@dashrender said in cost of the whitebox:

Yeah - I tell most people - please realize that this bill will likely be more than you buying a new computer. Now, of course when you buy a new computer, unless you can do it yourself, you're still going to have to pay someone like me to transfer you stuff over - or at least educate you on using cloud services so you don't have that issue going forward, either way, be ready for some pain (in the wallet).

I tell people the same thing. I also tell them don't wait until the computer dies to replace it. That way they can replace it on their schedule. Downtime is expensive.

That said I still have some businesses that try to run computers until they won't power on anymore. I've been telling those clients I'm too busy to work on their stuff. It's just painful to work on a computer that slow.

I just sent out an invoice with a $500 bill for troubleshooting a white box computer. The call came in with the end user saying his monitors were going black. In the end we found out someone had installed an old gaming video card that was running at 90o C at idle and then when it would go over 95o C, would black out the monitors. The case simply wasn't designed for the card.

On one hand I feel bad that it took us so long to narrow down the problem and figure out what it was. On the other hand he told us his computer was running fine for years and only started doing this recently and didn't mention that he had a local computer shop install this card when he wanted dual monitors - and the problem has been happening since then.

I had another client in town where we swapped in a SSD drive and the computer wouldn't activate. Found out later that a local guy pirated OEM licenses of Windows from his day job and was building and selling computers with them.

Anyone else run in to these issues where white boxes end up costing way more than a name brand machine in the long run?

@dave247 said in Anyone know a place that sells booted Cat6 in feet: 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5, etc?:

I'd really rather not. I'm not very good at it and I don't have a lot of time.

For what they cost to buy vs make, no one gainfully employed has the time...

Monoprice is my go to store, but doesn't offer the off sizes. This site has the half foot lengths, but I haven't ordered from them:
http://pactech-inc.com/product/cat6-cable-round-snagless-utp/

I'm using MileCatcher. You can have it autocaterogize trips so if you make the same trip often, it doesn't prompt you to categorize it.

@scottalanmiller said in I can't even:

This guy's FIRST post on SW is to go into the SpiceCorps of Syracuse group and post that he wants to start a new meetup - but apparently can't be bothered to attend the existing ones or to post on SW. Seriously? That's your first ever post?

https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/2094925-looking-to-start-a-new-syracuse-ny-meetup

@thanksajdotcom @Minion-Queen @Mike-Davis

He PMed me as well. I do need to get back in to the swing of organizing the meetings. I think I saw @NetworkNerd had a good idea for one where he called in a local tech recruiter. It looks like tomorrow the snow will be upon us and if I have a vendor coming in that doesn't have to travel that far, that might be the best bet.

Just look at the thought process to do what you want to do:

Hmmm I want to create a OneDrive folder for everyone. Step 1 open up SharePoint. ??

@Jimmy9008 - Thanks so much. That was pretty much how it worked. Sad you can't do that within OneDrive. It shouldn't be that complicated.

I have a client that I would like to move to using just OneDrive. The first issue I'm running in to is how do I create a folder that everyone has permissions to AND will sync locally? It seems when I use the OneDrive for Business app, it creates a shortcut under Favorites in Explorer, but doesn't sync the shared folder.

Was the $78,000 that they "owed" past due, or was that the amount remaining on the contract? I wonder how many months behind they were and what notices had been sent out. I'm wondering how I would handle a situation like that if it ever came up.

@markferron said in How do ISPs get business?:

Sorry, so who's renting the space on the utility pole?

In my part of the country fltg.com runs their own fiber - even the last mile. They have to pay the local government granted monopoly for an inch of space on the utility poles running down the road.

In some areas a company will run fiber for a circuit so large it makes sense to rent space on a utility pole to do it. Then they send their sales guys out to pound the pavement along that route to bring on more clients to make it profitable. If their build out costs are high, they aren't going to waste time knocking on your door.

Is your Windows 10 workstation joined to the same domain your hyper-V host is? It sounds a lot like it's not. If that's the case, it's a real pain to get them to connect.

You can spend a lot of money improving your SLA, but if your users don't care, there is not a business case for it.

@dashrender said in IT Support: $ fee's charged:

I couldn't do fixed pricing for a small office, to much risk most times, unless you're charging hundreds per month per device, which is usually over kill for the client.

With enough clients, the law of averages kicks in and you can do ok.

@scottalanmiller said in IT Support: $ fee's charged:

@mike-davis said in IT Support: $ fee's charged:

It also encourages me to be proactive, which is good for them. If you bill hourly, it would be easy to argue that it's in your interest to do things manually, etc.

But on the other hand, encourages them not to invest because the cost of fixing things that breaks falls to you, not to them.

This is very true to a point. When you first make your assessment, you have to see what kind of gear they are running. Add a slow computer tax. For me, I include the virtual CIO service. Basically I help the small shops with their annual budgets. At that point, you can adjust your fee if they decide they don't want to upgrade stuff.

It also encourages me to be proactive, which is good for them. If you bill hourly, it would be easy to argue that it's in your interest to do things manually, etc.

For my managed service customers, I have a flat monthly fee. It works for me because I have predictable income and can staff properly. It works for them because they have predictable IT costs.

If you do the per device or per user pricing model, you get creamed on the small shops. There are a bunch of variables that affect the cost. For instance, do the users run all the tickets through the office manager, or can anyone contact you?

@jaredbusch said in youtube video downloader:

someone asked this question on here like 3 or 4 weeks ago.

Sorry about that, searched and found someone recommended:
http://keepvid.com/

I tested it and it works. My only concern is that an end user will click on one of the other links and download something they shouldn't...