@Pete-S said in deploy iPads - locked down - suggestions?:

Signage displays use vesa mounts so it's easy to find different mounting options. Could have something that could be angled.

I would also consider disinfection when something is used in healthcare by the public.

FTFY

Off top I can think of a few options to help remove the dependence of Excel. This is a short list.

Microsoft Power Apps
Google App maker
Quickbase
Zoho Creator

@krisleslie said in Large network of Windows machines without AD - GO!:

😞

eh?

@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:

@scottalanmiller said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:

@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:

@scottalanmiller said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:

@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:

We have workflows that are station based - not person based - think call center.

Now this, Teams is not good at.

True - but often management is likely mis-sold on the idea that handsets are no longer needed, and instead the user uses their computer/cellphone as their device.

that's a totally separate issue that applies to all phone systems.

meh - it can apply to all phone systems, but I'm guessing it generally doesn't apply to those installing the Mitel/3CX's of the world. It's a mindset thing. It's also the sales person selling the stuff thing.

I don't know, 3CX pushes that pretty hard.

because it's not uncommon to do 2+ searches in a row. Now they have to close the window between searches... which means it's broken.

This is more about books than movies for me, but one of my greatest regrets with good books is that I can never again read them for the first time. There is something in the flavor of the story that is lost in the knowing. For me. My wife prefers to read the last chapter if things get at all tense.

@Dashrender said in Lastpass missing from Chrome this morning:

@Obsolesce said in Lastpass missing from Chrome this morning:

@Dashrender said in Lastpass missing from Chrome this morning:

@Obsolesce said in Lastpass missing from Chrome this morning:

@Dashrender said in Lastpass missing from Chrome this morning:

I've had nearly a dozen users contact me this morning telling me that Lastpass was missing from Chrome this morning.

The latest version of Chrome is 78.0.3904.97 and was released Nov 6, 2019, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't an update that took it out.

Anyone else see this? Never any issues.

Is why I use "Edgeium"

I like Chredge better 😛

I wouldn't expect things to ultimately be different between Edge (chromium based) and G-Chrome because the base is the same. MS can't afford to deviate that much from the base, otherwise they end up with issues.

Haha, Chredge wins!

Well, it's different enough that all mine keep working consistently. We don't know what they are changing, or at least I don't. We could assume as such, but look at how different all the Linux distros are even though they share the same base (kernel).

yeah - who knows. Plus MS is always going to be lagging behind Chrome in releases, so what issue might hit Chrome, might not hit Chredge for a week or two.

Chrome != Chromium either

Chrome is based on Chromium.
Credge is based on Chromium.

@Pete-S said in laptop slow after installing Spectre/Meltdown mitigations:

Wasn't the bios also involved in these mitigations?

In so much as a micro-code patches for the processors are concerned - yes. My processor is updated to the most current, Oct 2019. Doesn't matter - performance still sucks!

I applied these reg changes, rebooted - then applied a script I've done many times before. It was amazing how slow the script ran compared to other machines. I took a video, I'll see about posting it later.

@Dashrender said in Scam calls/emails:

@JaredBusch said in Scam calls/emails:

@scottalanmiller said in Scam calls/emails:

@Dashrender said in Scam calls/emails:

the EHR vendor say - nope not us - unless we've had such a catastrophic hack that we can't detect it in our logs.

"Not in our logs" is a pretty weak defense of not having been hacked.

While true, I would also lean towards his network being infected and him not knowing it, over a large EHR vendor.

We also know (assume as a smaller SMB) he has no SEIM to give him information about the state of his network.

I definitely agree with this. The odd thing is we can't find a correlation between these incidents. Not the same doc, not the same staff, not the same computer.

Same network, though.

@Dashrender said in Excel freezing:

@wrx7m said in Excel freezing:

@VoIP_n00b said in Excel freezing:

Excel is a bitch

Especially, here. They are running all their forecasts through it. Excel using something like 16GB of RAM for one sheet.

As much as that likely belongs on a DB server somewhere - who's going to set it up? and program the new interface, etc?

yeah. that has been in the works for over a year. We are syncing the data to SQL and then will be able to run queries and also export it to Domo.

having a slow day ... eh i get that

@scottalanmiller said in Windows Offline files:

@black3dynamite said in Windows Offline files:

@wrx7m said in Windows Offline files:

@dbeato said in Windows Offline files:

I disable Windows Offline Files for that reason, it is a pain to deal with and causes more problems than anything else. But yeah, even if it was locked out and the computer went to sleep it will mark it as offline since the computer detected a change on the network connectivity.

^^This. I have been disabling offline files for 15+ years. It never works the way people expect. #chasingghosts

It’s been about two years for me too since moving away from Windows Offline Files to Nextcloud/OneDrive.

And no regrets, I bet.

I would expect a similar situation to still exist for the situation I put forth above.

@IRJ said in Email investigation - have we been hacked?:

@Dashrender said in Email investigation - have we been hacked?:

one of the addresses is for an @ameritrade.com address, but only for one person. I have yet to find any connection via google searches between this person and ameritrade.... so I'm not sure why this was tried?

Thoughts?

You dont have that data either, right?

What do you mean?

@notverypunny said in Meraki Bells and Whistles:

Changing to Ubiquiti is something that we've discussed here. We're currently on Meraki for our APs only (checked the firewalls / security appliances but dodged that bullet)
Does Ubiquiti do the following? (We're currently using these features and having to retrain the users would be a real PITA)

WPA2 Enterprise tied to Radius based on AD Group membership for company issued / owned laptops AD integrated splash sign-on for mobile / byod ability to create guest users Fully isolated access for the BYOD and Guest SSIDs

Yes, it does supports WPA Enterprise. The RADIUS Server needs to be on a Linux or Windows Server. If not AD you can use it from one of the XG firewalls. Not for AD but you can do it for the Guest network Yes, you can create guest users or give them vouchers Guest devices are Isolated to the AP you are on (they can still ping devices on the same AP they are on in their same network).

@Skyetel said in VOIP.ms more secure:

SIP Trunking by IP is so much better than registration, we don't even allow you to register.

About a year ago, a customer came to us from one of our competitors that used SIP Registration. A hacker broke into his PBX, and instead of relaying all the calls through his PBX like they normally do, they got his SIP Trunking username & password for his carrier. They then proceeded to register half a dozen systems and burned through tens of thousands of dollars before the carrier realized something was wrong. They then forced him to pay the bill (which is why he quickly looked to move away to us).

I can rant all day about the pitfalls of SIP Registration, but I shall refrain 😛

Multiple failures in the scenario you listed. Anyone of those failures being not there would’ve made the entire thing not a problem.

@JaredBusch said in Taking over IT for a small business:

@scottalanmiller said in Taking over IT for a small business:

@JaredBusch said in Taking over IT for a small business:

@scottalanmiller said in Taking over IT for a small business:

@Dashrender said in Taking over IT for a small business:

LOL - If I were the boss, I could do that. She has already ordered me to remove her from the monthly updates - so I have to nag her to do those manually, they can't be pushed to her via WSUS, because of reboots.

Make sure you have a "get it in writing to remove HIPAA requirement automation."

OH, good one.. She's breaking HIPAA by not being updated.

Over a certain time frame, yeah. 🙂 That's going to be the big motivation here. Maybe he should even go to the owners and say "as you title me an IT decision maker, I meed a sign off to allow disregarding the law and a statement that I'm not allowed to follow HIPAA against my requirements, knowledge, and recommendations." Don't argue it, just make them state that they've accepted responsibility by demanding he not follow HIPAA.

But since automatic is disabled, he has no insight to know the time frame is being kept. So yeah.

Right, even if she promises to do it as HIPAA requires, he needs to be indemnified from that.

@Pete-S said in Laptop setup - multiple monitors, etc - suggestions?:

@Dashrender said in Laptop setup - multiple monitors, etc - suggestions?:

@Pete-S said in Laptop setup - multiple monitors, etc - suggestions?:

Keep in mind that you're using displayport you can run several monitors off one output.

I know this, when I first deployed some HP mini desktop machines, they only had one DP port, but I needed to drive two monitors. This was a new setup, so I had to buy everything. I purchased two DP monitors, and had to buy a DP splitter (if you will) that provided two video outputs. I tried to purchase one again, and DAMN they are crazy expensive.

I need to look into DP monitors that have a second port designed for daisy chaining... something I might do for this project.

Another option is to just look into getting a larger monitor. 2 x 22" is not a huge amount of screen estate.

You could for instance go with a 34" 21:9 like Samsung. Or just go with something bigger like a 40" 16:9 4K.

LOL - do you know the price difference between those? We go from say $320 for two monitors to something like $600+ (often well over $1000). So sure, while it might be nice to have a single huge monitor, the price gap just doesn't justify it.

This is like an extension of "goal level thinking". Stay focused on the goal when asking questions.

@Dashrender said in Meeting software - how do you handle it?:

My boss had an online meeting today - and of course this presenter wanted to use Skype, plain ol' Skype, not Skype for Business.
Skype for Business is installed on Windows 10 by default (which I have not removed) but seemingly, Skype for Business will only allow logons from MS business accounts (which I suppose makes sense).
So - my boss couldn't do her meeting because she was missing the needed software.

So let's get back to the original issue...

Only the boss can determine what software she is going to allow. Nothing that she says, requires, demands, etc. matter, because she's the boss and her actual decision is what goes. Period. No amount of IT banter in this forum can change that, it's fact. Your only way to change this, is to get her removed. So if "do what is needed, instead of what is said" is done, then obviously the correct action is to get her fired. That's not going to happen, so let's not talk like that's an option. She's the boss, she makes the rules, and using these products are her decision, end of story.

Skype for Business isn't a factor here.

Your boss could do her meeting. That she didn't is, again, all on her. Yes, you can help here if she tells you what she has decided to use and asks you how to use it. But she wasn't missing software, she just didn't know how to use a product she agreed to use and presumably didn't ask for help early enough on it.

In this one case, the fix is training the head of IT how to use a web based Skype interface. That's easy if she is okay with that. This assumes many things, though, as it seems that many of the problems come from the boss being capricious and illogical. So any given fix may or may not make her happy, we can't tell.

In other cases, there is no universal answer. We fix this by not allowing other companies to dictate our software stack. Things like Skype are allowed specifically because they work in any browser. But things like Webex are not because... we simply don't have the infrastructure to make them work and it is on the vendor to provide viable systems.

At the end of the day, she is the boss and her actions not her words are her actual rules. Words that conflict with actions aren't your mandate, they cannot be.