@IRJ said:

@thecreativeone91 said:

I believe you need to uninstall IE10 first or it will just be installed and not usable, just a heads up.

Yeah luckily I have PDQ packages built to install or uninstall IE10 and IE11. I just didn't have anything built for IE9.

Did that give you what you needed?

I totally agree with @scottalanmiller's point about IT Outsourcers not being quite so defined and "boxed in" in what they do. This makes it harder to talk to non-technical people, because in most other fields, everything is spelled out and defined from a service standpoint. However, when someone looks at you and goes "given our environment, what can you support" and your answer is "yes", they don't know how to respond, because they're used to specialized, bulleted lists, not broad-sweeping statements. They will often go to people who can give them that, even it means having multiple companies doing support and poorer service, simply because they're more comfortable having limited expectations than just a one-stop shop.

@Breffni-Potter said:

@scottalanmiller said:

You don't have partners for an internal IT department. That doesn't even make sense for an IT Outsourcer.

Surely it's a form of marketing/accreditation for companies to recognise, ok if they are a Microsoft Gold Partner in Exchange, Server 2012, they probably have a clue about the Microsoft tech.

Most organisations already have a product that they need supporting, if I am looking for someone to look after my Cisco network, I'm going to look for the company with the Cisco partnerships and connections.

Not necessarily. Many partners don't have any special skillsets with the companies they're partner with. Sometimes it just means they're a very high-volume reseller, which makes them a VAR.

Basically, to reiterate what @scottalanmiller said, if you have a list of specific services you support, products you offer, and products you work on, you're an MSP, because you define what you CAN do for the customer. An IT Outsourcer is basically someone who will walk into your environment and adjust the work and fill the needs of their staff to match what your company has. So with an MSP, if you had some system they didn't know or support, you'd have to find another vendor to handle that piece. With a true IT Oursourcer, the IT Outsourcer would find someone to join the staff or partner with another company to provide the support for that product, because they do everything.

@scottalanmiller said:

@handsofqwerty said:

@scottalanmiller said:

So I guess the question is... what is the question? Sounds like a random person spouting off about something they have not observed, have nothing to do with and aren't your manager in any way?

I guess the real question is how I should address this. This person is always telling me how I'm doing something wrong, or this or that, but nothing they've said has ever been mentioned by a manager, and I'm sure they've said something to the managers. I just don't know if I should go to a manager and ask them about dealing with what's starting to amount to harassment or just try and let it go.

Document what they say each time and how it is incorrect and keep it to yourself. Unless a manager gets involved, what do you care? It's just an annoying coworker.

Ok, thanks.

@scottalanmiller said:

So I guess the question is... what is the question? Sounds like a random person spouting off about something they have not observed, have nothing to do with and aren't your manager in any way?

I guess the real question is how I should address this. This person is always telling me how I'm doing something wrong, or this or that, but nothing they've said has ever been mentioned by a manager, and I'm sure they've said something to the managers. I just don't know if I should go to a manager and ask them about dealing with what's starting to amount to harassment or just try and let it go.

One of them supported only hotels, but they were a Dell partner. Still, I'd consider them an MSP. The other could easily be a VAR. They did technical work but they only sold a solution if it was something Dell offered. Or if a company needed backup, it was AppAssure. Firewall? Sonicwall. Server? Poweredge. Computers? Latitudes and Optiplexes. So yeah, I'd consider my last job in Texas to be a VAR more than an MSP.

@scottalanmiller said:

So they don't even know if you are consulting with other people or not?

This co-worker sits about 12 feet from me. They are in their own little world most of the time, because I know it takes many times the concentration for them to do what I can do practically in my sleep. I've spent a great deal of time making myself more efficient, writing macros to do common tasks to improve speed and efficiency, etc. But they don't monitor everything I do, AFAIK. Technically there is no way they could know if I did consult or not, because I could have emailed or chatted with someone directly, and they wouldn't know.

I should mention you HAVE to open those in IE. Stupid Microsoft IIS site...

I worked for two different MSPs in Texas. One had four teams, each with team leads, and two levels of supervisors above them, an engineering team, a sales/account management team, and purchasing team. Another was much smaller than that but still had probably at least 20 full-time employees, at all different levels. Even they had a small HR team, sales/account management, technical staff, etc. I agree there are plenty of one-man shops, etc, but while this might be the norm, for a one to two person company, there are plenty that aren't.

@scottalanmiller said:

@handsofqwerty said:

@scottalanmiller said:

@handsofqwerty said:

A peer who works the same client.

A peer would imply that they are an IT resource.

They do the same kind of work I do, but they do it from a procedural standpoint. They know if they get alert A, they do X, Y and Z. They don't really understand what they're looking at, and honestly, they don't have to for the position they're in. They just have to know what to look for, and if it is what it's supposed to be, do this. Otherwise, do that.

They don't seem to be a good candidate for bouncing ideas off of then.

I don't. If I have a question, I never go to this person. They had a case assigned to them this morning. An email came in regarding taking an action on the case, and all I did was ask if they'd seen the email. Then all this started.

That should give you what you need. Straight from Microsoft too.

http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/ScopedViewInline.aspx?updateid=054ee1db-db4b-4bfe-9a08-10ce84627542
http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/ScopedViewInline.aspx?updateid=83cbc483-0437-4808-8b90-871bc8d04e96

Taken from: http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Search.aspx?q=internet explorer 9

@scottalanmiller said:

@handsofqwerty said:

A peer who works the same client.

A peer would imply that they are an IT resource.

They do the same kind of work I do, but they do it from a procedural standpoint. They know if they get alert A, they do X, Y and Z. They don't really understand what they're looking at, and honestly, they don't have to for the position they're in. They just have to know what to look for, and if it is what it's supposed to be, do this. Otherwise, do that.

@g.jacobse said:

@handsofqwerty
It's not so much a 'scanning' issue as it is an 'application' issue. The Brother Utility starts - no issue there. but when the user clicks the Control Center 4 option, that is where the issue occurs. It does not run for the user. It does run for the domain and local admin.

Even with GPO modifications and GPUPDATE /FORCE /BOOT

Did you follow the tutorial I gave you for making a shortcut to run as admin without prompting for creds? I've seen this issue before with Brother's CC software, and that's always been the fix.

@scottalanmiller said:

@handsofqwerty said:

@Dashrender said:

Do I understand that you approached this co-worker for feedback, and that's when they disagreed with your lack of confirmation with other co-workers before acting?

Does you MSP run solutions by committee? The few I've worked with don't. The tech assigned generally makes all the calls as needed, when they don't know they escalate.

A case I was working yesterday (when it first opened) was handed off to them today from the previous shift. An email was sent to our distro list by the provider recommending we clear the counters. I just asked them if they'd seen the email with the request by the provider, and that's when they went off on me about this and how I do this totally wrong. I kept saying how I just wanted to make sure they'd seen the email and I wasn't there to argue and kept trying to leave it at that, but they wouldn't drop it.

We don't really run solutions by a committee. If it's something we don't know how to handle, we ask co-workers and escalate as necessary. We can also have duty managers take over cases, etc. But as a rule, whoever has the case makes the call if it's not a specified policy on what to do.

Did a manager say you were doing things wrong? Or just someone non-technical outside of your job?

A peer who works the same client. I've never had a manager approach me saying anything in regards to anything I've done wrong with this client and my technical work has never been scrutinized. I've just had them (my managers) update me on policy stuff, such as who I should have reached out to instead, or in addition to, etc.

A person who has a local real estate office came in last week to my retail store and said how they'd been sold an HP OfficeJet 8600 and it was just not what they needed. I was informed they needed color, fast scanning, something reliable and something that didn't break the bank to maintain. I ended up selling them a Brother MFC-L8850CDW, which is the newer version of what I recommended to @Minion-Queen. I also had them purchase powerline ethernet adapters so we could network the printer via ethernet instead of wifi, as they scan documents in excess of 30-40 pages at times. By the time the sales was complete, I had the 3-year warranty, the printer, a full set of backup toners, and an onsite setup, which brought the total to ~$1200.

After doing the onsite yesterday, explaining how the powerline adapters worked, installing the drivers and software, and demonstrating a scan, an approximately 30-page document scanned in ~2 minutes. It was set to black/white only and 300x300DPI. They could not have been happier and they said how their assistant was going to be thrilled and they couldn't wait to get the text [this] morning hearing how much better it was. They were scanning before with a Brother MFC-7840W cabled but they'd plugged the ethernet cable into the WAN port of the FiOS router, so it was working, and that model is traditionally slow for scanning anyways.

I left the customer's site with them thrilled with their purchase and feeling very confident about my work.

Oh, and for @Nic , they had Webroot on their PCs, which I told them to stick with and that's what I preferred, even though I didn't sell it (and actually used too). I did tell them that my retailer might be selling it in the future, but that remained to be seen. I hope we do!

That made my day!

@Minion-Queen said:

@Dashrender said:

Do I understand that you approached this co-worker for feedback, and that's when they disagreed with your lack of confirmation with other co-workers before acting?

Does you MSP run solutions by committee? The few I've worked with don't. The tech assigned generally makes all the calls as needed, when they don't know they escalate.

Remember that not all MSP's operate like NTG does working as a TEAM to cover for each other.

Yeah, I miss that.

@Dashrender said:

Do I understand that you approached this co-worker for feedback, and that's when they disagreed with your lack of confirmation with other co-workers before acting?

Does you MSP run solutions by committee? The few I've worked with don't. The tech assigned generally makes all the calls as needed, when they don't know they escalate.

A case I was working yesterday (when it first opened) was handed off to them today from the previous shift. An email was sent to our distro list by the provider recommending we clear the counters. I just asked them if they'd seen the email with the request by the provider, and that's when they went off on me about this and how I do this totally wrong. I kept saying how I just wanted to make sure they'd seen the email and I wasn't there to argue and kept trying to leave it at that, but they wouldn't drop it.

We don't really run solutions by a committee. If it's something we don't know how to handle, we ask co-workers and escalate as necessary. We can also have duty managers take over cases, etc. But as a rule, whoever has the case makes the call if it's not a specified policy on what to do.

@scottalanmiller said:

Do you have any ability to select which coworkers you consult with? Are you limited to that one? What is their job that they are a non-technical coworker that you are being asked to talk to?

No, I don't have to consult with this one co-worker, but the point is that there is no policy stating we have to consult with each other or this client for performing this action. My co-worker, I feel, is probably misinterpreting something they heard about something else due to their non-technical nature and background.