I wouldn't have minded as long as that wasn't a regular occurrence. But as you said, if you are working nights and weekends too, and not getting paid for it, they simply need to get you some help in the door.

@Minion-Queen said:

We need a good place for Cider around here. You would think with all the apples around here someone would make some good stuff.

No time like the present to start a new division of NTG... Call it AppleWorks. 8-)

@Son-of-Jor-El said in Skip Eating Meals for Better Productivity:

And yet just this morning that had a segment to show downtime, specifically vacations, are important to productivity.

I don't think there is a special elixir...just how you work is the best way to work.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tony-schwartz-ceo-the-energy-project-importance-of-vacation-days/

Having at least some type of vacation time is a real boon for productivity -- especially for me. I went for almost 2 years before having a REAL, non-working vacation. Now that I'm back, I've already nailed down the final details for one project, and am working the kinks into two more.

@Dashrender If you are familiar enough with Linux, you can use SAMBA on your favorite Linux distro as an additional AD server, and you can configure DNS and DHCP on it free as well. (It will even handle GPO).

I'm not sure if it works with DFS or not, however.

Well we know @scottalanmiller did something to him if @wirestyle22 gets disappeared.

@johnhooks Better quit playing with your phone while driving!

They totally missed a chance though... They should have called it the Apple Watch ][e

@MattSpeller I'm glad they worked well for you! We had two of them and neither of them were all that great, but they did work, at least.

Heaven forbid your check is late for the maintenance fee, lol.

I like @scottalanmiller 's terminology for it... If he, or anybody else goes on vacation, everybody else becomes the collective brain trust for the person who goes on vacation... Cloud of Support... That's a perfect way to say it, lol.

@scottalanmiller Winner, Winner, beer with Dinner!

I don't mind the unobtrusive ads at all. What I cannot stand is a site that makes you scroll past an add, or has a popup that will ask you to enter your email or one that you have to scroll past, or anything that generally detracts from the article I'm trying to read. I no longer will stay on a web site the moment I get an ad that gets in my way.

@MattSpeller said:

And then there's the smallest, cheapest, ultra-portable build I can do on a super tight budget

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rXyZ3C

Only 64GB of RAM? Shame on you!

@guyinpv said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:

@StrongBad said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:

@dafyre said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:

I'm like that... I want to help folks ge ttheir IT problems fixed... I really, really do. But I can't stand it when I'm working with a client and they take days or weeks to get back to me on something. Argh!

Just lets you move on to another client that is ready to work with you!

Says the guy using Lappy 486 to answer emails.

Pine is still a perfectly viable email client, lol.

Still a no-buy in my book now. I'll probably stop recommending all HP products, as well... just in case they start trying to mark 3rd party hard drives as bad in controller / firmware updates. At least those are less likely to happen automagically.

@Dashrender said:

@Carnival-Boy said:

So will the Windows 7 clients install the 2012R2 driver? Or if I install additional drivers on the server, will the client know which one to install?

Generally - yes, Windows 7 will install the 2012R2 driver because they are typically the same.

As long as you are using the same bit-ness versions, if I understand right... (IE: Win7 x64 will work with Server 2012 x64 print drivers)?

@guyinpv said in Logical IT Certification Progression:

As a person with no real computer repair skills, all of that study was a huge foundation for me. It's not the A+ test or cert that teaches anything, it's how much study and experience you get/need to pass it in the first place. I actually failed the hardware part of the test at first due to all the friggin nonsense trivia questions.

Why the {self moderated} {censored} {bleeping} {honk} do I need to know the L2 Cache on an 8088 CPU? Pentiums had been out 4 years at that point, and the P2s were just hitting the market when I took my test.

@handsofqwerty It starts with packing a bag, getting a VISA, and driving down there... After that... just follow your feet! 8-)

I feel bad for Earthlink, lol.

@scottalanmiller said:

Veeam has that new, free solution. I have not tried it so cannot speak to what it can and cannot do.

Veeam Endpoint Recovery Free? http://www.veeam.com/endpoint-backup-free.html

I am running it on my office machine now. It seems to work pretty good. I have mine just doing file level backups at the moment since my USB drive is too small, lol.