šŸ”’ 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.


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 wasnā€™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 ā€œMr. On Premises.ā€

-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 ā€œenable cross website trackingā€. 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 ā€œpauseā€ Windows when idle.

-In another Parallels story, Jerry finds a resolution to his problem with Joeā€™s helpā€¦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.

556: Assume The Magic Pose

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ā–¶ļø New: watch on YouTube!

Topics:

-We get into the future of Vision Pro and whether or not we will be getting one of our own.

-What are the ideas or use cases for the Vision Pro and is the cost worth it?

-Would you pay to rent a Vision Pro?

-Sam wants to know if people ā€œdress upā€ for video calls.

-Sam recently set up zoom rooms and new A/V equipment.

-Joe had some issues with continuity camera and how apps will only see the iPhone when it is in the ā€œmagic poseā€.

-Jerry has an ā€œI should have known thisā€ moment with text messaging.

-Hudu is an online documentation tool used by Jerry & Sam. Jerry had concerns about storing sensitive data, like passwords.

-Joeā€™s dad has a curious issue with his iPhone Home Screen.

-An ex freelancer of a client Joe supports had an issue where the company Lock Screen message still appeared on the screen, even after unenrolling from MDM. Turned out to be a FileVault issue.

To be discussed on a future show:

-How much do we actually need Watchman Monitoring? Can an MDM like Addigy fill the void?

-Apple rescoring recent exams

Thanks to our Patreon sponsors!

555: A Desperate Cry For Help

ā–¶ļø New: watch on YouTube!

Topics:

-Has Sam really not backed up in an extraordinary amount of time?

-This sparks a discussion about backup policies in general.

-We talk about the 3-2-1 backup strategy and how relevant it still is.

-Joe shares a client story about how a calendar syncing app removed calendar history.

-If youā€™re a consultant, finding a backup service with affiliate options can be beneficial financially.

-We are constantly fighting the good fight about keeping macOS and hardware up to date.

-Joe charges a fee for working with unsupported Mac computers.

-There is a difference of what we will support, depending on residential vs business clients.

-How reliable is Time Machine?

-We share some details from our rates and plans survey. Join us on Patreon to hear more.