🔒 Patreon Special

IT Pros: exclusive shows await you on Patreon, focusing on the more challenging aspects of running your practice and working with clients and employees.

442: Streaming, It's A Good Thing

/

Thank you to our VIP sponsors!

Special Thanks to our friends:

Topics:

-Jerry encounters a personal situation with a client and Joe recalls similar situations, even remotely.

-Does this photo look like an electrical outlet or two USB ports?

-Joe has a heck of a day involving QuickBooks support.

-Unbelievably, after considerable support time on what he believed to be a Mac, Joe’s client sends him a photo that surprises him.

-Clients lack of planning shouldn’t be our emergency.

-Prepaid hourly blocks can feel like free work if enough time passes.

-Jerry asks the question; Is it Connect4 or Control4?

-One of Jerry’s clients cannot grasp the concept of cloud vs local music. And the A/V tech was not helping.

-Complex A/V systems can be cumbersome for a user.

-Joe experiences problems with a UniFi/Sonos setup.

-Using a modem purchased separately rather than “renting” from the ISP can be a good alternative.

441: Save Changes and Shut Down

/

Topics:

-After conversing with some old friends, Sam hears of the crazy concept of ending your workday at 5 or 6PM.

-Sam feels like he may be reaching a breaking point of work/life balance being tipped too far over.

-He talks about Craig Cohen at HCS who starts his day at 6 AM and leaves his laptop at the office at the end of the day.

-Sam realizes his productivity is hurt by his lack of focus.

-Command-Tab is Joe’s “what the heck am I doing?” shortcut.

-HCS is hiring! We need someone that has Jamf 200 certification or better to join our team. Reach out to Sam via MacAdmins Slack or email if you are interested.

-Joe let’s Sam know that a new hire will actually add to his workload. At least initially.

-What is multitasking?

-Jerry asks the question, should you be taking on less work to fit your life?

-Jerry also talks about the responsibility of taking care of people on your payroll.

-Perhaps a schedule of when to work after hours is a good start.

-Transitioning to tech, Jerry has an odd issue where Apple Mail was not respecting the Reply All button.

-Once you break the drives in a fusion drive iMac, the data is difficult to retrieve.

-Jerry has another weird one after a data transfer.

440: A Link Of Confusion In The Chain Of Trust

/

Topics:

-Jerry finds a great deal with AT&T where you can turn in an older iPhone, only to find that it’s not so great. 

-To top it off, the iPhone he returns gets “lost” in the mail.

-1Password recently released a very welcomed new feature to share credentials with users, even if they do not have a 1Password account themselves.
https://support.1password.com/share-items/

-One of Sam’s clients also used 1Password and he describes how to invite people and share vaults.

-A big win for Daylite (daylitemac.com) as Sam had to retrieve an important email communication with a client in order to show the onus was on the client to make a key decision.

-Both 1Password and Daylite by Market Circle are very friendly to the ACN community.

-Jerry has a good iOS 15 Control Center tip.

-What is Apple Music Voice Plan?

-Sam signed up for AppleOne Premier, since he was already paying for a variety of Apple services  that equalled the same price.

-Jerry is frustrated about how Apple News notifies you about an interesting article, only to show a service he needs to subscribe to.

-One of Jerry’s clients had lost access to their iCloud account. He describes the painstaking steps he had to take to try to have his client remember their iPhone unlock code.

-Joe has almost the exact same story with one of his clients.

438: Interview With Adam Engst Of the TidBITS Content Network

/

Topics:

-This week we welcome back Adam Engst of TidBITS Content Network.

-The supply chain issues are hitting many areas hard.

-Finding people to hire is no easy task of late. Adam gives us his thoughts based on recent research.

-Quality of life is affecting people’s decisions to go back to work.

-Adam uses Keyboard Maestro to automate specific tasks: https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/

-Sam is seeing customers that would rather pick up in store, even if the specifications are not exactly what they want, rather than wait for the supply chain delays.

-Joe & Jerry were comparing new models but didn’t quite pull the trigger.

-Not just increased processing power and unified memory, but faster SSDs.

-The 1080p HD FaceTime camera is still weak but better than the 720p camera in previous models.

-Adam talks about ergonomics like desktop height and keyboard/trackpads.

-He recommends a roller mouse from Contour Designs: https://www.contourdesign.com

-Does virtualization change anything for people on Apple Silicon?

-Gamers are still staying away from the Mac platform.

-Monterey appears to be an easier upgrade process in comparison to the issues that have plagued Big Sur.

-Upgrading from Mojave is still troublesome: https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-upgrade-to-big-sur-failed-stuck-progress-bar-fix-prevention/

-Get your Apple gifts on the early side as supply chain issues could affect timing.

-If you aren’t already a subscriber, get well written, professional Apple Content for you to use with your customers with TidBITS Content Network.

437: Interview With Dan Monge Of Mac IT Pros

/

Thank you to our VIP sponsors!

Special Thanks to our friends:

Topics:

-This week we welcome Dan Monge of Monge IT Consulting / Mac IT Pros

-In addition to running his business, Dan works with Watchman Monitoring in a variety of capacities.

-We have our usual Watchman discussion where we discuss use cases and helpful tips.

-Joe installs Watchman on his company computers as well, to keep tabs on the health of his equipment.

-Dan adds “Connect to Server” shares to make it easier for users to mount network volumes.

-Dan focuses on businesses only and refers any residential referrals to a fellow consultant.

Dan & Jerry talk about the fall of Google Ads and being mistaken for Apple.

-Another hat tip to our friends at TidBITS Content Network.

-smith.ai chat feature has really helped Jerry for no additional cost.

-Zendesk has a chat feature that Sam has put to use.

-What is chaff? Is it champing or chomping at the bit?

-The group discusses failed (or were they?) marketing ideas.

-Do you still use business cards?

-Company shirts and branded equipment gets noticed.

-Dan tries to convince Joe to move away from hourly to monthly plans.

-In Dan’s parting words, he encourages listeners to become patrons.