199: How Far Up The Dogpile?

Topics:

-Sam runs into a long on-site day with a stack of Mac mini servers

-Clients vary about how much sensitive data they choose share with their trusted consultants

-Phishing scams can prove to be difficult to completely resolve for clients

-AOL or not?  The crew is divided

-Jerry reminds us that email, contacts, & calendars seems to be a area that constantly requires training

-A frustrating client tests Joe.  It leads to a further discussion about dealing with difficult clients.

-Sam has some follow up on the AutoMounter product he found from the App Store
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/automounter/id1160435653?mt=12

197: Free Cheese, Aces Conference & Dogs

Topics:

-Sam leads off with some very exciting news about his business

-Office or no office.  Joe poses the question and reviews some of the pitfalls as well.

-Some follow up from Sam regarding a client resistant to monthly billing

-"The router guy" reaches back out and Sam sees an opportunity for a Ubiquiti solution

-Join us for ACES Conference in May of this year.  Use the coupon code "command" to receive 10% off the current ticket price!

-Consider a VIP session with Mike Michalowicz to learn how to deal with client reluctance to give referrals, the "cringe factor" when your phone rings, working with other vendors.

-The ongoing dilemma of dealing with clients that don't pay on time

-Some follow up from Joe about changing the email address for an Apple ID.  Jimmy Obomsawin (@jimmymacsupport) gives a tip about how to work through the issue if you are stuck with a device using the old address.

-Sam has his moment to use his Apple expertise to assist a traveler on line with a digital boarding pass issue.

-Friend of the show, Matthew Waples (@waples) graciously hosts Sam at a local watering hole in Dallas.

-Extra credit: Some amusing client dog stories get kicked around.

196: Phil Schilmer Calls Apple Support

- We're sponsored this week by:

Watchman Monitoring, a favorite tool of ours that should be in every professional consultant's toolkit.

You can visit WatchmanMonitoring.com/cmdctrlpwr and sign up for your free trial to find out how Watchman Monitoring can keep an eye on your client machines and notify you of over 100 issues. Be sure to tweet @cmdctrlpwr #CCPsentme to support the show! 

Topics:

-Jerry records an encounter with an organization claiming to be Apple support.  "Phil Schilmer" takes the bait.

-After receiving a routing call to setup Windows in Bootcamp, Jerry has some hurdles.
Set up a Windows partition on your Mac: 

-Joe puts a call out to non-ACN listeners to hear your story.  Email or tweet us!

-Sam has a client struggling to understand the value of his MSP model.

-Needing to provide employee monitoring for a client, Jerry researches and reports on ActivTrak. 

-Services like CrashPlan provide cloud based backup, but what about when it's time to restore?  Jerry has to suffer through that slow process.

-Why do end users close the TeamViewer Quick Support window after giving credentials?

-The CCP crew discusses the pros and cons of selling used equipment on eBay.  Jerry tries to organize a tech tag sale.

-Jerry and Sam work together over the weekend to correct an issue with Rumpus running on macOS Server 5. 
http://www.maxum.com/Rumpus/Blog/OSXServer5Conflicts.html

-Refer back to Episode 079 to hear all about Rumpus from its creator, John O'Fallon of Maxum Development.

195: A Friend Of My Nephew Does Our IT Work

Topics:

-Sam has some follow up (or lack there of) from his sketchy router story on show 194.  He also discusses the perils of working with "a friend's nephew".

-Jerry poses a question to the group about spending long days on-site.

-Joe deals with the frustration of dealing with clients that don't respect your time.

-Sam gets bitten by non-responsive Macs due to a security update not being applied: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1908?locale=en_US.  The story turns out to be a win for Sam and Addigy.

Take a look at Addigy for yourself and give it a test drive.

-Sierra Tip of the week - A Finder preference to keep Folders on top when sorting by name

-Did you Patreon supporters receive your tattoos?  If not, send us your address to receive them.

-Joe has a snafu when changing the main email address for an Apple ID.  He shares it as a PSA for our listeners.

-Sam shares an odd iCloud Family Sharing story in the hopes that someone out there has some thoughts...

-Not to be outdone, Joe describes a situation where a customer's devices are showing a two factor authentication prompt seemingly random.

193: Uncle Jimmy's Search Bar & Selfie Of Ulysses

Are there any CCP listeners out there that are not a members of the Apple Consultants Network? We would love to hear from you. Tell us your story!

Topics:

Joe gets a juicy emergency support job and shares the details with us.  It brings about a discussion on surcharges and fees.

Friend of the show David Sparks comes up in conversation as the guys kick around details of contract agreements with clients.

The age old MSP & billing discussion gets kicked around, as it does on occasion.  

While on the topic of the MSP model, we all chime in about an incredible product to manage your fleet of Macs, Addigy.  Give it a test drive by visiting http://www.addigy.com/cmd-ctrl-pwr

Sam brings up a "break/fix" client that wants immediate responses but doesn't want the commitment.

Sam shares an almost unbelievable story of a client that had random photos appear in her Photos library only to find that someone had been signing in to an iPhone using her Apple ID (photo below).

192: Calendar Bankruptcy & Skunky Third Party Memory

- We're sponsored this week by:

Watchman Monitoring, a favorite tool of ours that should be in every professional consultant's toolkit.

You can visit WatchmanMonitoring.com/cmdctrlpwr and sign up for your free trial to find out how Watchman Monitoring can keep an eye on your client machines and notify you of over 100 issues. Be sure to tweet @cmdctrlpwr #CCPsentme to support the show!

TOPICS:

Joe describes his tough day with a client router failing.  PSA: Check your network equipment warranties!

As Joe brings up how great iCloud has been, Sam tells a personal story of woe about syncing issues.  Joe & Jerry offer free consulting advice.

Resetting network settings in iOS resolved an issue for Sam where a user had fiddled with many settings, including which apps operate over cellular.

Joe has some follow up about his fix for removing incompatible extensions in the last show.

A story of another great win for our pals at Watchman Monitoring & Gruntwork!

Sam presents a real head scratcher of a case where an iMac spontaneously kicks the user out of their session and goes back to the login window.  Any suggestions?

Billing and discounts is a common discussion in our world, and Joe recalls some handy tips for showing clients your appreciation.

While on the subject, Sam had a recent need to increase rates for clients and recounts one particular story with a client.

Jerry encounters a situation we have all probably dealt with, when clients attempt to glean as much information from you as possible in an attempt to "do it yourself".

Jerry's client has some challenges working with external displays alongside the new 13" MacBook Pros.

Use the LG UltraFine 4K Display with your MacBook or MacBook Pro
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207447

Use the LG UltraFine 5K Display with your Mac
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207448