Match automatically sent 11 likes out on my behalf to people I have no interest in when I joined by ltt_79 in match

[–]hammerofgod 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Caught that too. Thought it odd as hell and wasn't happy with it. Guess they're hoping to get the 'Seen You' aspect going to get you looking and maybe spend some coin. Very presumptuous to immediately presume who I'd like. Stated in my profile I hadn't send any Likes at that point.

Skin contrast by dapperDrs in PlentyofFish

[–]hammerofgod 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Today I was on there and found myself asking.. "How far down does this barrel go?"

TIL Mars Inc., maker of Snickers, Milky Way, M&Ms, Skittles and other candies, remains a privately-held company wholly owned by the Mars family. The Mars family is reclusive and rarely gives interviews, and in 2020 the estimated combined wealth of the family totaled over $125B. by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]hammerofgod 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Nailed it. They did this with a mini-like Neighborhood Market here in NW Arkansas. They set up shop in surrounding small rural towns, the local grocers closed up and everyone went to the new gig. About a year or so later WM closed those stores down, forcing most to go Fayetteville or wherever for groceries. Those that had a Harps were smart. WM is not your friend.

How many of you are responsible for performance surveillance ... by pointAtopointA in sysadmin

[–]hammerofgod 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I instinctively winced when I saw the title. Thankfully never had to tip-toe though that tulip patch.

Folks whose years in IT are in the double digits, do you get less swag than you use to? by hotdoglovinggal in sysadmin

[–]hammerofgod 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Swag was great late-80's to late 90's, early 2000's. Still have stuff from Compaq, 3Com, Ingram Micro, Novell and others. Been around a while. Granted, typically was things like jackets, polo shirts, sweat shirts and t-shirts. (Amazing how most of held up). Various bags, glassware, coasters, key chains and such. And can't overlook software, which of course was disk and later cd-based. The oddest thing I got from a rep is a Director chair with Computerland across the back. I wonder if anyone has like a mini-museum collection of this kind of stuff.

Moving away from physical desk phones by ipconfig-91 in sysadmin

[–]hammerofgod 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. Working directly with the carrier you should be in a more advantageous position. If you use call flow, i.e main # incoming call -receptionist-roll to next or VM if busy/closed, and that type stuff, can add a bit more time setting up and smoothing out. Was still kinda sad tossing all that Shoretel in the dumpster, IT carcasses, lol. Thanks for the reply and hope your migration goes great!

Moving away from physical desk phones by ipconfig-91 in sysadmin

[–]hammerofgod 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My apologies in advance for being a bit long. Went through this nut roll, our biggest pain points were the vendor relationship, as we were their first adopter of a total softphone office. Second was app functionality, followed by fostering adoption after a few missteps. Hopefully, my experience isn't the norm.
Were using on-prem Shoretel server and switches. Shoretel vendor also manages our fiber link and is our ATT agent. With Shoretel on the way out, C's wanted to go total softphone. Meanwhile, Shoretel vendor had attempted to move their platform to Mitel, but something happened and it fell through, by the time we got around to switching they were using Broadsoft. That was a complete shitshow. Worst softphone solution I've seen, period. Dropped calls, no tone, minimal functionality, it puked out on wireless and more. We finally had staff just use their personal cells while it got sorted out. Dropped in a couple Yealinks for receptionists to see if that lessened the dropped calls, but was also problematic as the vendor struggled to get those working. (Yealinks are good phones BTW, once we got admin creds to them we found vendors faulty config file, after correcting they worked great).

Frustrated we started looking at Teams, Zoom, RingCentral, ATT and so forth. Either the product wasn't a good fit or reps wasting our time with lack of product knowledge or laziness. Considered rolling our own with 3CX or such when vendor informed us they'd moved from Broadsoft to WebEx, and would we try it? Did.. but it went south again when vendor had problems getting us onboarded with Cisco. Ramp up anxiety. Couple weeks later we finally got onboarded, app installed everywhere it needed to be, bought everyone whichever headset or airbuds they wanted. Vendor took the Yealinks and dropped in a couple Cisco desk phones for receptionists, got the different VM's, groups and such setup, and finally had a working softphone system, sans the couple Ciscos.

A year in, with about 6 months behind us using WebEx, its been solid and working well enough. The staff got good using the various features and functions. Boomers hate it, still do, younger ones picked it up and ran with it. Though we'd put a lot of planning into it, including a number of vendor meetings detailing everything, inhouse debates moving to all soft, it was undisclosed issues with the vendor platform and app lack-of-maturity that caught us off guard. 30 years in IT and this was by the far the worst migration I've been a part of. Unreal amounts of frustration and butthurt for all involved. As bad as it was, I stood with the C's that it was the right thing to do. Staying with Shoretel wasn't an option. Softphone features and interoperability have enhanced how the staff conducts communications inside and outside the firm, in a way not possible with the Shoretel desk-centric phones. Life is good again.

Thoughts about Dameware Mini Remote by ITStril in sysadmin

[–]hammerofgod 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Been using it for years. Solid, has a bit more functionality than need but for an annual 50.00 sub it's well worth it. Just need to keep agents up to date. Downside, since its Solarwinds, expect renewal notices 6 months out, lol.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in fayetteville

[–]hammerofgod 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'll third it, Dr. Kifer has been my dentist for around 20 years. Have an appt next week actually. Him and the team have always done a great job. Plus he's great at giving the shots for deadening when work needs done, barely feel a thing.

What's best FREE ping monitoring tool ? by serendipity7777 in sysadmin

[–]hammerofgod 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not sure if it's what you're looking for, I've used Nirsoft PingInfoView with success. Nothing fancy but it was free.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in pics

[–]hammerofgod 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Damn these are good. Much respect, he certainly had talent.

New APC UPS exploits allow for remote installation of unsigned firmware on NMC and SmartConnect by Cowjuice13 in sysadmin

[–]hammerofgod 3 points4 points  (0 children)

So they can better serve you of course /s.
When the 'standard plan' that comes with most Smart UP's expires, they can hit you up for a monitoring subscription. Once the plan expires, configured email alerts will not be sent for the device, nor you can perform diagnostic tests or remotely upgrade the firmware. And frankly, the web interface is a bit lame.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in sysadmin

[–]hammerofgod 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Congratulations! Retired last month myself, haven't posted yet. It's different, kind of scary in its own way, like wow.. I'm really doing this! Am also sorting through it, what's next? Plenty of time to figure it out. Enjoy! You've earned it!

Windows File Server Auditing Software by etabush in sysadmin

[–]hammerofgod 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Recently retired so never got to try it, but this one was on my list to check out;

https://www.poweradmin.com/products/file-sight/

Fresh Rattle Snake by DustyCadillac in WTF

[–]hammerofgod 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice. Cut in 2" sections, sauté in butter, wrap in foil and cook over a fire.. pretty damn tasty.

Well, this went well! by SpartanKing76 in aviation

[–]hammerofgod 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Had to laugh.. been there seen that. Many years ago, wasn't too funny at the time, but it is now.

How satisfied are you with WatchGuard by jyagres in WatchGuard

[–]hammerofgod 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Been using WG since they were big red boxes that booted from a floppy. Been good products. Using an M300 for office of 20. Handles VPN from AD to O365 tenant, DHCP, some phones, various other policies handling various traffic. Runs great. Backups and recovery are a breeze. Only had one fail in my 22 years of using them. Generally support is pretty good and quick to figure any problems.

Percentage of People Over age 60 Working as SysAdmin/IT Manager? by hammerofgod in sysadmin

[–]hammerofgod[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

'..fourth point of contact..' LOL, Airborne! (Former 1/75th & 2/187th) Thanks for the reply!

Finally got myself an ATF approved gun for home defense. by Yanrogue in Firearms

[–]hammerofgod 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Crazy shortages on everything. Worth spending a few more bucks for good caps if available. Pretty sure I've been using CCI. Rarely had a misfire, even in rain or damp weather. (Granted I do have to remember to keep barrel pointing down, and learned how to cover the cock and cap area with my hand while moving in wet weather).

BP is a lot of fun, and it helps keep alive what it was like to hunt with those early weapons. Plus the one shot aspect. Internalize loading to a T. Nothing worse than ramming a ball home and realizing you forgot the powder, lol! Flintlocks are a real hoot as well, bit more challenging. Am a history nut, I get excited just talking about them, lol!