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069: Interview with Ben Greiner, Forget Computers

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Recorded live on September 23, 2014

We're sponsored this week by Smile.  Visit smilesoftware.com/restart for great Mac, iPhone, and iPad software, and recommend it to your clients! Smile makes three of our favorites: TextExpander, PDFpen, and PDFpen Scan+.

Topics:

- first, we discuss our frustrations trying to navigate phone plan options

- we feature an interview with Ben Greiner of Forget Computers, discussing the new version of RobotCloud and SupportMenu

- check out the Device Scout Demo or get the Beta of Starter Kit

- Ben wrote an article explaining Best Practices for Creating Apple IDs in an organization

- Sam reports back on his recent APS gig, and reminds us that Apple Configurator is now DEP aware

- how iOS 8 is changing the game: http://www.macstories.net/stories/ios-8-changed-how-i-work-on-my-iphone-and-ipad/

- Joe offers a fix for problems with AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext and AirTrafficHost.framework; Apple called Joe to ask what fixed it

068: Motor City

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Recorded live on September 16, 2014

- Sam's Detroit fast food field trip - old school McDonalds

- 1 Infinite Loop Branded Flak Jacket for those tough road trips - image

- brief discussion of iPhone 6 vs. iPhone 6 Plus; Jerry points out that iPhone 6 has similar footprint to iPhone 5 in Mophie Air case; see also this helpful on-screen size comparison

- Sam follows up about his client with an HP motherboard issue, which HP diagnosed as a bad drive; HP’s hired tech took the hard drive and “completely forgot” about it

- Jerry discusses pitching Watchman Monitoring - When signing up for Watchman, Tweet the hashtag #ccpsentme and let them know you heard about Watchman product here.

- benefit of a personalized “pitch” email written with TextExpander, vs. a generic newsletter; see also Greg Scown, co-founder of Smile, discussing the new TextExpander touch 3

- check out the 1Password App Extension for iOS 8; another example of iOS 8 changing the game for developers and users

- Mac malware/adware discussion; search Google for "Adobe Flash Player" and check out the ad at the top; claims to install Adobe Flash, but shows the Firefox logo, and actually installs Geneo; why doesn’t Google block these ads? why doesn’t Apple block the installer?

- Thomas Reed, author of TheSafeMac.com, writes about recent Mac adware and Apple’s minimal response; also maintains AdwareMedic

- Channel Camp registration is open

067: Watch Me Do

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Recorded live on September 9, 2014

This week, we're thrilled to be sponsored by Watchman Monitoring.  Visit WatchmanMonitoring.com/cmdctrlpwr to find out how Watchman Monitoring can keep an eye on your client machines and notify you of over 100 issues.  When you sign up (and we know you will), be sure to tweet @cmdctrlpwr #CCPsentme to let us know and support the show!

Topics:

- Which Watch?

- iPhone 6 vs. iPhone 6 Plus? compare sizes to iPhone 5

- back pocket vs. front pocket?

- Sam's story of a client unplugging the backup hard drive from the server because they thought it was slowing the system down – should have had Watchman Monitoring installed, which can let you know if a drive is unmounted

- Joe moves his Drobo disk pack from old Drobo Gen 2 into new Drobo Gen 3 and realizes huge speed increase: 123.7 MB/s write & 171.9 MB/s read vs. 27 MB/s write & 24.6 MB/s read; Sam is already using his new Drobo Gen 3 as primary storage on his home server

- Software Update prompts to upgrade the Mac OS on a Server, which kills the Server: we consider this a bug!

- something goes wrong, end user flails, copies and pastes from forums, then finally calls you, the professional

- Bender from Forget Computers automatically backs up server settings

 

066: Joe Gets Burned

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Recorded live on September 9, 2014

1) Open Relay On Mac Server

One of my clients received a call from Comcast Security requesting that 
they block UDP port 53 because the IP address is being used in a reflector 
attack. As I understand it, these are common for DDOS attempts and is 
sometimes referred to as an "open DNS resolver”.

According to Comcast, it is not internal. The IP address is being uses as a relay- http://openresolverproject.org
"Open Resolvers pose a significant threat to the global network infrastructure by answering recursive queries for hosts outside of its domain. They are utilized in DNS Amplification attacks and pose a similar threat as those from Smurf attacks commonly seen in the late 1990s."
You can test your IP address here - http://www.thinkbroadband.com/tools/dnscheck.html

https://blogs.akamai.com/2013/06/dns-reflection-defense.html

2) Unbootable iMac  Late 2010 i7

http://www.macworld.com/article/1145418/unbootablemini.html

You can bypass the password by changing the amount of physical RAM inside the computer and then resetting PRAM during the first boot immediately after the RAM change. In other words, if you change the amount of RAM in a Mac, it will start up normally one time to give you a chance to reset the PRAM; if you don’t reset the PRAM during that boot, firmware-password protection will be restored the next time you boot.)

3) iCloud Gotcha’s

Son had purchased iPad and logged into mothers account deleted all contacts.

Contacts since installation of time capsule was never opened, so Contacts added since time capsule installation never did a sync 

 ďŁż In addition noticed behavior adding contacts through text did not sink because contacts in Gmail and iCloud for both turned on with the same email account name 

Other links mentioned:

- client email addresses being added to spam list: http://mxtoolbox.com

https://forgetcomputers.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201008710-Bender-Automated-Backup-of-OS-X-Server-Settings

http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2014/08/17/uninstalling-app-store-apps-from-the-command-line/#more-5239

064: Interview with Jon Schwenn, Lead Engineer of MacMiniVault.com

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Recorded live on August 19, 2014

- Interview with Jon Schwenn, Lead Engineer of MacMiniVault.com (CyberLynk Networks)

- benefits of colocation vs. on premises hosting: physical security, physical safety, reliable internet and power

- types of common services running on Mac mini: backup server, file sharing, ESXI, Daylite, Xcode Server, MacPractice, Rumpus, FileMaker, LightSpeed

- NewerTech Headless Mac Video Accelerator @ $19 from OWC; uses Thunderbolt: possible to connect later in daisy chain; vs. fit-Headless which uses HDMI; side benefit: screen saver and screen lock work properly

- Joe's story of Apple Store achieving 80% Mac mini Server setup after six weeks, finally referred client to ACN; two hours later, server is 100% good to go