Sometimes in-person, on site work is better than doing remote maintenance. Story time...

The owner’s laptop was telling him it needed updates, and he’s not comfortable doing them on mission-critical software. I get it. I hadn’t been on site there in months, so I made arrangements to do the work in person rather than remotely. Last Thursday I was in his office, and I’m glad I was.

His laptop was ponderously slow on boot-up. I set up that machine a little over a year ago. It’s Windows 11 Pro, modern CPU, lots of RAM. It should be nimble. I called him back into his office and showed him that some of his programs wouldn’t work correctly until after he saw the “black flash” on the screen, which is a custom startup script.

While we’re watching the boot process, he said, “Can you stop Teams from opening every time I turn on the computer?” I said, “Sure.” Other things were opening, too, so I asked, “Is there anything else opening on startup that you don’t use or want?” He answered, “All of them. Nothing needs to open until I want it.”

He went on. “Even my browser opens on startup. I don’t know why.” I said, “Okay, you can go do other things for a while, and I’ll get these programs to stop.”

It turned out that the browser that was opening on startup was one I’ve never heard of, called Shift. Scam Detector rates Shift 42.2 out of a possible 100 points, and labels it “Controversial. Risky. Red Flags.” It looked a lot like any standard browser, but it opened on startup even after I removed its entry from the Startup folder. Also, the name of the entry in the startup folder was “ui,” not Shift. An obfuscated name is sketchy. To make it stop opening on startup I had to open the program and go to its preferences menu.

All of this made me want to check with the owner. I asked, “Is there a reason you started using the Shift browser?” He looked puzzled and said, “What’s that?” I showed him, and he thought it was just the latest tweaks to Microsoft Edge. He didn’t know how it got there. With his permission I uninstalled it. Between removing several startup apps and uninstalling a browser with suspicious behavior, his computer is back to full speed again.

THE LESSON
On site tech support is an important service offering. Most remote maintenance software doesn’t let you see the boot process, unless you’re working for a company large enough to have something like Dell’s iDRAC solution. Small businesses typically don’t have that. The advantages to on site support include:
1. Seeing things you wouldn’t otherwise notice, like boot processes.
2. Observing user behavior, which influences a lot of problems.
3. Solid relationship building, creating real trust.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

#TechSupport #RemoteSupport #HelpDesk #OnSiteSupport

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The scams can be very convincing. This client is college educated, owns a business employing several dozen people, and has homes in two different states. A couple of years ago he was duped by one of those pop-ups that said, “Your computer is infected! Call Microsoft for assistance at 1-800-xxx-xxxx.” He called the number and the person who answered said, “Microsoft Technical Assistance, how may I help you?” Before it was all over, his credit card had been charged – twice! – for a total of $459.00.

Two years later, they are still calling him, trying to get more money! He told me about their most recent attempt on June 13.

He’s been a client of mine since 2011. I maintain his business computers and his family’s personal computers. A couple of years ago when he saw the pop-up which led to his computer being infected by the fake tech support company, he told me, “I thought about calling you instead of the number on the screen, but it seemed so urgent, and it really looked like it was from Microsoft, so I decided to call them.”

The thing that strikes me the most about this story is the brazenness of the cybercriminals. They keep coming back, and have no fear of arrest or prosecution.

It’s up to you to be cautious.

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks

#cybersecurity #onsitesupport #remotesupport #techsupport #helpdesk

Don’t be embarrassed about your server room. I’m talking to small business owners and the IT employees who love working there.

The reality for a lot of small businesses and retail locations is that there is no server room. There’s one server on the floor next to the shift manager’s desk, or up on a shelf in a supply closet. One bar that’s a client of mine has the Internet Gateway, the firewall, a switch, and a server in the attic crawl space. I have to climb up a ladder and go through a hatch in the ceiling to get to it.

If the business is a little larger and has an in-house IT person, the server room is often still a multi-purpose room that happens to have a couple of racks in it. The Ethernet cables go up and out through a hole in the corner of a ceiling tile in the drop ceiling.

Every time I visit one of these locations for the first time, the IT person or business owner apologizes to me and feels like they’re somehow not living up to my expectations. But really, this is pretty normal.

Your equipment isn’t generating enough heat to need additional air conditioning. You’re making enough money to run the business and cover payroll every month, but it’s not like you have a safe full of excess cash begging you to spend it on antistatic flooring.

So please, relax. Whatever you’ve got, I’ve seen worse. It’s not as bad as you think. (Well, unless you’ve got mouse droppings inside the server case, and rats have chewed the insulation off your Ethernet cables – then you’re getting close to the bottom end of what I’ve had to deal with).

I’ll fix what you’ve got so you’re up and running again, and I’ll make some recommendations for ways we can make your network less prone to another failure. It’s your business. You know your budget and your needs. You decide how much we do from there.

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks

#onsitesupport #remotesupport #techsupport #helpdesk

Yesterday I taught a person in one office how to export Outlook Contacts from one computer and import them into a different computer. Today she traveled to their other office and did the procedure successfully on her own. She was so excited she called me to tell me about it.

THE LESSON
If you’re running your own MSP, don’t ever be afraid to teach people how to do things for themselves. You will not lose money by teaching them self-sufficiency. In fact, it increases your value in their eyes.

If you hide information, they don’t trust you. They can feel it. They feel used and manipulated.

When you teach them as much as they want to learn, they feel like you trust them. They’ll always run into problems that are beyond their skill level, and they’ll call you for assistance again and again. They won’t even think about calling someone else.

(To the critics who will share their infinite wisdom in the comments and tell me about syncing contacts online, don’t bother. There are lots of variations in what small business operations look like, and your cookie-cutter solutions will paralyze you in a world that requires versatility).

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks

#msp #helpdesk #techsupport #remotesupport #onsitesupport

Carrying client data around with you on a USB drive? Then you need a flash drive with password protection and encryption. I received my new Kanguru encrypted USB drive last week. I’ve been using Kanguru drives since 2012. There are a couple other brands of encrypted drives, but this is the only one I’ve ever used, so I’m not going to compare it to anything else. I get no reward for endorsing the product. I’m just sharing a useful tool with you.

USE CASES
CPAs and bookkeepers who travel to client locations, use QuickBooks on the client’s computer, get data, and then take it back to your office.

Field technicians who, in addition to using their own laptop, need to collect data from on-site devices on a USB drive.

You, if you carry data (such as a portable offline password manager) on a USB drive.

BTW, I have a Tile attached to my Kanguru. If I’m at a client location for the day and working on several computers and then think, “Now where did I leave that thing plugged in?” I can make it chirp with the Tile app on my phone and find it.

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks

#cybersecurity #techsupport #onsitesupport #remotesupport

Help Desk workers: protect your users’ privacy. Notepad tabs expose information. Here’s a (temporary) solution.

BACKGROUND: Yesterday I was installing a new instance of QuickBooks remotely on a CPA’s computer. They were in front of their computer for the installation, and we were in real-time communication via telephone. At one point I opened Notepad on their computer to make some quick temporary notes. Oops! It’s Windows 11, and they had several tabs open in Notepad. (If you’re not familiar with it yet, the newest version of Notepad has tabs. If you have unsaved data in one or more tabs, those tabs are preserved, and the next time you open Notepad, they’re all there).

THE PROBLEM: The information in the top tab is immediately visible. For all I know, that note may have included the Social Security number of a client. Maybe it was just a recipe for chocolate chip cookies – the point is, I have no way of knowing whether I’m opening sensitive information or not.

THE (TEMPORARY) SOLUTION: I did some research last night to see if there’s a way to open a new instance of Notepad, so I don’t see the client’s unsaved work. As near as I can tell, opening a new instance with no other instance open isn’t possible. Please comment if you know a way to do it! So, my solution – use Wordpad instead of Notepad on client computers with Windows 11.

WordPad doesn’t immediately show up in the All Programs menu, but it’s easy to open. To open it, click Start, and begin typing "wordpad." When the app appears as the auto-complete option (along about “wordp…”), press Enter. WordPad opens much faster than Word, and it also protects the privacy of the user’s Recent Files list.

Why is this solution temporary? Because Microsoft is in the process of discontinuing WordPad. It won’t be available much longer.

If you know a way to open a clean instance of Notepad on a client’s computer without previous access to its settings, please let me know. I want to preserve the privacy of my clients’ information.

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks
#helpdesk #remotesupport #onsitesupport