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208: Nights of the Residential Roundtable - Part One

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Command Control Power listeners, sign up for the next MacTech Pro Event in your area.  Dates are ongoing.  Register using the link http://pro.mactech.com/go/ccp/ to receive $299 off event registration!

Meet our guests for the Residential Roundtable discussion:

Adam Rice - With 18 years' experience in IT, web development, and project management, Adam solves technology problems and design technology solutions for home users and small businesses. He also coaches individuals in time & task management and organization.
http://adamrice.org
@adamriceorg

Andy Espo of Call Andy Macintosh Consulting - With small business and high-end residential as their market focus, Call Andy Macintosh Consulting provides strategic technology and process management consulting along with installation and support for Macintosh computers, iOS deployment and networks.
http://www.callandy.com
@andyespo

Remie Cremers of Super Remie - Remie has been using Apple products since 2008 and loved it so much that he decided to make a job out of it.  In 2013 he started Super Remie.  Whether you need advice, a workshop, or a complete installing of all of your hard- and software, he's your man.
https://superremie.nl
@RemieCremers

207: "Live" Updating Your Credit Card At The Apple Store

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Topics:

Patreon sponsorship is changing

Jerry comes up with a new way for the show to raise money

Our next live show will be at ACEs 2017

Joe has some follow up about Circle with Disney

A discussion brews about virtual & live answering services:
Call Ruby

Sam proctored the Support Essentials exam for Joe & his employees. How did they all do?

We learn even more about Joe's extensive staff

Sam describes an odd permissions issue with Microsoft Office 2016 and an SMB share on macOS Server

Joe has seen some issues with Sophos Home that have affected his client's web browsing experiences

Some follow up for Sam who had strange DNS entries on his computer

Jerry had recent interactions with the always supportive staff at Carbon Copy Cloner

Synology had an issue recently with DSM Update that caused issues for some of their NAS devices

An unfortunate miscommunication caused a mixup for one of Sam's clients 

Remote support isn't all its cracked up to be, as Joe reminds us

Elevation Lab created the Battery Pro, a combo iPhone & Apple Watch charger

Thanks to all of our Patrons!

206: Eating the Residential Crow

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This week, we are proud to be sponsored by Watchman Monitoring

Topics:

Jerry talks about eating "residential crow" to invite more work on the residential side

Some of the pitfalls and challenges of a residential client are discussed

Jerry provides details of the agreement he has his clients sign before beginning work

"Ever since you left..." is a phrase that is heard often in our world

Animals provide their own challenges but it doesn't just happen in the residential space

Thick skin is a necessity in this business

Alfred is Jerry's go to productivity app for macOS:
https://www.alfredapp.com

Joe provides some follow up about Promise Pegasus & OWC ThunderBay from last week's show with Kevin Ginger

Synology NAS & Seagate drives come up and specifically, Jerry gives us his thoughts on Seagate's IronWolf Health Management:
http://blog.seagate.com/business/how-to-boost-nas-health-ironwolf-health-management-and-synology-nas/

Come join us at ACES this year and attend our live show for a chance to win a 6 TB IronWolf drive from Seagate!

Listener Feedback:

Tim Hannon offers some advice on acquiring new clients.  Ask your vendors and other professionals for referrals to other clients and build a network.

Daniel Escobar gave us a funny anecdote about a certain keyboard shortcut

Jerry has the opportunity to use the QuickTime feature that allows you to see an iOS device remotely when plugged into a Mac.  Joe chimes in with a story of his own.

 It brings up the topic of built-in apps allowing to be removed from iOS

Yahoo offers an account key feature to increase security of their services

205: A Square With Rounded Corners

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Topics:

Jerry picked up a USB-C to Ethernet adapter with "groovy" lights
-Anker USB-C Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

Some Apple Watch discussion with regards to unlocking your Mac and updating

Sam & Jerry get into some iCloud Family Sharing and Child Apple ID issues

Jerry recommends a couple of apps for extracting data from iOS devices:
-ecamm PhoneView: http://www.ecamm.com/mac/phoneview/
-iMazing: https://imazing.com

Jerry provides live tech support for iOS storage issues due to a large Photos library

Joe demos Circle with Disney and have a successful presentation at a local school
-https://meetcircle.com
-Now they offer Circle Go for outside of the home network: https://meetcircle.com/circle-go/

Jerry recounts a story of a client diagnosing a "rogue IP" on their network

Joe's client has QB issues and deals with phony tech support.  It brings up the common issue of fake sites in legitimate Google searches.

The guys talk about the level of FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) amongst people with regards to technology

Aw Snap! - Joe brings up his disdain for Google Chrome's error messages

Our call for feedback about joining the Apple Consultant Network (or not) was answered by our listeners and brings about some discussion

204: PSI Tools & NAS Storage With Kevin Ginger

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Topics:

Joe talks up his PsiTool and the benefits of keeping up to date external volumes as a diagnostics drive.  He also discusses his use of SoftRAID

To no surprise, Carbon Copy Cloner comes up in the methods of creating the PsiTools partitions
https://bombich.com

Highly recommended: SanDisk SDCZ880-256G-G46 Extreme PRO 256GB USB 3.1 Solid State Flash Drive
http://amzn.to/2oonKjm

Jerry gives us a run down of Volitans Software, used by Watchman Monitoring: https://www.volitans-software.com

We get the history behind Joe's company name!

Kevin Ginger (@kginger_cons) joins us for the second half of the show!

Diving right in, the group discusses Kevin's recommendations on QNAP & Synology

QNAP, Inc. - Network Attached Storage (NAS)
https://www.qnap.com/en-us/product/model.php?II=233
-TVS-1282T :: QNAP
-TVS-x82T Thunderbolt 2 NAS supports tiered storage, application-based partitioning and network traffic distribution, provides DAS/NAS/ iSCSI SAN triple solution, and enables 4K 60 fps video transfer and display.

Kevin also had the opportunity to speak at MacTech Pro Seattle in March.  Command Control Sponsor is a proud media sponsor of MacTech Pro Events.  Look for it at a city near you:
http://pro.mactech.com/go/ccp/

Sharing a war story, Kevin goes into what happens when your main storage device fails

If nothing more it provides opportunity to tell other clients what can happen if you don't plan for the worst

Kevin will be returning to Aces Conference this year, where we will be holding our special live show.  There is still time to join us and be a part of it!  Click the link below to find out more and register:

 

203: Richard's Time Capsule

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This episode of Command Control Power is sponsored by Watchman Monitoring.  Click the image above to start your risk free trial today: 

Topics:

Unrelated: If you haven't seen it, take a look at this daughter waltzing in while her dad gives an interview on live TV: http://cnn.it/2mDBkjw

Joe has a great story about a replacement Time Capsule.  Jerry and Sam provide their theories.  See if you can figure it out before the big reveal!

Sam describes an awkward situation where the wrong text went to a client

DND - Does it work for you?  Sam talks about how it seems to do nothing for him.

Jerry talks about Wi-Fi Calling with AT&T and how it allowed him to still work while on vacation

Joe counters with the features of Ring Central

Jerry talks about friend of the show David Sparks of the Mac Power Users podcast.  He has a great episode with Sal Soghoian that talks about automation and your business.  

Joe has to deal with a DOA Time Capsule, indicated by a rapid blinking yellow light

After chiding Joe for ordering his MacBook Pro with 16 GB of RAM, Jerry realizes he is RAM constrained on his 8 GB model. He suggests a utility called Clean My Mac:
https://macpaw.com/cleanmymac

He also has positive experiences with Memory Clean, from Fiplab: https://fiplab.com/apps/memFory-clean-for-mac

Jerry poses the question - would you keep an early 2011 MacBook Pro on El Capitan or upgrade to Sierra?

A handy suggestion from Jerry to deal with potential issues on a Mac is EtreCheck from Etresoft: https://etrecheck.com

Sam talks about his new Hyperdrive by Indiegogo. Purchased in the early bird phase on Kickstarter: http://kck.st/2gIfbhg