“Bob, my printer quality is low. Please come fix it.”

I drove to the client’s office. It’s a small business, about a dozen employees. The VP fills multiple rolls, something that you’ll understand if you’re in a small business yourself. She’s Head of HR, and also Senior Accountant. When I got there, she said, “I can’t print the employee insurance cards. Look at this mess. They’re illegible.”

Thanks, Delta Dental, for issuing insurance “cards” as PDF files where the text on the back of the cards is in about 3-point font. Love you for that.

Anyway, to start, the black toner on the laser printer was out. She replaced it with a toner cartridge that was OPEN, out of its wrapper, laying on a counter. When the first cartridge was installed, the printer had a “low toner” message. With the replacement cartridge, the one that was already open, it showed zero black toner. Now it wouldn’t print the insurance cards at all.

She looked around and found a box with new toner cartridges in it. All four: black, magenta, cyan, yellow. The box still had the form fitting Styrofoam package filler, and each toner cartridge was sealed in plastic. I thought, “Now we’re getting somewhere!” But no. No, we were not getting closer to a solution.

We put the new black toner cartridge in the printer, closed the top, and the LCD screen said, “Insert the black toner cartridge.” It didn’t even recognize it. Can you guess now? They bought a box of off-brand of toner cartridges to save money.

I said, “Okay, there’s nothing more to do here until you get good toner cartridges. I recommend sticking with the manufacturer’s cartridges for the most reliable print quality.”

The VP said, “Those cost too much! I’m not paying for those cartridges!”

So I didn’t fix the company’s printer problem, and I’m fine with that. I correctly diagnosed the problem and prescribed an effective cure.

There comes a point when you can’t blame your problems on Tech Support. You have to own your decisions. It’s your responsibility when you decide that you won’t take action, or won’t spend money on proper repairs.

THIRTY MINUTES LATER...
While I was working on a different problem for one of the other people, about thirty minutes later the VP came out of her office and said, “I just ordered two brand-name black toner cartridges. They’ll be here Monday.”

She just had to mull it over for awhile, I guess, and wrap her head around the idea that quality is worth paying for, if it brings the desired results.

THE LESSON
It’s not always about fixing the technology. Sometimes, it’s about fixing the decision maker.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks +1 206-465-2422

#email #TechSupport #HelpDesk

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

“Bob, one of my employees can send email from his iPhone, but he’s not receiving any emails.”

Well, that’s backwards – usually I see problems the other way around; they can receive, but not send.

I tried working with him on a phone call yesterday morning, but when you can’t see the screen, tech support is more difficult. The client’s main business location is in a town less than an hour from my office, so I went to their location after lunch to work on it in person.

Oh, so many details were left out! It turned out that he wasn’t receiving emails on his iPhone, his iPad, or his laptop – but he could send from the phone and the laptop.

And... the problem started in March, and was continuous from then until now!

Okay. First things first. Let’s log into Outlook on the web and see whether that works. I’m starting to have a hunch that I’ve seen this problem before, with other clients.

Outlook on the web looks the same. So I went into the Rules settings, and there was the culprit. The rule was named “....” That’s it, the only rule, and the rule name was just four dots. I clicked the drop-down arrow to expand the rule. And the rule said, on incoming mail, move it to the Deleted Items folder and mark it as read! So he was receiving email all along, he just didn’t know it.

I looked in the Deleted Items folder, and there were more than 1,300 messages, including my two test emails from earlier in the day. I moved everything back to the Inbox.

Here’s what happened. In March someone had started sending email pretending to be this employee. He changed his email password, and the outbound spam stopped. That’s all the company did. They thought the problem was solved.

Well, that locked the cybercriminal out, but it didn’t delete the rule that the cybercriminal had created to cover their activity. That rule didn’t get deleted until yesterday, June 24.

THE LESSON
If you believe your email has been compromised, after securing your account, log into each device, and especially the web instance, and look for rules you didn’t create. If a device was compromised, the malicious rule may be in Outlook’s rules on the device. This scenario can also happen in other email apps, like Thunderbird, and in other web-based email accounts, like Gmail. Whether it’s web-based or app-based, look for rules or filters that you were unaware of, and delete them.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

#email #TechSupport #HelpDesk

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

A local client asked for service today, saying that his laptop was giving him a message that his C: drive was out of free space. He’d been living with the error message for a few weeks; it wasn’t sudden. Since he was local, I went to his office instead of connecting remotely. Some things are just easier and quicker if you’re right there.

INITIAL CONDITIONS
Windows 11 Home, 25H2, all updates current.
Drive C: was about 220 GB used, 0 free.
Drive D: was nominally 2 TB, about 1.2 TB used.

I did some checking and cleaned up a little bit on the C: drive, but only recovered about 2 GB.

THE SHOCKER
“Do you ever use Copilot?”
“No, and I don’t care about it.”
Start – Control Panel – Programs and Features – Copilot – Uninstall.
And then drive C: showed 35 GB free space.
Copilot was using 33 GB of his OS disk.

OTHER RELEVANT DETAILS
I went back to the office and uninstalled Copilot on a Windows 11 Pro computer, 24H2, all updates current. I only recovered about 1 GB. In addition to the fact that it was only 24H2 and not 25H2, I had already disabled Copilot features on this particular computer, even though I hadn’t uninstalled it.

“Your mileage may vary,” but if your OS drive mysteriously fills up, it’s something to investigate.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

#HelpDesk #TechSupport

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

“Bob, I can’t copy and paste from this document.”

A client recently had some difficulty copying and pasting from a PDF document, and the problem was because they didn’t understand the different types of PDF documents. I’ve run across this several times, and it occurs to me that there are probably a lot of people who could benefit from a little tutorial.

PDF TEXT
Take a Microsoft Word document and save it as a PDF file. When you do this, the text is still text. In the PDF document you can select the text, copy it, and paste it somewhere else.

PDF “PICTURE” OF TEXT
Take a paper document, place it on a scanner, and scan it to PDF. You can still see the letters and words in the PDF file. You can still read it. But you can’t select, copy, and paste text from this kind of PDF document.

In the first example, the letters are (often) a series of Unicode characters. The application’s Graphical User Interface (GUI) displays the characters on top of a solid colored background. The background is often, but not necessarily, white. The Unicode characters and the background are literally unrelated to each other.

In the second example, the letters are composed of (say) black pixels organized on a background of white pixels. The letters and the background are integrally related to each other. It is a single, flat, two-dimensional surface arranged of pixels of different colors.

SOLUTION
If you need to separate the text from the background in a PDF “picture” of text, the solution is to use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. OCR is a feature included in most modern PDF editors. OCR software analyzes the contrast in pixel colors and deduces the presence of known characters, like letters, numbers, and punctuation. The accuracy of the OCR software depends on the degree of contrast, and the amount of visual “noise” in the file. If you extract text with OCR software, proofread the result carefully, because there may be errors in the output.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

#HelpDesk #TechSupport

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

Passion can be ground down to little pieces of apathy. Here's an example.

Today I was working for a government agency that I've done projects for many times over the years. A long-time employee was assigned as my escort to get into secure areas. I asked a lot of questions. The answers to those questions will be transformed into a report of the "as is" condition of equipment and policies, along with recommendations. The report will be delivered to people much higher up the org chart than my escort.

Here's the thing that stings: he knows what the "as is" conditions are. He knows how the "as is" conditions developed. And he knows what should have been done.

This employee doesn't have the knowledge and skills to make my investigation and report completely unnecessary, but a lot of the stuff could've been prevented if they had listened to him over the years.

Now, in defense of those people in the org chart above him, it's worth mentioning that his own statement contains a lot of truth: "It always comes down to budget."

And somehow, year after year, these things weren't prioritized high enough to allocate money for maintenance and training exercises.

I'll write my report. I'll make my recommendations. And I'll get paid.

But will action be taken? Will anything change? My escort doesn't think so.

He's very good at his job, and he'll do excellent work, doing exactly what rhe government is paying him to do, as he counts down the remaining time before his retirement.

But he's quit making suggestions. Suggestions are viewed as annoying, not as prescriptive or proactive.

I wish this scenario was rare, but it's common. As the consultant who's brought in after the problems become too big to ignore, I've seen this repeatedly.

Have you seen a situation like this? Can you share a story with us, without putting your job at risk?

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

“I will not treat the user’s device as if I own it.”
The FIFO Networks Software Developer’s Code of Ethics, written ten years ago, is still relevant. Perhaps now more than ever.

Here’s the link.
https://fifonetworks.com/software-developers-code-of-ethics/

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

Steps for setting up a new phone system... are you helping a company replace their existing phone system? I just did this with one of my clients recently, and it occurred to me that it might be helpful to someone to have a brief overview.

STEP ONE: Call flow diagrams. Make call flow diagrams that cover business hours, after hours, line busy, and so forth. Does the call go first to an Automated Attendant (AA)? What will the announcement say? The flow diagram may include what happens with various options: “For Sales, press 2...” Get the diagrams all laid out and approved by everyone involved in the decision making process. BTW, the decision making process should include the people who actually answer the phones. For real. Ask them.

STEP TWO: Record the announcements. From the call flow diagrams, you now know exactly how many recorded voice announcements you’ll need. Get them all recorded in advance. Have the recordings approved by the decision maker(s). Store a digital backup copy of those recordings, separate from the folder you’ll use to upload the recordings.

STEP THREE: Train everyone. Before the new phone system is put online, let people know what will be different and what will be the same. Have a Quick Start Guide for every user. The QSG will have information they need right away, like how to transfer a call, park a caller, put a call on hold, adjust screen brightness and volume, speed dial setup, and so forth. And make sure everyone understands the call flow.

STEP FOUR: Activate the new phone system. Do the configuration. Upload the recordings. Go live. And stay close, because there will be hiccups. Some people won’t read the QSG. Some will read it, but won’t understand it. Some will get nervous when they have their first caller on the line. You be calm and cool, so they can be calm and cool. You’re not there to berate them, you’re there to enable them. And if one of them loses their cool, you don’t lose yours. You’re the strong one.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

It’s been a busy five months so far this year.

1) Wi-Fi design for a building with a volume of 4.5 million cubic feet.

2) Converted Internet service from copper to fiber at two different companies.

3) Upgraded a company from a conventional phone system to a VoIP system.

4) On-prem server replacements for some companies with hybrid networks.

5) Many new computer setups and replacement computer setups.

6) Updated course material for my Windows Server Management class (upcoming job with a public utility).

7) Remote tech support calls nationwide.

8) Account and data recovery of various types, also for clients nationwide.

9) Configured email security (server side) for some companies.

10) Servicing monthly contracts for server maintenance, firewall monitoring, and backups.

What do you need help with? One-time gigs requiring expertise you don’t have in-house, or ongoing monthly contracts, or...? I’m here for you.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

BOLO – Be on the lookout for malicious phishing emails that closely resemble legitimate emails from Network Solutions.

I received an email today that, at first glance, I thought came from the real company. I knew it was fraudulent because the subject line warned of email deactivation – but I don’t use Network Solutions for my email. I thought, “Why are they sending me an email – how strange!” Then I looked again, and realized the domain contains a misspelling: networksoluTOINS. And the cybercriminals have a valid DKIM signature for their impersonating domain.

You might want to add the fake domain to your email filter.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks +1 206-465-2422

#email #phishing

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

In terms of physical penetration testing (i.e., property and building access), a bright fluorescent safety vest and a hard hat will get you into a lot of places.

I’m doing cell site inspections this month under contract with a client. I’m carrying my Letter of Authorization with me, but I haven’t had to show it once. Three of the four sites I’ve visited were urban properties with people milling about.

At each property, after working for a few minutes I introduced myself, but I enjoyed doing the test to see if anyone would stop me and ask what I was doing there. And that Letter of Authorization? Even when I introduced myself, I never had to produce written proof. They took my word for it.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP