560: Interview with Justin Esgar of ACES Conference - May 15th - 16th 2024

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Topics:

-Today we welcome Justin Esgar of Virtual Computers and The ACES Conference.

-Justin gives us his full review of Vision Pro.

-Joe gets practical about flying with a Vision Pro.

-Justin recommends a book called MSP Secrets Revealed (he happens to be in it as well).

-He does not recommend crying while wearing a Vision Pro.

-Our show now uses Streamyard, which Justin highly recommends.

-ACES Conference is back live!

-This is not a technical conference. Rather, it’s more about improving the ways we run and profit from our MSP practices.

-Justin tells us about many of the great names that will be in attendance, as well as Apple and other sponsors.

-Super Ops is giving away an Apple Vision Pro at ACES Conference!

-There will be great swag given away and, as Joe mentions, the hallway sessions.

-This is the 10th ACES Conference!

-Justin tells us why he started, and continues to run this conference.

-All sponsors have some requirements from Justin - no roadmaps.

-Make yourself accountable when you are there. Make the best use of your time.

-We talk about the ACES Mastermind Program. They group meets regularly to help each other accelerate growth of their businesses.

-Use the code commandcontrolpower for 10% off the ACES Conference!

-They are also offering a travel stipend. If your cost of travel is $650 or more ACES will help make it more accessible to be there.

-If the content doesn’t draw you in, come for the skiing!

-Both Joe and Adam Rice have their anniversaries during ACES.

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559: Talking NSITSP with Jason Harrison of Harrison Technology Consulting

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Topics:

-This week we welcome Jason Harrison, of Harrison Tech Consulting.

-He is also heavily involved with NSITSP (National Society for IT Service Providers).

-Jason takes us through the history of his consulting practice, where he handles a variety of operating systems.

-We discuss how IT support is not just supporting the endpoint anymore. You have to be a security expert as well.

-Jason says this is also where the NSITSP comes in.

-The idea of NSITSP is that our industry wasn’t represented well. It is a completely member driven organization that aims to establish high standards and ethics and improve the credibility of IT providers.

-The other aspect of the organization is that legislation is inevitable, and it would serve all of our best interests to be a part of crafting that legislation.

-Sam curiously asks about their code of ethics.

-Compare our industry and ethics to that of a locksmith who may have privileged access and has to have their own code of ethics.

-Want to get involved? Visit NSITSP and look at the membership and volunteering options.

-Switching gears, we get into a conversation about cloud vs private data storage.

-Understand the lack of regulation around cloud data storage.

-Jason uses Kerio Connect and Kerio Control for private cloud setups.

-Just call Jason “Mr. On Premises.”

-Some of the questions to ask a client are their tolerance for risk, exposure, and speed needs.

558: Battery Powered M4 iMac

Topics:

-We talk about on air meltdowns and recall similar situations when dealing with clients.

-When dealing with a financial site, Jerry works with support to “enable cross website tracking”. Tech support is impressed with his technical prowess.

-Similarly, Sam has experienced issues loading the Microsoft 365 admin panes when in Safari private browsing. Refreshing and reducing protection features allows it to work.

-Joe mentions using profiles in Google Chrome as a resolution. Sam uses Arc for this purpose.

-Joe & Sam talk about their 1Password experiences.

-1Password searching can now search note contents (again).

-They also adjusted their billing methods to bill for unverified accounts.

-Joe explains how to find items in macOS.

-Jerry was dealing with a client that kept having QuickBooks issues using Parallels. It turned out to be a feature that will “pause” Windows when idle.

-In another Parallels story, Jerry finds a resolution to his problem with Joe’s help…by finding our own show notes!

-Should you run AutoCAD on Parallels?

-Jerry runs into an issue with MacPractice at a high priority client after a security update. Unbelievably, MacPractice not only does not support macOS Sonoma, but even the latest updates of Ventura.

Best Of CCP - 401: Interview With Ryan Grimes Of My IT Indy

553: The Mac at 40 With Chris Hawver, Tim Pearson, Ted Freitas & Steve Sorbo

Celebrate 40 years of the Mac with Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont, and Joe Saponare, seasoned Apple Consultants Network members. These tech experts share 20+ years of experience through discussions on: solving tech support mysteries, hilarious client stories, and the Mac's impact on technology and culture. Joining them are Chris Hawver, Tim Pearson, Ted Freitas, and Steve Sorbo for a nostalgic journey.

552: Exploring Installomator with Isaac Ordonez of Mann Consulting

Topics:

-Today we will cover Installomator - an excellent Github project originally designed by Armin Briegel, creator of scriptingosx.com and friend of the show.

-To help further that discussion, we welcome Isaac Ordonez, Director of Technology at Mann Consulting.

-Isaac handles a number of different instances and has a lot of experience in Installomator.

-He gives us the breakdown of how Installomator can benefit your fleet. Namely by helping to manage updates.

-Starting out in high school, Isaac has been managing Mac computers for a number of years.

-The days of imaging long behind him, he knew he needed an updated approach to package management and updating applications.

-Isaac talks about “recipes” and how Installomator finds application versions and can help deliver using an MDM.

-The benefit of running from something like Jamf is that the script doesn’t have to be at rest on the client workstation.

-The Installomator channel in the MacAdmins Slack is an incredible resource for support that Isaac contributes to.

-Big shout out to Adam Codega and Sóren Theilgaard!

-Installomator has a print log function. Isaac takes advantage of that by writing all of his instances to a central log.

-They write their logs to Data Dog.

-Sam talks about how he leaned on Sóren to assist with his first Installomator deployment.

-Jerry wants to know more about Swift Dialog.

-Forcing updates for App Store apps is unmanageable. When there are packaged versions, it helps to go that route with something like Installomator.

-If you need assistance getting Installomator off the ground and/or managing, reach out to Isaac’s team at Mann Consulting.