Command Control Power: Apple Tech Support & Business Talk

In this episode, the hosts of Command Control Power discuss a range of topics from VPN configuration issues with the Unifi system, to the advanced security features of iCloud. They dive into real-world tech troubleshooting experiences, including a detailed examination of the 'perfect data' scam through Microsoft 365 and the pros and cons of Apple's new support AI. The team finishes by sharing practical and actionable tips, such as enabling advanced data protection in iCloud and dealing with HFS-formatted CDs on modern Macs. Along the way, they share personal anecdotes and experiences, making the technical discussion both informative and entertaining.

In this episode, the hosts grapple with a series of technical issues while trying to start their stream. Joe faces multiple frustrations with his Mac and browser configurations, expressing his exasperation with technology. The conversation shifts to broader grievances about poor customer service and systemic inefficiencies within major corporations, as Jerry and Joe recount personal experiences involving vendors, ISPs, and even a Tesla purchase process. Sam joins to provide moral support, but the tone remains heavily focused on the annoyances and challenges of navigating modern technology and customer service bureaucracy. The hosts conclude by inviting listeners to share their own stories and frustrations.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-Jerry shows off his new shirt.

-BackBlaze causes a major pain point for Jerry after a massive bill comes in. He has some good advice for those using BackBlaze groups.

-We debate how pricing increases affect how we pass the costs along to our customers.

-What is with BackBlaze’s maintenance schedule happening in the middle of a work day?

-Sam has a rough experience with Go Daddy when “defederating” Microsoft Office.

-This customer was using Proofpoint with Go Daddy and it remained active months after we attempted to disconnect.

-Go Daddy support seems to not have any understanding of the services that they are selling.

-Quick Tip regarding Apple Mail and Exchange when it stops responding: Quit Mail/Calendar/Contacts, go to Activity Monitor and force quit the exchangesyncd process. Restart the apps.

-Jerry shares an update about AppleCare+ and unlimited incidents.

-With changes to the Print Center and the removal of individual printer apps, Joe wonders why Apple can’t account for this and replace Dock items instead of leaving question marks.

In this episode, we delve into the integration of generative AI, Apple's advancements in AI technology particularly their Apple Intelligence offering, and the broader implications of AI in various fields. Our special guest, Adam Engst of TidBITS Content Network, joins us for an in-depth conversation about the technological breakthroughs, societal implications, and future trends. From insights on continuity cameras and MagSafe to discussions about the future of AI in content creation, this episode covers a wide array of topics sure to engage tech enthusiasts.

Jerry got himself an NFR license of Camo Pro

Since he has to take notes, Adam used Audio Hijack to transcribe the WWDC 2024 Keynote

We discuss Apple's Marketing and Evolving Tech

“Generative AI gives you a statistically probable answer” - Adam Engst

Jerry chimes in about his email anxiety and how it has helped him communicate well with clients.

Adam generally doesn’t use AI to write, but he does use Grammarly.

Joe sees a future where each user’s AI will just talk to each other.

At what point will you be able to have AI send something in your name without any adjustments?

Will AI steal our jobs? “AI isn’t going to steal any job where you have to interact with people.”

Trusting the source of your information…

Ethical Considerations and Future Trends of AI

Join TidBITS Content Network to receive top notch content tips and articles you can use in your content marketing.

THANK YOU TO OUR PATREON SPONSORS!

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

In this episode of Command Control Power, host Joe and co-hosts Sam and Jerry debrief the ACEs Conference 2024. The episode also touches on the various technologies and vendor booths that fascinated the hosts, including LionGuard and Halo PSA, as well as the different people they met and reconnected with. Sam's presentation on his MSP journey is highlighted alongside humorous moments and key takeaways. A special thanks to Justin Esgar for organizing a successful conference!

Topics:

Adam Engst delivered a thought provoking presentation about AI.

A great list of patrons, friends, and fellow consultants were at the conference this year.

We reflect on the overall conference experience and the parts we loved the most.

Smaller conferences offer a more intimate experience.

Sam had the opportunity to present at ACES this year and he discusses how we are always learning.

He opened the kimono so to speak to get into his billing practices over the years.

“Don’t negotiate against yourself” - Joe Saponare

Brian Lattanzio and Omar Elshamy came to represent Apple, as well as offer a custom training.

Jerry will be at the next one, as long as it’s “east of the Mississippi”.

The CCP Team is joined by Tom Bridge, Partner at Technolutionary, IT services firm in Washington DC area 

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

Topics:

Day in the Life: We talk busy schedules and naps on trains.

Joe talks about his concert adventures and the power of naps.

One of Joe’s client has an issue with the mail preview pane.

Sam is a glutton for punishment by continuing to use Apple Mail and Calendar for Exchange.

The ongoing debate (or is it?): PCs are for Business, Mac computers for home?

Navigating Calendly's features and scheduling challenges.

Vendor Venting: A deep dive into Adobe's licensing woes.

27:39 A Personal Touch: From Breakfast in Queens to Veterinary Ventures

Working with both Google and Microsoft.

A Shoutout to our newest VIP Supporters - Cirrus Partners!

Check out the merch shop!

Evaluating the Key Smart Card.

Jerry recommends an Amazon Prime show called Clarkson’s Farm.

THANK YOU TO OUR PATREON SPONSORS!

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

In this episode of Command Control Power, we welcome back Shelley Watson, a seasoned professional in the tech industry. We delve into a wide range of topics including Shelley's history of presenting and training and her transition from running Wheelwrights to starting a new business venture. The discussion moves into deeper waters as Shelley shares insights on ageism, gender bias in the tech industry, and the importance of building trust with clients. She emphasizes the value of experience, synthesizing information, and how being seasoned professionals can give them an edge. Shelley also touches on the significance of having a constructive influence beyond just technical assistance and the importance of diversity and amplification in the workplace. The conversation is peppered with personal anecdotes, professional advice, and Shelley’s outlook on the future of her career.

We talk a bit about Shelley's journey and her training days.

There is an art in being an extrovert and engaging with audiences

Shelley talks about transitioning from Wheelwrights to DBQ Technology

Navigating the Pandemic: Adapting to remote work and training

She discusses the challenges and strategies of closing a business

Vendor relationships and the intricacies of business closure can be a tough road

We discuss building trust and demonstrating motives in business

Jerry has questions about navigating age and experience in the consulting world

This leads us down a path to gender bias in our field

Shelley talks about the power of amplification

People say things that are indicators as to who they are. Pay attention to those queues

t may be uncomfortable to do so, but it is key to find ways to make someone aware of something they said

You may not feel like your comment will matter, but you could be one of many that triggers change

Progress, improvement, relief is important for people

The Role of Technology Professionals in Social Change

Concluding Thoughts on Ageism and Future Conversations

Shelley was hoping to get into her favorite conversation like the Hold Harmless clause, which means we will have to have her back on again!

Check out http://commandcontrolpower.com/dbqtech for Command Control Power merchandise

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

Michael Thomsen, founder of Origin 84 sits down with us once again to have a long overdue conversation.

Michael shares how he and his company has faired since the pandemic.

Will Joe miss ACES for his 20th wedding anniversary?

While in town for ACES 2024, Michael will take the opportunity in to do some fascinating work and experience the Grand Staircase in Utah.

We talk about how Origin 84 is reassessing and potentially adjusting client relationships to optimize efficiency and alignment with their post-pandemic vision.

Initial focus was to identify clients who: -No longer align with our current business goals (products, services, target market). -Have outdated contracts that lack clarity on terms, expectations, and fees.

Creating timelines is important to establish a completion date.

Client contracts shows the full value of the business.

Use the media narrative to create opportunities for your business.

Conduct client reviews (surveys, one-on-one meetings, etc.) to assess alignment and contract status.

Develop and implement clear communication protocols (preferred channels, response times, etc.).

Establish healthy boundaries with clients (e.g., scope of work limitations, after-hours communication expectations).

Improve client relationships and manage expectations through clear communication.

Origin 84 sat down as a team to re-evaluate client relationships and used a multitude of factors to decide to continue to work with them.

We discuss the difficulty to assess profitability per client with unlimited monthly models.

Time tracking is still critical to understand if your company is profitable.

“Track the time, sell the value.” Jason Harrison

Jerry talks about how he manages his business as an army of one.

Be careful proposing to all your clients. What happens if they all say yes?

Michael gives us some great insight into his business acumen. 

It all flows back to Burning Man for Joe. 

Command Control Power has some new merch!

Anyone going to ACES Conference in Salt Lake City? I decided I couldn't miss it, so now I'm going! And had this idea...

👕 Get a free Cmd Ctrl Pwr sticker with this one weird trick! 👉 Come to ACEs Conference wearing your CCP t-shirt, and look for Sam or Joe, and we’ll give you a free sticker! 🛒 Need a new CCP shirt? Order now for delivery in time for ACEs!

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Jason Dettbarn joins us on the show once again! Jason is the founder and CEO at Addigy.

Jason has been on our show many times over the years.

Jason talks about how he didn’t pay himself for two years as he built up Addigy’s business.

MDM (Mobile Device Management) has been around for 14 years and is a traditional method for managing mobile devices.

DDM (Declarative Device Management) is a newer approach by Apple that takes more initiative in managing devices.

MDM tells devices what to do, while DDM provides a recipe for the devices to follow and manage their own state.

• Advantages of DDM:

• Less burden on MDM servers

• Devices are more proactive in managing their state

• Requires less communication between servers and devices

• Challenges of DDM:

• MDM tools are still needed for some tasks (e.g., software deployment, agent-based features)

• Requires trust in Apple to manage devices effectively

Key takeaways:

• DDM is a significant shift in Apple's device management philosophy.

• MDM and DDM will likely coexist for several years.

• Agents will still play an important role in device management alongside DDM.

   

• There's a need to balance user experience with enforcing compliance policies. Ideally, compliance checks should happen seamlessly without interrupting the user workflow.

• Conditional Access features in Microsoft Endpoint Manager allow enforcing compliance rules and remediating issues automatically.

• Managed Apple IDs with built-in compliance features can improve data compartmentalization on Apple devices.

• Users should be able to see their compliance status and take corrective actions if needed.

• AI-powered smart filters can help identify devices with potential issues based on user-defined criteria.

• Addigy is developing a new solution to simplify and automate updates for public software and third-party applications.

• Jason talks about how collaboration between vendors is crucial for creating a more secure and efficient mobile device management ecosystem.

Beloved Author and Apple Authority Passes Away

The Apple community mourns the loss of Charles Edge, a renowned author and expert who dedicated his career to empowering users with knowledge.  

Charles was a cornerstone for many Apple enthusiasts.  His acclaimed book series, "Take Control of OS X Server," provided users with clear and comprehensive guidance on managing their server environments.  He was also known for his ongoing work on a historical chronicle of computing, showcasing his passion for technology's evolution.

Beyond his publications, Charles was admired for his genuine kindness and willingness to share his expertise.  He leaves behind a legacy of not only valuable resources, but also a spirit of helpfulness that enriched the Apple community.

Command Control Power remembers Charles Edge, a friend and expert we had the pleasure of speaking with. This conversation from 2014 is a testament to his knowledge and enduring legacy. We miss him dearly.

Sincerely,

Joe, Sam, and Jerry

Command Control Power is doing live broadcasts! Become a patron today to participate in our livestreams.

How do you protect domains that do not have email? Here are the key points: -Email addresses can be spoofed to appear as if they are coming from a different domain. This can be used for phishing attacks.

There are several ways to protect domains without email addresses: * DMARC record: This tells email servers what to do with emails that claim to be from the domain but don't come from an authorized source. * DKIM record: This helps to verify the sender's identity for emails. * SPF record: This specifies which email servers are authorized to send email for the domain.

Jerry recommends looking into Cloudflare.

* Whois privacy: This service hides the contact information for the domain owner. It can prevent ethical hackers from reaching out to report vulnerabilities, but it doesn't prevent spoofing.

Joe talks about creating a separate global admin account that is not used for regular email and has a strong password. MFA (multi-factor authentication) should also be enabled for this account.

Phishing campaigns and training is a great add on to protect clients from the weakest link…the user.

-Some users won’t see the value of services until something goes wrong.

-Sam is concerned about being locked into a cloud backup service once enrolled.

* Challenges of selling security services: Some clients may be resistant to paying for security recommendations, especially if they don't see the immediate benefit. We need to explain the risks and the potential consequences of not taking action.

Let clients say no to additional services, especially with relation to security.

* Synology vs Backup Service: There's a good discussion in the chat between on-premise backup using Synology and cloud-based backup services like Datto or Barracuda. Synology requires an upfront cost but offers more control and potentially lower cost in the long run, while cloud backups are easier to manage but can be more expensive.

Backup Considerations: * Legal holds: Legal requirements to retain data for a certain period (e.g., 7 years) need to be considered when choosing a backup solution. * Migration:** Moving between backup solutions can be difficult and expensive.

Synology Management: * Active Backup can be used for backups. * Active Insight can be used for monitoring backups and servers. * Email notifications can be configured for Synology alerts.

Ultimately, choosing a Backup Solution depends on factors like the number of users, the amount of data, budget, technical expertise, and desired level of control.

Joe brings up Genie by Norton as a free scam detector.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

▶️ New: watch on YouTube!

-Today we welcome Justin Esgar of Virtual Computers and The ACES Conference.

-Justin gives us his full review of Vision Pro.

-Joe gets practical about flying with a Vision Pro.

-Justin recommends a book called MSP Secrets Revealed (he happens to be in it as well).

-He does not recommend crying while wearing a Vision Pro.

-Our show now uses Streamyard, which Justin highly recommends.

-ACES Conference is back live!

-This is not a technical conference. Rather, it’s more about improving the ways we run and profit from our MSP practices.

-Justin tells us about many of the great names that will be in attendance, as well as Apple and other sponsors.

-Super Ops is giving away an Apple Vision Pro at ACES Conference!

-There will be great swag given away and, as Joe mentions, the hallway sessions.

-This is the 10th ACES Conference!

-Justin tells us why he started, and continues to run this conference.

-All sponsors have some requirements from Justin - no roadmaps.

-Make yourself accountable when you are there. Make the best use of your time.

-We talk about the ACES Mastermind Program. They group meets regularly to help each other accelerate growth of their businesses.

-Use the code commandcontrolpower for 10% off the ACES Conference!

-They are also offering a travel stipend. If your cost of travel is $650 or more ACES will help make it more accessible to be there.

-If the content doesn’t draw you in, come for the skiing!

-Both Joe and Adam Rice have their anniversaries during ACES.

THANK YOU TO OUR PATREON SPONSORS!

▶️ New: watch on YouTube!

-This week we welcome Jason Harrison, of Harrison Tech Consulting.

-He is also heavily involved with NSITSP (National Society for IT Service Providers).

-Jason takes us through the history of his consulting practice, where he handles a variety of operating systems.

-We discuss how IT support is not just supporting the endpoint anymore. You have to be a security expert as well.

-Jason says this is also where the NSITSP comes in.

-The idea of NSITSP is that our industry wasn’t represented well. It is a completely member driven organization that aims to establish high standards and ethics and improve the credibility of IT providers.

-The other aspect of the organization is that legislation is inevitable, and it would serve all of our best interests to be a part of crafting that legislation.

-Sam curiously asks about their code of ethics.

-Compare our industry and ethics to that of a locksmith who may have privileged access and has to have their own code of ethics.

-Want to get involved? Visit NSITSP and look at the membership and volunteering options.

-Switching gears, we get into a conversation about cloud vs private data storage.

-Understand the lack of regulation around cloud data storage.

-Jason uses Kerio Connect and Kerio Control for private cloud setups.

-Just call Jason “Mr. On Premises.”

-Some of the questions to ask a client are their tolerance for risk, exposure, and speed needs.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-Has Sam really not backed up in an extraordinary amount of time?

-This sparks a discussion about backup policies in general.

-We talk about the 3-2-1 backup strategy and how relevant it still is.

-Joe shares a client story about how a calendar syncing app removed calendar history.

-If you’re a consultant, finding a backup service with affiliate options can be beneficial financially.

-We are constantly fighting the good fight about keeping macOS and hardware up to date.

-Joe charges a fee for working with unsupported Mac computers.

-There is a difference of what we will support, depending on residential vs business clients.

-How reliable is Time Machine?

-We share some details from our rates and plans survey. Join us on Patreon to hear more.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

Celebrate 40 years of the Mac with Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont, and Joe Saponare, seasoned Apple Consultants Network members. These tech experts share 20+ years of experience through discussions on: solving tech support mysteries, hilarious client stories, and the Mac's impact on technology and culture. Joining them are Chris Hawver, Tim Pearson, Ted Freitas, and Steve Sorbo for a nostalgic journey.

-Today we will cover Installomator - an excellent Github project originally designed by Armin Briegel, creator of scriptingosx.com and friend of the show.

-To help further that discussion, we welcome Isaac Ordonez, Director of Technology at Mann Consulting.

-Isaac handles a number of different instances and has a lot of experience in Installomator.

-He gives us the breakdown of how Installomator can benefit your fleet. Namely by helping to manage updates.

-Starting out in high school, Isaac has been managing Mac computers for a number of years.

-The days of imaging long behind him, he knew he needed an updated approach to package management and updating applications.

-Isaac talks about “recipes” and how Installomator finds application versions and can help deliver using an MDM.

-The benefit of running from something like Jamf is that the script doesn’t have to be at rest on the client workstation.

-The Installomator channel in the MacAdmins Slack is an incredible resource for support that Isaac contributes to.

-Big shout out to Adam Codega and Sóren Theilgaard!

-Installomator has a print log function. Isaac takes advantage of that by writing all of his instances to a central log.

-They write their logs to Data Dog.

-Sam talks about how he leaned on Sóren to assist with his first Installomator deployment.

-Jerry wants to know more about Swift Dialog.

-Forcing updates for App Store apps is unmanageable. When there are packaged versions, it helps to go that route with something like Installomator.

-If you need assistance getting Installomator off the ground and/or managing, reach out to Isaac’s team at Mann Consulting.

-We have recently completed our rates survey. Stay tuned for more information.

-Jerry wants to know what has changed about our businesses for the better.

-Recurring fees have been a tremendous change for him.

-He also purchases a 2023 Mac Mini to filter out his spam emails. He uses SpamSieve to filter out junk mail.

-MacAdmins Slack has a for sale channel.

-Jerry also uses the new Mac mini for home automation.

-Joe & Sam discuss their automations as well.

-For 2024, Sam has been leaning into automation (no reference to the above). Using tools like Setup Your Mac, coupled with a setup guide, has made new user setup virtually hands off for IT.

-Another great open source tool called SYM Helper has made the script configuration much, much easier.

-Joe has some excellent points about certain features that would be great to be a function of MDM and not things we have to find open source solutions for.

-Because of confusion of updates vs full version upgrades, Joe & Sam had to disable their Nudge update prompts.

-Sam had a real problem with AWS VPN on Sonoma that he could not sort out. Once he did, he packaged up the solution and placed it in Self Service for users to correct themselves.

-Joe mentions how he permanently closed his office.

-Joe uses a recovery company called Data Savers, which Jerry has never heard of.

-Both Jerry & Joe have affiliate sites for some of their partner programs. Sam needs to purchase some domains…

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-Jerry was recently studying for the Apple Device Support Exam when he discovered Handoff was not working properly.

-Handoff and Universal Clipboard are features of Apple’s Continuity.

-Eventually, signing out of iCloud on both devices and signing back in corrected the issue. As an aside, he had to turn off ScreenTime in order to sign out of iCloud.

-An alternative solution, via this YouTube video resolved Universal Clipboard for most by running this command: defaults write ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist ClipboardSharingEnabled 1

-Joe is very happy with the new iPhone and the Max size.

-He talks about the new Action button. His three favorite actions are easier ways to activate the flashlight. the camera, or begin a voice recording.

-Jerry goes for the larger screen just to avoid enlarging the default font size.

-Do you use the Always-On display?

-As people “surrender to the cloud”, there is less of a need for local storage solutions.

-Promise and OWC are two common options that we see out in the field.

-A new topic arises - how much do we want to rely on cloud storage?

-A marketer leaves Joe a poem after multiple attempts to reach him.

-Jerry & Chat GPT create a reply.

-After the closing bell, Joe gives us the results of the YouTube advice he followed from Jerry.

Alternative solutions for fixing Handoff:

• Disable Handoff in System Preferences

• Open Terminal and run: rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist

• Keychain Access → delete "handoff-own-encryption-key"

• Restart in Safe Mode (hold Cmd+R to do that)

• System Prefs → Enable Handoff

• Reboot

-We are pleased to welcome back Chad Swarthout, founder & CEO of Alectrona. We also have the pleasure of welcoming Ryan Ball, Director of Engineering at Alectrona.

-Chad was on the show back in 2019

-We discuss the road Alectrona has taken since back in 2019.

-Chad had the insight to go fully remote and close his office prior to the pandemic of 2020.

-A majority of their clients have offsite employees as well.

-All of the clients Alectrona has taken on since the pandemic have been all over the country.

-Jerry wants to know more about how they acquire clients outside of their local area.

-They tend to try and meet with customers on a regular basis to keep in contact and be aware of what needs changes.

-Chad talks about how they found a need for patch management in many of their Jamf engagements.

-From there, Alectrona Patch was born

-Ryan gets into the details of how Alectrona Patch works, mainly by the use of a configuration profile.

-Multiple times a day, they system polls for product updates to have them ready for update deployment.

-They account for a variety of installer formats like DMGs, PKGs, and zip files.

-Alectrona Patch is meant to by deployed via MDM.

-Learn more at https://www.alectrona.com/patch

-Alectrona Patch is on a monthly consumption model. $2.50/Mac per month up to 199 Mac computers. For larger needs, reach out to their team for pricing.

-Monthly pricing is based on how many unique devices are reaching out to their content server.

-Ryan & Chad talks about the back end details of how the tool works.

-Joe wants to know if Dolly Drive is supported.

-Another tool that Alectrona offers is called Migrator

-Migration Assistant has caused issues in business environments so the Alectrona team wanted to create a replacement for offsite users to seamlessly migrate to a new computer.

-This also sped up the return rate for previous computers.

-Jerry wants to know about white labeling, which the Alectrona products can support.

-You can reach out to the team about Alectrona Patch by visiting their MacAdmins Slack channel.

THANK YOU TO OUR PATRON SPONSORS!

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-Command Control Power has created an anonymous rates and plans survey. You can also learn more at our MacAdmins Slack channel. This will be a great way to better understand where your current rates, plans, and software stack stand in comparison with your fellow consultants. The survey can be filled out anonymously by anyone, regardless of Patreon status. We will discuss the results of this survey on an upcoming Patreon show. However, if you decide to participate in the survey, you can provide a contact email to receive results as well. We look forward to hearing from you!

-Sam received an unprompted positive email from a customer.

-Jerry talks about a recent client loss.

-Joe is growing tired of clients that don’t engage on a regular basis and then need immediate help.

-Legacy clients that have personal contact information is still a danger zone. We need to learn to set boundaries.

-AirTags are on sale for the holidays.

-Joe recommends the KeySmart Smart Card as an AirTag alternative.

-He has also been dealing with bad or faulty ThunderBolt cables.

-We talk Instagram hacks and security processes of Meta

-Jerry has a client with an internal IT department that was a little too eager about Apple security updates that were not relevant to them.

-Dealing with the latest model specific macOS updates is a challenge with tools like Nudge.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-This week we welcome Adam Burg, founder of CALSO Technologies and Command Control Power Patreon sponsor.

-Adam shares the story of his consulting career.

-CALSO is an acronym for the members of his family.

-Partnering with key vendors made it simpler to manage his clients.

-They manage clients as small as 2 up to 50 users.

-MDM, email backup & archiving are key components to his MSP stack.

-The MacAdmins Slack is a major source of help. Adam can be found as MacDadmin.

-Adam hosts the Los Angeles Mac Admins Meetup.

-Adam’s kids love the Command Control Power theme songs.

-“There’s no substitute for being there”. -Joe Saponare

-Adam talks about his team, including his wife, who is a co-owner, and a contractor/employee that he relies on heavily.

-Taking a job can sometimes mean you need to rely on others that have the expertise to get the job done.

-Adam talks about traveling with the family on work trips, and finding time to get away on hikes.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-Jerry has a client with an Acrobat Pro issue that he’s seen before.

-Clients that Google answers try to offer their own advice.

-Some people expect things for free.

-Even with car features, some tracking features bother users.

-Jerry is thrilled to have Nudge working in Addigy for managing macOS software updates.

-Jerry sees an odd message that says “Failed to personalize the software update”.

-In general, software updates still seems to require third party options to work smoothly.

-The difficulty when clients misconstrue something you told them…

-Joe shares some thoughts on the latest Apple hardware and his client needs.

-Both Jerry & Joe have the new iPhone 15 and they provide their feedback.

-If you are selling your old iPhone, The Scripting OS X newsletter references some good advice from Apple about purchasing a used iPhone.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-We are pleased to welcome Mike Bombich, creator of Carbon Copy Cloner.

-He tells a story of losing data that inspired his creation of Carbon Copy Cloner.

-Mike spent 8 years as a creative with Apple.

-CCC was initially donation-ware.

-He never wanted to put any barrier between you and your data.

-macOS Big Sur started the downfall of bootable backups.

-Mike talks about how that affected CCC and his customers.

-We talk about Time Machine’s reliability and alternatives to built in solutions.

-Mike is not a fan of backing up to disk images.

-Jerry talks about the new Quick Updates feature of CCC.

-Mike talks about his feelings on cloud storage.

-Migration Assistant is another hot topic and we get into methods of restoration.

-Mike has always had a concern about releasing software that can delete data.

-We love the fish (it’s a tuna!) that guides us to privacy settings.

-He shares a bug from the Mojave days that affects helper tools, that has now been corrected in Ventura.

-Carbon Cooy Cloner’s update will not be subscription based.

-Check out the latest release of Carbon Cooy Cloner and the list of new features.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-The Andy Esposito story from an ACEs conference event long ago is the gift that keeps on giving.

-Jerry gives a shout out to our friends at TidBITS Content Network.

-Dave Hamilton of Mac Geek Gab mentioned blazing fast ThunderBolt cables from Leirui. Available on Amazon.

-Joe has some personal experience with Nudge and AppleScript automation from macsudo.com.

-Joe wants to do some follow up on all the automations within Addigy…when he has time.

-Sam made a mistake deploying Nudge and found out the result the hard way.

-The power of beta testers is crucial. A small group of tech savvy employees that can vet your deployments.

-Sam has some experience with UniFi’s Cloud Controller and shares some of what he has learned.

-Ryan Grimes gave Joe some tips on keeping tabs on UniFi alerts using Uptime Robot.

-LTE backup ISP options are critical when another ISP isn’t available for a business.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare

-Jerry is back from Europe and shares some of technology encounters.

-Manual DNS records bit him when trying to connect to a public network.

-Sam shares a tip to use captive.apple.com on a network where the captive portal won’t launch.

-Jerry found a good charger for his iPhone 13 Pro.

-Apple Maps for walking is fantastic according to Jerry.

-The haptic notifications on Apple Watch frightens and confuses Sam.

-Finally, Sam gets to talk about his new Apple Watch Ultra 2.

-Not to be outdone, Jerry also picked up a new Apple Watch series 9.

-Joe talks about his methods for purchasing new Apple hardware locally.

-The iPhone Pro Max is a two handed device according to Joe.

-Sam was incensed about a $55 activation charge for his new Apple Watch.

-This week we continue our conversation with Lucas Acosta of Foojee.

-Sam asks Lucas about keeping that drive going.

-Interesting thought - the CEO is not allowed any quarterly goals…

-Identifying roles & responsibilities are crucial for  Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to work, keeping the visionary in check.

-Lucas takes us through the level of importance of the integrator.

-Burn out is a real thing. And sometimes we deserve a break after all that we put in.

-Client referrals are incredibly important and sometimes we have to flat out ask for them.

-Apple Store communication is an involved process so we get into how to cultivate that relationship.

-A custom landing page for Apple Store employees is a solid idea to run with.

-You can interact with Lucas on MacAdmins Slack or by going to lucasacosta.com.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

Topics:

-This week on Command Control Power, we welcome back special guest Lucas Acosta, founder & CEO of Foojee.

-We recall the last time we had Lucas on, 5 years ago!

-Lucas’ role has changed significantly over the years and he has moved away from the engineering role.

-Foojee recently surpassed 1 million dollars in sales and recurring revenue.

-The centralize their sales and have engineers in various cities.

-Using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) method, they created an org chart and he discovered he was in too many roles.

-We discuss the book Rocket Fuel, which describes how to implement EOS in your organization.

-The founder, likely with the most experience, is naturally the best person for sales.

-Jerry talks about being an army of one and asks Lucas about advice in growing a business.

-Lucas talks about things he would have done differently, including going multi-city.

-Jerry’s words of wisdom: “Tread Lightly”

-Lean on your strengths that make you unique as a founder and hire out positions that you can’t do as well.

-To be continued…

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-This week we welcome the one and only Mr. Macintosh (aka Ryan).

-Ryan has been around Apple products since 2010

-His first Mac was a blue & white G3 tower.

-During a rough hiring time, he found an all Mac based company that hired him.

-His company was then taken over by a Fortune 500 company, which provided him with great opportunities.

-We talk about finding helpful forums with detailed solutions to a problem you are researching.

Krypted - Charles Edge DerFlounder - Rich Trouton

-ChatGPT and similar services are still in their infancy and are inaccurate at times.

-Mr. Macintosh started his site to try to give back to the community but discusses the challenges of running a blog site.

-He talks about a few specific articles that he recalls.

-Spelling and grammar has always been a difficulty but he took it as a way to get better.

-“When you have a passion, it makes it easier to spend that extra time on it.”

-There is a level of responsibility and stress when posting things like commands that can be destructive.

-We get into supported operating systems and hardware.

-“Right to repair” is a hot topic that Joe has some thoughts on.

-You can find Ryan on the MacAdmins Slack and on Twitter (or X) as ClassicII.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-This week we welcome Shawn Lemon, founder & CEO of The Digital Organizer.

-Shawn was a Creative at the Apple Store for several years.

-A dinner guest challenges Shawn to start his new career.

-After a great start, he found himself in break/fix land for a while.

-Shawn talks about the days of hard drive upgrades and rolling that into digital organization.

-He stopped break/fix cold one day.

-Migrating to Google Workspace and organizing data is the main focus of his current business model.

-He talks about creating partnerships with other businesses.

-Shawn has one full time employee and leverages contractors.

-After giving up MSP work, he’s working on creating a recurring model for digital organization projects.

-Joe talks about keeping someone at hourly until mutually vetting each other.

-Certain people are disorganized for a reason, and that can lead to a level of pushback.

-Mindfulness training is another aspect of the job.

-Shawn created a digital organization guide for Command Control Power listeners, available here.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-Jerry talks about a break/fix client that stores Time Machine backups on a Synology.

-A discussion ensues about how to charge a client that needs you out of the blue and what your expertise is worth.

-We get into changes in the Dropbox API and its behavior. https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes

-An odd issue really confounds Sam with a SonicWall firewall and Ubiquiti PoE switches.

-Joe runs into a snag with devices adoption in the UniFi portal.

-Joe has some thoughts on remotely rebooting modems and managing using a WattBox

-Some feedback on using the UniFi LTE as a backup ISP connection.

THANK YOU TO OUR PATREON SPONSORS!

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-Jerry is annoyed with voice dictation, considering where we are with AI.

-Sam wonders why Siri can’t send a message to a group without unlocking his iPhone.

-Is privacy the cause of Siri seeming to go backwards in functionality?

-Sam discovers an issue with the private MAC address feature of iPadOS and connecting to a captive portal network. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211227

-Some confusion ensues when discussing the privacy network features.

-Joe wants to mention a few apps from the Apple Design Awards.

-Jerry and Joe go back and forth about wearing an Apple Watch to bed.

-Sam loves the Arc Browser but Jerry shoots down one of the big perks that Sam loves.

-One of Joe’s clients lost important 365 calendar data. He was able to find the ics files on the computer and used ICS Merger to restore the missing data.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-Jerry takes issue with the way Joe & Sam covet their calendars.

-Each of us either use Calendly or Harmonizely.

-We discuss the latest in Apple certifications and listing on the ACN locator.

-The two courses and exams are Apple Device Support and Deployment & Management.

-All of us are intrigued with Apple Messages for Business. Cost seems to be a barrier for entry.

-You can have SMS hosted by a different company than you use for voice.

-Jason Dettbarn, founder and CEO of Addigy joins us once again.

-We dive right into updates on macOS being problematic and how Addigy deals with this issue.

-With Apple’s first Rapid Security Response, they did not receive any disclosures to provide details.

-Addigy released a new MDM Watchdog to mitigate macOS update issues.

-Addigy made their MDM Watchdog available to everyone.

-We discuss the tools that are out there that try and guide the users to updates as another alternative when MDM is not completing its task.

-Finding out what is next on Apple’s radar can sometimes be a guessing game.

-At Addigy they try to focus on three things: Security first, scalability, and Apple expertise.

-Jason speaks about sticking to what they know and using the tools that are already out there like InTune for device compliance and Okta identity management.

-He gives us his 5-10 year predictions.

-What is a sin-eater?

-Jerry talked about which level of Microsoft to move to from Rackspace.

-He used Emailchemy to convert the data.

-Dealing with customers that purchase the wrong hardware to save a buck.

-What to do when you have additional storage needs with Microsoft accounts. Jerry finds out.

-After an automated Synology alert, Jerry finds out that a client moved and unplugged it without a proper shutdown.

-Sam & Joe differ on their Amazon return experience at Whole Foods.

-UPS Store experiences are another level of customer service.

-On a recent Patreon only show, Jerry talked about a documentation tool called Hudu. He discusses more about the ChatGPT integration.

-Jerry recommends Google Bard.

-Joe has a client that has a unique setup with access to their server. He uses Addigy Self Service to deploy a connection script.

-Sam has been implementing Single Sign-On in more and more scenarios with his customers.

-Sam found out the hard way how a content filter can block legitimate services.

-We talk about giving users the local admin password on a Mac when you can’t accomplish something remotely.

-We get into online calendar bookings and how Joe & Sam are very protective of their time.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-Sam saw an unexpected message on his iPhone, instructing him to share his screen with AppleCare.

-A client reached out to Joe about their Synology beeping. The story went south quickly but hats off to RAID recovery from Synology.

-MSP customers don’t reach out even when network or ISP changes occur.

-As a customer deleted 365 users, it was learned that they were sharing data from OneDrive and this data was suddenly not accessible to users that did not know its origin.

-Some changes to Dropbox storage locations can cause unexpected issues, especially working with third party apps.

-BitDefender had issues with MDM profiles and having to re-approve extensions.

-Joe references some of our recent Patreon only content.

-We take a moment to pay our respects to Bill Keogh, owner of NovaWorks in New York. Bill was involved in the Apple community for years and many colleagues had the opportunity to meet him as they trained at his facility over the years. Bill was a kind soul and will be missed.

-Archiving/Deleting in Apple Mail is inconsistent.

-Jerry has been seeing issues on multiple computers when upgrading from macOS Ventura 13.2.1 to 13.3.1. Reinstalling the OS still creates data issues.

-“That’s a lot of nanas to deal with”.

-Pro tip about using the Option key when clicking About This Mac to reveal System Information.

-Thanks to Guillaume Gete for 80 Shades of the Option key

-Joe talks about his use of Nudge as well as an AppleScript automation with the help of sudoade.

-We discuss end user perception as Sam talks about a story upgrading Wi-Fi for a new customer.

-Jerry mentions The Hawthorne Effect, which discusses how people increase efficiency when they feel like they are being watched.

-Joe had been recommending a mail server upgrade to a client until finally one day, their provider went down. They still did not learn their lesson.

-We get into how to quote email migration projects and the economy of scale.

-Jerry & Joe talk about their monthly MSP offerings and the services it includes.

-Jerry uses Square for automated credit card payments and invoices.

-Joe talks about competing on quality as opposed to pricing.

-Offering a lower starting point without important services can put both you and the customer in a bad position.

-How do you handle consultants in your area that offer extremely low rates?

-The hosts speak to the benefits of monthly fees.

-Priority scheduling and unattended remote support are big selling points for Joe’s plan.

-We spoke with Tim Pearson on Patreon Episode 471 to discuss some great tips on managed services pricing.

-One of Jerry’s clients uses a Remote Desktop tool called NuoRDS.

-Jerry was able to remotely assist a customer while in an Uber in Belgium.

-The tool that Jerry uses to manage scheduled restarts is called Power Manager. 

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

Topics:

-This week we welcome back long time supporter of the show, Jon Brown.

-Jon is Vice President of Technology and Cybersecurity at Interlaced.io and owner of Grove Technologies.

-He recently completely a merger with Interlaced.

-Last time Jon was on the show, he was still evaluating options for his direction of growth.

-He discusses how difficult it was finding the right fit as some companies wanted to “acqui-hire” him.

-More emphasis was placed on his specific value rather than he company.

-As Tom Bridge told Jon, owner/operators tend to be bad employees.

-Jon is still running the day to day operations of Grove Technologies.

-Grove is acquisition #2 for Interlaced.

-Merging tools and systems is proving to be a challenge.

-Business models differ during acquistions as well, which can also complicate things.

-Jon speaks about the stages of a merger and compares his to varying stages of greif.

-Learning to work as a team means having to let go of some of you thoughts of how to get things done.

-As Jon joined Interlaced, he rediscovered his passion for the actual technology side of things. Some of that was lost in being an owner/operator of a business.

-Joe wants to know more about using Apple Business Chat.

-Grove uses a tool called Heymarket for business text messaging.

-Group SMS is a feature PsiMac is looking for as well.

-Sam has ongoing concerns about chat features creating more of an immediate response expectation.

-Jon talks about rules and auto responders to account for some of those concerns.

-Interlaced adds a 24/7 support team for after hours support of Grove customers.

-We debate the differences/similarities of Apple Business Messages and Slack.

-This week we welcome Dav James of DIJ Consulting.

-Dav originally started at Apple in a variety of roles and moved to corporate IT support.

-DIJ Consulting is a Monday.com partner and works a lot on the automation side of things.

-We get into using integrations with Monday and services like Zendesk for automatic creation of tickets.

-Joe does some reporting in Numbers but it is more of a manual process so automation peaks his interest.

-The basics of Monday is that it is a task management software.

-Some of the frustrations Sam is feeling is the need of many different portals to manage things. Monday can integrate with a variety of those services and provide a centralized portal.

-Something as simple as centralized alerts was a big reason why Sam moved to Monday.

-Moving large amounts of data used to be a weak link that has now seen a major improvement.

-Affordability is a big draw of Monday.

-Connecting all the dots between the various services and Monday.com may be an initial challenge. Dav is working on how to make that easier for consultancies.

-You can find Dav on YouTube and in MacAdmins Slack.

-Taking action on a show request, Dav started the Monday channel in MacAdmins Slack as well.

Topics:

-On today’s show, we welcome Adam Engst of TidBITS Content Network.

-We review key features of phishing emails, as discussed in a recent TCN article.

-One of the newer tricks is to send the entire email as an image.

-Will better grammar pose a challenge to users detecting spam emails?

-It takes just a beat longer to identify a spam email message.

-Legitimate training tools like KnowBe4 can be good to keep employees on their toes.

-We discuss the LastPass breach and how far reaching it was.

-Thieves are getting more clever by first capturing iPhone passcodes in public places, then stealing the device.

-A challenge to this is that the iPhone passcode can be used to reset an Apple ID password.

-This can also cause a company breach if an employee’s iPhone is stolen.

-Send out your own newsletters to customers that discuss this and more by using TidBITS Content Network.

-Jerry shares an odd printer story.

-Apple Mail was having an issue using a self signed certificate.

-“Don’t trust email”

-Joe describes emulation vs virtualization.

-Virtual Buddy & UTM are solid virtualization products.

-Joe uses the ability to virtualize other versions of macOS to support clients that use a different OS than he is currently running.

-Pro Tip: You cannot use an Apple ID with a virtual OS.

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, they discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

-We would like to thank new Patreon member Rolf Woodward, and thank Bruce Corson for increasing his pledge.

-Time Machine is hopelessly broken in Jerry’s recent dealings.

-He has been recommending Carbon Copy Cloner.

-Joe had a specific issue where the Contacts app database was extremely large and causing an issue with backups.

-Sam is very keen on company policies where local file data is not company responsibility.

-Jerry talks about supporting a customer who had some major issues after a computer migration.

-BackBlaze has a great service to ship a drive with backup data.

-Joe talks about important directories to be aware of when troubleshooting macOS.

THANK YOU TO OUR PATREON SPONSORS!

-Joe likes Apple Music playlists. Sam takes live notes. Some good recommnendations: Restorative Yoga Headspace

-Jerry can’t listen to music while working.

-He didn’t find Apple Fitness was working for him. Athlytic is an app that he highly recommends.

-Jerry is currently watching Skinwalker Ranch on Netflix.

-HomePod Mini should have a chargeable battery.

-Sam uses his HomePod as a speaker for his bedroom TV.

-Dark Reader is a great browser extension Sam uses with Safari to automatically enables dark mode for sites, even if they don’t support it.

-Sam’s latest gripe about 1Password is that it has a legit issue auto filling SonicWall pages.

-Why is 1Password 8 not in the App Store?

-Jerry doesn’t like DuckDuckGo.

-We get into browser preferences.

-Jerry and Sam both are independently testing Yubikey by Yubico for authentication.

-HCS wrote a guide for using security keys as a second factor with an Apple ID.

-Sam works with a client for a while before he asks the most basic of questions.

-Amazon DNS causes an issue with internet connectivity for one of Jerry’s clients.

-Sam had a work themed nightmare where he accidentally deleted a client’s data.

-Jerry had a real life situation like this years ago.

-Sometimes it’s difficult to fall asleep when your brain is still thinking about work problems and solutions.

-Sam hit a hard limit of two step authentication with Apple IDs.

-He set up and eSIM for the first time to get a second phone number on his iPhone.

-Jerry updates us on his new managed services plan. He feels there is more money to be made with residential clients on this plan.

-After off boarding an employee, a company owned computer showed back up in Watchman after months of being dormant.

-Joe is surprised when a client immediately signs up for his monthly plan.

-Do you specify priority support in your marketing materials?

-On this episode, we welcome Ross Matsuda - Apple Systems Administrator from Ntiva.

-Ross is also the creator of sudoade

-Ross majored in theatrical direction with a minor in graphic design.

-He spent 7 years as an Apple Genius and also with Apple corporate.

-We discuss the necessity of support with Apple’s products.

-We get into GUI scripting with AppleScript on Ross’s site, sudoade. He developed a way to integrate automation with Addigy to only see the minor updates available.

-Initially using Nudge, he decided to develop a method that worked best for  his users.

-Joe has seen a much higher level of software update compliance since using Nudge and Ross’s solution.

-PSA - get your Mac computers at least to 12.6.3 to avoid unexpected problems when performing updates.

-Joe & Ross talk about simpler ways of presenting information and designing for the user experience.

Apple Consultants Network members Joe Saponare, Sam Valencia and Jerry Zigmont discuss working with Apple technology and clients in their consulting practices. Technical challenges and client relationships are freely shared in this weekly podcast.

-Jerry focuses on backups and talks about Backblaze B2 and the backup data format.

-Copying/pasting has been problematic for Jerry. Joe suggests looking at third party clipboard management tools.

-Odd characters in file names are still a thing.

-Joe talks about the MacPaw Foundation and their support of Ukraine.

-Paste and Match Style and its keyboard shortcut is a great feature, but not all apps support it well.

-LastPass and their most recent breach causes concern for customers that are already skittish about password managers.

-Nord VPN shares the 200 most commonly used passwords.

-Not all Rackspace PSTs have been restored.

-Why does the Help menu in an app show general help information instead of help for the app you are in?

-Joe wants a more obvious Eject menu for removable media.

-When you PIN conversations, it creates a series of frustrations for Joe & Jerry.

-Potential (and existing) customers don’t always understand the value of our time.

-Sam took some time off to travel to Portugal.

-How do you handle reaching out to an employee when they are on vacation and need to be contacted?

-Sam was frustrated at what he considered a simple direction to an employee.

-Joe would like to be able to focus on one aspect of his job.

-Joe develops a “custom fact” in Addigy to deal with Time Machine issues.

-Jerry waltzes in and reigns on Joe’s backup parade.

-Backing up to Synology has been successful for Jerry.

-One of Sam’s client had her son help her with migrating to a new Mac. Needless to say, it went awry.

-Apparently, BackBlaze has a weekly maintenance occur Thursday at 2-4PM Pacific Time. During the middle of the work day!

-Going back to the full window in Apple Music when listening to music seems to elude Joe.

-Jerry doesn’t even use Apple Music anymore. He is a fan of Rhune.

-Enabling text message forwarding on your Mac is necessary to get SMS messages on your Mac.

-Still using macOS Server, Joe ran into a point update to 12.6.1 making shares disappear.

-We welcome back Amy McKnight as a sponsor of Command Control Power! We would like to wish her the best at her new position with VIM Coaching. https://www.vimcoaching.com/amy-mcknight

-Command Control Power is celebrating show 500!