I just added this server as a trusted site in IE and it worked

@Dashrender said:

In examples above show how little change in Price there actually is.

Dashrender,

I promise I am trying to be helpful. I went through this with my gf and had to show her why it wasnt a good deal.

Its a big price difference for the carrier and for the user. They lower your monthly payment to try to scam their way into looking cheaper. You actually did the math so you know it isnt cheaper. $460 is alot of money to me. Hell, even $60 is alot to me. Sure they give you a little more data, but do you actually need it? You are just using it to justify the price hike, but if you dont use every single kb of extra data you arent getting your money's worth.

Here is why ATT is the winner:

1. They make more money total ($460 in your case which is HUGE) with less risk. You are likely to continue to use the same amount of data or at least most users at whole will do the same.

2. They now make money on devices not lose it. Sure they dont pay $700 outright for their phones. They probably get them for around $500 and now they are financing them for $700. As I mentioned before, you actually had some equity in the device and it almost retained its value throughout 2 years.

3. Users are more likely to stick with the same carrier now. Before, you were looking at switching every 2 years. Now you can upgrade at will as long as you are willing to re-establish debt with the carrier.

Now you have to pay the full price for the phone for a LOCKED phone and they give you a small break on their services. Since the little guys decided to drop their price recently, the mobile giants had no choice but to lower theirs. It is a very sneaky way that they did it. Since they no longer give you a break on the device, they make more money. Oh and guess what, If you decide to leave, you owe the entire price of the device not a pro-rated ETF. Since the device is depreciating much faster than the $20 monthly payment, you are stuck with the carrier. They tell you no problem, we will get you another device and you start the whole process of being in the hole again.

@Dashrender said:

Now.. all of this said... On this and more expensive phones... the old plans might have been better dollar-wise.

on my old plan
700 mins talk time + rollover mins 6 gig total data = $160/month with a 2 year contract with $200 per phone at purchase time

Over the 2 year life of the contract I would pay $160/month * 24 + $400 = $4240 plus taxes

On a NEXT plan
20 month plan = $195/month * 20 = $3900
To push this out to 24 months we add $130/month *6 = $780
Giving us a grand total of $4680

This means that moving to the new style plan actually cost me $460 over 2 years... for that money I do get unlimited talk mins (I never used my 700) and 4 extra gigs of Data and included tethering. To make the old plan be 10 Gig total and include tethering would have cost $20/month or $480 over two years.

In the end assuming I wanted 10 gigs data and tethering - I end up saving $20 over two years with a NEXT plan.

The problem is that you have ZERO equity into the device. Which is a huge win for the cell providers. When you got a new phone in the past, you basically got it for free. You pay $199 or whatever you had to up front, and you had the choice of paying the ETF or staying on a two year contract. Either way the consumer, basically got the phone free. IF you sold the phone on day one, you could easily get near $600 for it. Which would pay your $199 plus $350 ETF. If you decided to keep the phone for two years and kept in good shape, you could always resell for $150-250 on eBay.

@alexntg said:

Perhaps just picking up some off-hours contract work for server maintenance may be a decent way to go? You'd get exposure to other environments, likely bigger ones, and get paid to do it. You'd also be free to work your day job without being impeded by your side work. You could also sign up with Onforce and keep an eye out for evening jobs.

That's kind of what I was aiming for. Maintaining WSUS, packages, and etc

I am already talking to a potential client about doing an exchange upgrade. Which would need to be done after hours anyway.

Maybe this is a better question, if you were in my shoes and wanted to pick up a few hours a night, who would be your target customers?

@technobabble in all honesty I don't do use it that much. I usually just install the latest version after the Pc has been infected. I remember a few years ago, it got almost everything immediately. The last few times I've used it, it's picked up some of stuff, but I've had to pick the pieces manually

@scottalanmiller what is the most effective way to get your name out there?

What type of business would you recommend as my target group? I am a thinking 50-200 nodes. In my experience and seeing a bunch of really small business posts on SW, it seems that companies that less have less than 50 nodes are not generally IT minded and only spend the minimum amount of money they can

I'm looking at starting a side business. I know there are a lot of MSPs on here that do a little bit of everything. I really want to concentrate on AD, Exchange, and WSUS, and other Microsoft products. I have a ton of experience doing Microsoft setups for different environments.

Since MSPs are a dime a dozen and their skill sets vary as you can see on SW (not here). What can I do to really show my experience in my field. I don't plan to be the cheapest around because really take pride in my work and I feel my clients should pay for my experience.

I thought I knew a lot a couple years ago but posting on SW and manolassi daily has really honed my skills.

I am not looking to work a ton of hours. I would rather work with a few clients and give them the quality work they deserve. I believe documentation is so key. If you follow me SW you will see that. I want my clients to be proud of my work and documentation.

My question is this can I throw a small net (MS skills) and go for a few big fish or do I have to throw a large net and go for numbers? Most people do the second option and learn as they go. Is there a market for a MSP with a niche?

I think Malwarebytes isnt as good as it used to be. I remember the days where it found everything, but it seems to pick up less and less these days

@Bill-Kindle I think your article actually gave a much easier solution. I could just add this particular address as a trusted site. I will try that tomorrow and let you know if it worked.

I need get rid of this prompt in order for our app to work without user interaction. I have looked at the following article and I can see how to disable it completely, but I would like to either allow the IP address or allow just this file. I dont want disable it completely or unblock .exe files. Any suggestions?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/182353-open-file-security-warning-enable-disable.html

You obviously need to sort your OUs by location first, but that will reduce processing time tremendously

@Dashrender said:

@IRJ said:

@Dashrender said:

@IRJ said:

How many GPOs are processing on average for each Windows 8 PC? Do you use WMI Filtering?

two - one for users and one for machines. I use WMI filtering only for printer deployment.

I might take flack for this, but I found it easier to use multiple GPOs and name them by function. I also break my PCs into different OUs by branch or department. I find its more effecient this way because if you know a group of PCs in an OU doesnt need a GPO, it wont even look to process it.

Yeah - but all of my computers need the GPO - at least the base one. I can't really create different GPOs for the printers because the WMI lookup is based on IP, and if appropriate it will map a printer for that location.

Why not just skip WMI all together and Deploy Printers in multiple GPOs (one for each location)?

@Dashrender said:

@IRJ said:

How many GPOs are processing on average for each Windows 8 PC? Do you use WMI Filtering?

two - one for users and one for machines. I use WMI filtering only for printer deployment.

I might take flack for this, but I found it easier to use multiple GPOs and name them by function. I also break my PCs into different OUs by branch or department. I find its more effecient this way because if you know a group of PCs in an OU doesnt need a GPO, it wont even look to process it.

How many GPOs are processing on average for each Windows 8 PC? Do you use WMI Filtering?

I think Windows 8.1 is amazing. Everything is organized much better once you get used to it.

I do dislike the Metro IE Browser, but I also see its benefits in the future. We support online banking for our credit union members and it would be awesome to have a Windows 8 app that used the Metro IE settings. There would be no more user error for IE settings which our 95% of the calls our Member Service Call Center receives. Also, web based apps we use today could be launched from the Metro IE interface with all their settings baked in.

Every review of every product on their site is 5 stars. This is certainly fishy

Dont forget the Mat

http://www.varidesk.com/varidesk-the-mat

@Dominica said:

Pretty pricey for something you have to put on top of another desk.

Seriously.

You know it costs less than $30 to make that thing