings he enables for ARD for security, including storing credentials in keychain and encrypting network data.

-The remote discussion prompts further griping about TeamViewer

-Offboarding clients with remote access like TeamViewer is not always a challenge

-Sam goes on a rant about Apple IDs in a corporate environment and a lack of understanding on the client side

-Joe’s team has a process for migrations and he talks about the challenges he faces when clients have their own assumptions and expectations

-Migration Assistant has presented problems for Sam’s team so he asks for details on Joe’s method

-Finding Retrospect in a user’s StartupItems further solidifies Joe’s method for migrations

-Joe generously shares some of his procedures for migrating data

306: Crazy Like a Fox

Topics:

-The crew starts off the show by discussing Multiple PSAs

-Jerry is able to turn a break/fix client into recurring revenue.  He describes the story of attempting to restore from backup and the hoops he had to jump through to get the job done

-Both Joe and Jerry I talk about the dangers of excluding folders from a time machine back up

-Thanks to Mike Bombeck at Carbon Copy Cloner, Jerry is able to follow steps to downgrade a fusion drive on APFS
https://bombich.com/kb/ccc5/downgrading-apfs-formatted-fusion-volume-from-mojave

-Since Jerry‘s client had updated their operating system on their own, Joe describes the dangers of downgrading and suggests spending that consulting time moving the client forward to the current OS

-An offshoot of Jerry’s Time Machine discussion is APFS conversion and how this process is different in Mojave

-Jerry reveals a bit about how he bills his managed service clients and they discuss the pros and cons of various billing methods

-On the heels of the downgrading conversation, Joe describes having to reinstall High Sierra in order to get Safari working again. Jerry wonders if using Pacifist by Charlesoft would allow viewing the packages in the macOS Installer: https://www.charlessoft.com

-As Joe goes into a story about managing multiple Photos libraries, he discovers that this client has a short lived product called Bevy to centralize their photos.

-Jerry wants to know if he used Power Photos to get the job done
https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/

-Joe delivers a prime example of the standards that his company adheres to by investigating and diagnosing files on a linux device and coming away with the win in converting them to jpg to be used in Photos

-Joe reveals a hidden gem in the Finder which allows batch renaming files