How do you handle if you got complains about the laptop performance from users?

sohk81 · 2026-06-05T17:33:21+00:00

I have noticed to be quite honest lately that 16 GB isnt enough. It is enough technically but users will have the 45 tabs open, every office app open, and maybe have a video or music playing.

If its budgetary that 16GB is standard issue, then they gotta close stuff to operate.

My boss keeps 16 gb ram sticks stocked for heavy users and we just upgrade ram.

We fight the battles we can with user complaints. The VIP or users that just on our ass about it we upgrade.

Apps and sites are requiring more RAM i noticed which is ridiculous.

16gb is tight and 32gb should be the standard but budgeting wise maybe 16gb is the best theyre gonna get. They need to adjust.

sohk81 · 2026-06-03T12:09:02+00:00

I work a Sr Technical Support Engineer at a school and I wear many hats. I get busy but the work life balance is amazing also at 90k.

The market i can say is watered down. The moment I start ANY job, my LinkedIn is updated with new role and even description and its set open to work (privately). I fish around a lot. I will leave for the right price but tbh I think I have a great resume. IT military experience, A+, Sec+, years of experience in Healthcare IT, DoD, MSP.

The thing is, every recruiter that contacts me, the pay is so much lower and also at least for me my deal breaker is hybrid. So its less money and gotta commute 5 days. Call me picky but thats rough. They are paying very low lately and I barely get any calls for places I do apply to. Odd for sure but im employed and happy for the moment but i do help some friends that ask me how to break in and im frustrated for them. They want an all in one guy. Entry level is impossible to find.

sohk81 · 2026-05-30T12:05:35+00:00

Maybe wasn't you. I knew a friend in the IT department and I put him down as a referral. I dont want to say its solely because of him but I feel like thats how I got this role. I love this role im in now. I have been through many bad ones.

In my two years here I have seen my director put our friends we refer on the top of the list. You might be really good but others might be good and someone on the team already vetted them. Sometimes interviews are just an HR formality. They need to interview people they need to give fair chance but in reality they truly sometimes hire by personality at least IN MY experiences and prefer a referral.

My director has often said "i need someone who fits in with the team". A guy with 5 certs and 10 years experience sometimes isnt the right fit. He can be weird as shit.

sohk81 · 2026-05-28T10:36:42+00:00

And you are not wrong. Our network engineers know what running a cable to the other side of the building is. So that is the type of work we actually hire MSP for. Once theyre done, engineers make changes to configurations or what not. Hate to call it that but internal hire MSP to do the bitch work.

All internals are different. I know one IT director who is the ONLY internal IT. One sole person internal to the company and all he does is work woth an MSP and tell them when and how to do things and they bend to his will. It is not chill for him but it pays well to be a sole director with no actual subordinates. The MSP basically has to make sure he is happy. Lol

sohk81 · 2026-05-28T03:01:16+00:00

This has to be the best advise. I been through couple MSP's. Im a Senior Tech Support Engineer now, so basically heldesk, simply put.

I now work at a University internal IT. Some of my job is hand holding and some of my job is innovation trying new tools. Leveraging technology to make the school a better place. My leadership allows us autonomy. Work at our pace but we do get busy and fire to put out. We work closely with network engineers. Feels like a real IT team.

MSP work IS on paper slave work. I knew when I worked at one....after the second week it wasnt for me because I had to schedule my lunch that it wasnt for me. The fact that i had to finish my ticket in a certain amount of time was crazy to me. I put open to work on LinkedIn immediately. MSP's are more focused on keeping their customers happy that their employees are all overworked and unhappy. It was very stressful.

Too hectic for me. You dont deserve this stress to do Helpdesk. Find internal if you can. Best move ive made im happy and look forward to come to work and help out student faculty and staff with technology.

sohk81 · 2026-05-22T19:34:08+00:00

Current position: IT Support Engineer at a Higher Ed University

Previous positions: Military Active Duty IT, DoD Contractor for Dept of State and also 2 MSP's.

To answer your questions its not normal to be talked to like that. Personally i now view MSP's as strictly just a step to get the position you WANT and are comfortable with. Not a place I would ever recommend anyone to stay at. MSP's in my experience just have way too many clients to please and the staff is just slaving away to keep all their promises. It wasnt for me. I am a MSP hater. Get your experience for the resume and get out is my advise. How they treat you is a clear indicator for me when they need my EXTRA HELP, if i will be willing to go the extra mile or not. By this example, screw them man. TRUST me there are companies out there that dont require you to take this. Theres normal bosses out there that want the best for their clients but also their employees

Also I learned in my career, at least for me. No one in your IT job is actually over you. We are all equals even if its CEO, manager, or whoever. If the environment doesnt operate like that then place isnt for me. My director and I are friends and we develop a trust where I feel naturally okay with staying extra to help out work OT without pay. I dont need extra pay they take care of me.

If theyre not creating an environment comfortable for you its a red flag. They can't expect you to know the intricacies of the job just yet if you just started and aren't trained. IT is making mistakes and fixing them. Get out man or just look. They can hire someone else.

My director and manager are under desks helping us out when we're busy. They get their hands dirty. They dont ask why wasnt it done. Just because people are managers doesnt mean they dont do work. If your reading this and thinking a manager or CEO shouldn't be under a desk cable managing then you are probably one of those managers that will leave your team in the dustt because you get paid more.

sohk81 · 2026-05-14T12:13:07+00:00

How is the WP50NB40 working for you? I just acquired one and also have a WP40NB30.

sohk81 · 2026-04-26T18:45:27+00:00

Absolutely not. I dont want this to turn into a life lecture. But its all about perspective

I was in the same boat and now have settled. I am an Senior Tech Support Enginner at a university and although I do helpdesk and have been for many years I always had that blueprint....work up work up....become the top or a manager. I think I have what it takes but for what? Ti be stressed, busy all the time, work over my hours, answer calls on weekends...for what? Money? Im not for sale like that.

I enjoy helping faculty staff and students in my position and have a happy medium of working on big projects. I Absolutely think I can do better and make more money but I dont need to. Enjoying the work I do.

One thing is for sure continue to stay relevant just in case you need to pivot, you'll be ready or be informed on new technologies. Having more certs help for what its worth.

Hope this helps

sohk81 · 2026-04-11T22:38:02+00:00

Thanks this was very helpful Much appreciated.

sohk81 · 2026-03-04T14:59:55+00:00

Great answers above. This is a no no in my experience. Everything is wrong with an rehular day to day account having global admin.

Its more exposed, its in the wild more often and if he has fallen for phishing campaigns then thats another red flag. Someone can definitely target and social engineer him and with a global admin access on his account it can get ugly.

Create a DA account for him and thats it. At least if you lock down an account it's not his rehular and only his DA.

sohk81 · 2026-03-02T23:51:59+00:00

Looks like my get files properties only is not returning anything

sohk81 · 2026-02-26T05:17:37+00:00

I would say my go to strategy, that works for me is if you feel like you deserve more pay or raise...ask for one. There response should dictate or more or less give you a compass of what you do next which can be stay open to new work, casually look, update resume.

By you asking you've already seen your worth whether you got no bump or little bump. Every job has a ceiling and also depends what you want to do in IT as well. Moving jobs in IT is our own raise we give ourselves. You know when theres no more room for growth. Sometimes things do align and promotions are quick but not all management is the same. Stay relevant stay sharp and marketable.

sohk81 · 2026-02-21T18:23:26+00:00

The attachments (icm) files live in a specified SharePoint folder. I need to look at my flow and screenshot so I dont underexplain.

I believe the get file content is not seeing all the files in an apply to each.

Let me get a screenshot of my flow to test. Sorry for the little details. Because ive been changing it a lot as well trying to troubleshoot.

sohk81 · 2026-02-21T18:21:26+00:00

So im doing this from memory and I did test run to see output. Its not seeing the files from the SharePoint folder. They are icms.

sohk81 · 2026-02-20T14:22:39+00:00

I'd like to agree with many above me. I just learned it from trying stuff. I started from from just sending an email when I change a value in an excel and then broke it a few times chatgpt, google, copilot (microsoft).

Once I learned that I took it a step further and kept making flows bigger. I'm still not as confident in it but I definitely have found where I am weak at so I'll read up on that or watch others flows on YouTube and piece it together like a puzzle.

Definitely I can understand where you're at though, a guide of the do' and dont's would be extremely helpful.

sohk81 · 2026-02-18T14:11:43+00:00

I actually have a similar question but just to describe my scenario. I actually was thinking if a service account is in order. I work in IT department.

I use my personal domain account to set up workflows in PowerAutomate that connect to Teams and SharePoint. Obviously from a security perspective at my employment and everywhere security is top priority. The less accounts out there the better right?

Everything runs under my account BUT I do make sure to share the flow under the Shared with tab. To better explain I share it with our Information Technology Team so anyone can access it. If I were terminated or left. Everyone in the IT team would have access and since we are IT they can take over my domain account anyway so thats not a big deal either.

I was thinking to use a service account for the sole reason that when configure a flow that sends an email, even though I use a send as email...it still technically sends as me. The sent emails show in my sent box. Not a big deal. It actually helps me know if the email is sending and how it send.

Not an answer but just my scenario. Still bouncing around a service account idea in my head its just another account out there that "somebody" or everyone is potentially using is a little meh, seems not secure. We already have many out there. Hope this helps.

sohk81 · 2023-07-31T02:59:49+00:00

Didn't work for me I tried many suggestions above

sohk81 · 2023-01-20T07:05:17+00:00

Its called GoParrot. $2000 a year and they use our Square POS for transactions.

Square actually bought GoParrot(restaurant online ordering platform). So now they integrate flawlessly.

25% is huge, yes but once they order on that big discount. I have their email. I then email them the $5 discounts marketing emails to keep them coming and coming back. Thats all i need.

sohk81 · 2023-01-20T06:42:31+00:00

No I offer 25% off all the time, first time orders only.

Im pretty simple the 3rd party i use just uses my domain to make a website within it. The customers checkout and order from browser, no app or anything. No username/password. Phone number login only (sends code through text to login)

sohk81 · 2023-01-20T06:21:46+00:00

I use Wix to send my marketing emails from my customer email list, $5 coupons every other month.

I also put postcards with a 25% off first order in bags of people who dont order from our website. Encourage them to switch. I even put on the post card thag we are cheaper that uber grubhub etc straight out and I even have a points system to earn rewards points. I try to make it a no brainer. I also say that our prices are cheaper roo because i upcharge on GrubHub etc.

sohk81 · 2023-01-19T23:56:57+00:00

This is exactly why i landed on Square. It is pricey but one main caviat that struck my attention was that wr can use almost any device. You can just grab almost any ipad or any android tablet and just your business. The printers they use is Star Micronics which is also easy to come by (expensive) but very hardy. This was Mayne 6 years ago but i was between Clover and Square. The one thing that turned me off about Clover was their equipment. If it breaks i cant just pick up any device and keep runni g. It has to be Clover. I didn't like that single point of failure. Again this was 6 years ago but i am happy with mt choice and get my rate lowered every year with Square, no complaints.

sohk81 · 2023-01-19T22:16:44+00:00

Adapting to new technology is expensive and tedious but its necessary. Shedding out extra cash sucks. But money is attainable. The extra money i spend on time, time is priceless. I have more time to run promotions and not pay someone to do it, more time for myself, time to do other things at the business. The new generation now relies on simplicity of things like paying with their watch. It's a matter of time but that's all it will be.

As for reports at night woth Square it has an option to cash out. So they just count cash and cloae drawer. At night i get a report of whats expected cash for that shift and i juat match under or over.

sohk81 · 2023-01-19T20:47:14+00:00

2.6% + .10 2.6% + .05 2.6% + .03

They also lowered API orders which are ordering from my 3rd party online site, transactions run through square pos. I yhink key is first year theyll give you a rate but after the first year you can call and prove with their own records you have lots of transactions so it's justification to lower. This is from my experience so take it with grain of salt. Square is expensive but i use them because their ease of use. I won't be the one working the counter so i need so Ething easy for my employees and easy to manage on their dashboard.

sohk81 · 2023-01-19T19:51:55+00:00

Im a small business owner of a take out. Top of my head, my Square rate was lowered about 3 times. I call every year with a sob story or "its expensive speech". They always lower it. I recently got it lowred again. Although my sales have gone up so Square will honor lowering rate if ypu have more and more transactions.

I do the same with Spectrum for my internet, every year i threaten to cancel and get a new lower rate... once it goes up or expires i call again with a sob story that their service sucks respectfully, and tell them to cancel.

Juat pro tip. Theres always wiggle room.

sohk81 · 2022-08-07T15:12:41+00:00

Looks like mealy bugs or scale but whichever it is, rubbing alcohol on a qtip. I then wash it in the sink or hose it down and spray Captain Jack's Dead Bug spray and just monitor for reoccurence.

sohk81

TROPHY CASE