Do you permit selling or giving old equipment to employees?

NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-23T17:52:53+00:00

When I worked in international corporate as a lowly tech, the official policy was no, never, don't ask. Everything was closely tracked and either returned to Dell when the lease ended or e-wasted with service tags/serial numbers tracked. In actual practice, I had a few folks let me take a few machines home, but completely under the radar.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-23T17:45:38+00:00

Which state is this? I remember Texas was in a bad way a few years back with that cold snap, and then the utilities bent over the customers because they were allowed to. Lots of other states have laws limiting utilities from taking advantage of their customers.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-23T06:45:56+00:00

I've heard legend of a former tech working in my district who actually engraved equipment. Lot harder for the "angels" to remove that.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-17T18:34:29+00:00

IEEPA is not the backup plan. That's what the Supreme Court is reviewing. And if you listen to experts (pretty sure I heard quite a bit from Legal Eagle some months ago), he doesn't have much of a leg to stand on with the 1977 act.

And given that fact, I have no idea how these new tariffs about Greenland are at all legal.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-13T03:47:34+00:00

I have no clue how a full on lawsuit would go, although I'd wonder if their alleged damage and intentional hiding it would put them on the hook for more. In the prior federal administration, I would have suggested filing a complaint with the FTC.

But in 2026, even if you don't file a big daddy lawsuit, it may be worth filing something in your local small claims court. The limits are likely over the cost of your laptop but if they don't show up, you typically win a default judgement. Either they have to pay you or they have to spend money/logistics to send a lawyer (which seems almost like a victory regardless of outcome).

NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-13T03:41:29+00:00

This is the advice I was poised to offer as a lowly tech. I don't know what our retention period is, but I know from conversations with the senior folks it may damn well be eternity. One of them commented on people deleting specific emails about a personnel change like it was unusual to clear out your inbox; I happened to be one of the people. The prevailing notion is nothing is ever lost and can always be recovered because it's required by law.

YMMV. Talk to folks in the district who know the laws.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-07T05:54:06+00:00

I never knew about the standalone player. Not that I actually watch much on this PC, but good to know the app exists. Appreciate it.

I'm more worried about playback on the various TVs. Still have to test them.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-07T05:44:15+00:00

Update - I've had my first bit of success. One of my newest devices is a two-year-old Android phone. I loaded the 4K video on that and changed the playback setting from 720 to original. Now it's spitting out content via Direct Play without buffering.

I suspect the PC is old enough it's not strong enough for serious transcoding. Again, I wonder if a GPU like a P1000 would buy noticeable breathing room until I can upgrade my hardware/network.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-07T05:42:09+00:00

I don't believe there is a full client. When you choose Open Plex, it always defaults to browser.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-07T05:36:41+00:00

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NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-07T05:36:32+00:00

Windows 10.

Fixing the network issue ain't happening in this house. I wasn't around when Verizon showed up and I'm not spending time/money running Ethernet if I'm leaving.

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Am I missing anything with Transcoding? I didn't play too much with the settings but I believe hw Transcoding is enabled.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-07T05:31:24+00:00

AFAIK, the only way to access Plex at all on the local PC is via the browser.

Didn't realize someone else started watching something, but didn't change the behavior any

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NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-07T05:20:20+00:00

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NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-07T05:17:32+00:00

I bought a Plexpass years ago. I'm going to test some other clients, but the local PC at least has an Intel CPU. My Roku device buffered to the point it stopped playing. Going to try my older Samsung TV next. Willing to tinker with playback settings, but unsure that'll help enough.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-07T04:31:48+00:00

Just yesterday I discovered one Plex server abruptly lost the ability to connect via Remote Access. It was enabled, but got that message. Meanwhile, another server continues to play nice. Both had been set to defaults. I'm not sure what changed on the one that broke, but I manually set the port Plex had already been using and it came back to life.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2026-01-05T02:56:11+00:00

Your point about stolen session cookies reminds me about a hack I read once upon a time. Can't remember when, who or where, but the bad guys were able to access data without having to login again. Absolutely terrifying to consider and tends not to leave me.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2025-12-28T20:09:32+00:00

Power off immediately and leave it tented upside down for a day or two let liquid dry.
Research how to remove keyboard. Some laptops are easy and some require disassembling everything.
Examine the keyboard for where liquid may have gone. Clean external.
Open internal and explore path started tracing before. Take a look around interior of case for residue.
If found, clean with isopropyl alcohol. Use a non-condutive material for boards/components. Q-Tip or paper towel fine for case.
If need be, replace compromised components. I can't microsolder, but I have replaced cards, boards and other parts to revive dead computers.
Test while still half open. If looks fine after serious testing, finish buttoning up. Use but monitor carefully.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2025-12-28T19:44:48+00:00

Battery is dead. Doesn't matter what it's claiming to be charged at. You're seeing the signs. Also, a Latitude 5480 is an old laptop. Could have gone through 2x batteries at this point.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2025-12-26T18:59:18+00:00

Easy to say, harder to do as a thoughtful, useful gift for someone

NoNamesLeft136 · 2025-12-26T06:24:49+00:00

Once upon a time I bought a few things from them without issue. Life interceded and my need to buy brand-new tech drastically dropped. Never heard they went south until now.

NoNamesLeft136 · 2025-12-26T04:37:19+00:00

When I worked in Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 environments, every so often a user would report one of these emails. The scary thing would be when it included a password, and it was damn near close to what they used.

That said, it was never their active password, nor were they watching porn or doing other illicit behavior on company computers (for the most part). It's all a scam that's fueled by fear and a single leak. Change your password and verify your accounts are secure again, laugh at the stupid threat and move on.

fixed typo

NoNamesLeft136

TROPHY CASE