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On 4/11/2018 at 1:51 PM, LadySkinsFan said:

Well, I am going cableless really soon. I got an antenna for the camper, I have a wireless hotspot, and Amazon Fire tv. When I get settled in Austin I will check out my options for internet and everything else. 

 

One thing, I really like to record shows so I can play them back and fast forward through commercials. That way I can have my favorite programs and do activities in the meantime. 

TiVo is the obvious choice, but also look into Channel Master.  They do DVRs meant for antenna use and there is no subscription for listings.

https://www.channelmaster.com/Stream_Plus_p/cm-7600.htm#Header_ProductDetail_TechSpecs

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https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/04/deleted-facebook-cybercrime-groups-had-300000-members/

 

 

Quote

 

Deleted Facebook Cybercrime Groups Had 300,000 Members

Hours after being alerted by KrebsOnSecurity, Facebook last week deleted almost 120 private discussion groups totaling more than 300,000 members who flagrantly promoted a host of illicit activities on the social media network’s platform. The scam groups facilitated a broad spectrum of shady activities, including spamming, wire fraud, account takeovers, phony tax refunds, 419 scams, denial-of-service attack-for-hire services and botnet creation tools. The average age of these groups on Facebook’s platform was two years.

On Thursday, April 12, KrebsOnSecurity spent roughly two hours combing Facebook for groups whose sole purpose appeared to be flouting the company’s terms of service agreement about what types of content it will or will not tolerate on its platform

 

 

Two.Flipping.Years. You're doing a stellar job Facebook.:rolleyes:

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm trying to make an Android tablet be able to edit and upload PDF files to our file server. I have downloaded Adobe DC to the tablet and I can access our server and I can edit docs but I can't send them back to the server. Anyone have experience with this?

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10 minutes ago, Mongo2365 said:

I'm trying to make an Android tablet be able to edit and upload PDF files to our file server. I have downloaded Adobe DC to the tablet and I can access our server and I can edit docs but I can't send them back to the server. Anyone have experience with this?

How are you trying to transfer the files to the file server?  FTP/SFTP?  Samba/SMB?

 

I prefer SFTP because its easier to configure and less you can screw up on in regards to it accidentally being more open then you want it to.  But I'm a Sys Admin, I don't need it to be easy as SAMBA/SMB because I move files around as part my making a living.

 

Edit: My goal is to eventually root my phone and setup rsync, most people don't even know what that is.

Edited by Renegade7
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27 minutes ago, Renegade7 said:

How are you trying to transfer the files to the file server?  FTP/SFTP?  Samba/SMB?

 

I prefer SFTP because its easier to configure and less you can screw up on in regards to it accidentally being more open then you want it to.  But I'm a Sys Admin, I don't need it to be easy as SAMBA/SMB because I move files around as part my making a living.

 

Edit: My goal is to eventually root my phone and setup rsync, most people don't even know what that is.

Using FTP

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1 minute ago, Mongo2365 said:

Using FTP

Troubleshoot it like you would any other FTP situation, then. 

 

Try with Filezilla on a desktop first, if you can get it working in Filezilla, you should be able to get it working on your Android tablet.  If there's firewalls involved, you know you got to let certain traffic in or out.  Whatever error you're getting in Filezilla should lead you to your solution to get it to work. 

 

Million different FTP clients for Android, use whatever you feel safest with.

 

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Questions for all you IT/Computer peeps working in the field.  Ok, I currently work in the healthcare industry (reimbursement/consulting side - not anything clinical).  There has been a recent shake-up in organization, lets just say that we grew extremely large in the past 16 years I've worked there and things are handled differently now.  

 

I'm not worried or scared that I'm going to be laid off, but one thing I am not is naive to think I'm bulletproof.  I also love my company.  But I'm a planner and like to be prepared if at all possible and would rather be proactive instead of reactive.  So I've thought about trying to get into the IT industry, I actually wanted to get a BS in Computer Science, but changed my mind my senior year in HS. 

 

I earned a bachelors in science in Mechanical Engineering, way back in 1998.  I have no experience previously in IT or computer science related field.

 

With that background, questions are as follows:

 

1.  What would the best course of action for a 43 year old wanting to enter this field/industry with no experience?  

2.  Go back to school and earn a BS in CS?  

3.  Are there any certifications one could take classes for and earn that would qualify them for jobs, regardless of on-hand experience?  Like CCNA?

4.  Do you hire or see the hiring of co-workers where they have a 4 year degree that is not really related to CS/IT but have certain certifications get hired?  And how common/often is that?

5.  What are the best certifications/degrees to pursue?  

6.  I'd prefer to work remotely, what are the best jobs for that?  

7.  What about an associates degree?  Worthless now?

8.  What is the best specialized area with a good chance of getting a job fairly quickly?

9.  What would the best course of action be to earn at least 50K starting out entry level?  If that is even a possibility.  

 

If I have to go back to get another 4 year degree, I'd have to do it all online.  I'm interested in really anything, networking/routing, coding, programming.  

 

Edit:  I did speak with FSU today in regards to their online program for getting a BS in CS, and basically told me that the classes from my degree that wouldn't transfer, they partner with a group that offers a service that you type in the course and it lists out all the colleges in the state of Florida that offer that class online and then you can take it and transfer it the credits to the FSU program.  Which is cool, but I have a feeling it's going to be more of my classes not transferring than I'd like.  

Edited by Dont Taze Me Bro
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On 5/4/2018 at 1:41 PM, The Evil Genius said:

Anyone have recommendations for cable modems to use for Comcast Xfinity (current internet service is up to 400mbps).

 

We currently "rent" the one for Comcast and they charge $10 a month. 

Go with Aris modems 

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On 5/4/2018 at 1:41 PM, The Evil Genius said:

Anyone have recommendations for cable modems to use for Comcast Xfinity (current internet service is up to 400mbps).

 

We currently "rent" the one for Comcast and they charge $10 a month. 

 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/arris-surfboard-32-x-8-docsis-3-0-cable-modem-white/4600801.p?skuId=4600801

 

This modem will give you 1000mbps. You will need to provide your own wireless router though. 

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11 hours ago, Dont Taze Me Bro said:

Questions for all you IT/Computer peeps working in the field.  Ok, I currently work in the healthcare industry (reimbursement/consulting side - not anything clinical).  There has been a recent shake-up in organization, lets just say that we grew extremely large in the past 16 years I've worked there and things are handled differently now.  

 

I'm not worried or scared that I'm going to be laid off, but one thing I am not is naive to think I'm bulletproof.  I also love my company.  But I'm a planner and like to be prepared if at all possible and would rather be proactive instead of reactive.  So I've thought about trying to get into the IT industry, I actually wanted to get a BS in Computer Science, but changed my mind my senior year in HS. 

 

I earned a bachelors in science in Mechanical Engineering, way back in 1998.  I have no experience previously in IT or computer science related field.

 

With that background, questions are as follows:

 

1.  What would the best course of action for a 43 year old wanting to enter this field/industry with no experience?  

2.  Go back to school and earn a BS in CS?  

3.  Are there any certifications one could take classes for and earn that would qualify them for jobs, regardless of on-hand experience?  Like CCNA?

4.  Do you hire or see the hiring of co-workers where they have a 4 year degree that is not really related to CS/IT but have certain certifications get hired?  And how common/often is that?

5.  What are the best certifications/degrees to pursue?  

6.  I'd prefer to work remotely, what are the best jobs for that?  

7.  What about an associates degree?  Worthless now?

8.  What is the best specialized area with a good chance of getting a job fairly quickly?

9.  What would the best course of action be to earn at least 50K starting out entry level?  If that is even a possibility.  

 

If I have to go back to get another 4 year degree, I'd have to do it all online.  I'm interested in really anything, networking/routing, coding, programming.  

 

Edit:  I did speak with FSU today in regards to their online program for getting a BS in CS, and basically told me that the classes from my degree that wouldn't transfer, they partner with a group that offers a service that you type in the course and it lists out all the colleges in the state of Florida that offer that class online and then you can take it and transfer it the credits to the FSU program.  Which is cool, but I have a feeling it's going to be more of my classes not transferring than I'd like.  

 

Here's the thing:  IT is huge.  The first thing you have to do is consider what you think you'll find interesting, because if you start programming for instance and find you don't have the mentality for it, don't push through because you think you'll make good money for it.  I'm going to answer your questions best I can all things considered:

 

1. You need to figure out what about your current degree matters in IT first and what schools will accept the credits you already have.  If that's not realistic, I'd recommend something like ECPI (there's one in Charlotte), because you can get a BS in 2.5 years and taking certs will be dirt cheap compared to other schools that leave for dead (like ITT did to me).  My understanding is you can take most any IT cert you want as student at ECPI and it be less then $15 as opposed to $100+ (and $100 is me being extremely generous)

 

2. Anyone can speak to this, but if a typical associates is 2 years and ECPI's bachelors is 2.5, ya, I'd do the BS with ECPI.  Many employeers count the level of degree as experience, so if you're coming in with zero, a BS will help you more then an AS.  https://www.ecpi.edu/locations/charlotte-nc  If I was you, I'd do whatever it took to get into cybersecurity (Huge demand, will force you to stay up to date on big picture, and about safe as you can get since its a field that's just flat out exploding right now)

 

3.  CCNA is a good one that people will take you seriously on, but again, you really need to look at specific fields in IT and really think about what you find interesting.  You run into subnetting and find you hate it, you'll hate life in CCNA land, even with a CCNA and making decent money.  Whatever you do, get a Security+: it will not hurt you and in many cases like DoD and Cybersecurity, they won't look at you unless you have one.  Don't waste your time with A+ or Network+ if you trying like hell not take a huge pay cut even after you graduate and already considering the CCNA.  If you're serious about going the networking route, you can have a BS, CCNA, and Security+ in 2.5 years, that's a helluva good start.  At the end of the day, you need to look at what you want to do and look at jobs online that fit that to see what certs they want you to have.  They aren't pokemon cards, you can't catch them all, and if you try and get the reputation of a cert chaser, employeers smell that out quick and can hurt you more then help.  Stay efficient, bang for your buck.

 

4. You should seriously consider talking to either an HR person or if you feel it won't backfire too much the HR department for your employeer.  It's not unheard of to hire someone with a different degree then the position, but from recruiters I've talked to, the experience and certs have to make up for it.  I would not skip the BS degree in IT, not if I can get one in cybersecurity in 2.5 and avoid that coming up in the future.  You're starting a new career, even if you come in at a certain point, its the long game just the same.  2.5 years to avoid this being a problem for the next 20, that's how math works in my head for me.  One of my closests friends has just as much if not more experience then me, but has an AS and no certs, so he has a ceiling and he knows it (he's been told that by IT Recruiters and job requirements on places like Dice and Indeed).

 

5.  That's a loaded question given whatever answer I give you I'd be concerned you'll look for that cert as opposed for the field you will either most like or be able to tolerate.  You're likely going to be doing IT the rest of your life, so you need to figure out where you want to be and look at what you need to do to get there.  CISSP will change your life and keep you safe for the rest of it, but it is a major cert and requires an endorsement.  Look for your dream job (what you want to be when you grow up : )  and what certs they are asking for. Whatever you decide to do, get a Security+.  I'd almost argue that you should get the Sec+ before you get any other cert (not as technical as other certs that fields require, but one of the first thing many employeers look for to decide if to delete/trash your resume).

 

6.  I don't want to speak on this too much, recommend you talk to an IT Recruiter or HR person who deals with IT.  Me, what you're asking feels like the wrong question.  You live in Charlotte, so you need to be asking the following and regularly if you don't want to relocate: https://www.dice.com/jobs/jtype-Full Time-sort-date-dtco-true-l-Charlotte%2C_NC-radius-30-jobs   I know trying the Sysadmin won't make sense, as you will be responsible for physicial stuff that you can't do remotely (networking issue, you can't remote in in a lot of cases)

 

7. Refer to Question #2

 

8. This is also the wrong question, because it will be easy to get into help desk, but the pay cut will be murderous.  You need to avoid doing something like help desk unless you have to.  Talk to an IT Recruiter, HR person, and job placement department in any school you pick to get multiple opinions on this one.  The problem I'm describing is very real and something I had to help people with a lot when I was running my schools IT Club.  People that are coming into this IT thing dry but have a family to take care of in many cases just cant' afford a serious pay cut (some will bit the bullet and cut salary in half to get the expereince needed to get back to that number in IT).  Cybersecurity and Healthcare IT is what I'd recommend looking into, they are two of the fastest growing industries, period, not just in IT.

 

9.  Taking all my pervious answers should point you in right direction.  You need multiple opinions on this, as I'm going on what I've seen, what worked for me, what worked for others, and what didn't work for anyone.  If you can transfer to IT with your current employeer, that's path of least resistance, and they don't need to know that you are planning to leave, either.  50K is a reasonable number, but I can't tell if you're factoring cost of living if you're willing to relocate or if that's the number you can't go under without it hurting your family.

 

If you have any other questions, let me know and I'll be happy to help best I can.  Ive sat in on multiple interviews and picking up on my networking, both are invaluable as I know what its like to be on otherside of the table people trying to get a position to survive.  Networking is so important because its the litlte things that get your resume on somebody's desk and gives chance to confirm what you need to do to get where you want to be.

 

Good Luck, Taze.

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7 minutes ago, Zguy28 said:

A lot of IT training in general can be gotten cheaply via CBT Nuggets subscription.

 

Totally agree.

 

@Dont Taze Me Bro  if your employeer has something like a pluralsight or lynda account, feed on it.  Professor Messer is some of the best free videos out there.  IT is one of the best industries out there in terms of getting out of it what you put into it.  There isn't much you can't practice if you have a computer that can handle 1-2 virtual machines running at the same time (can then have a client OS joined to a Domain with the DC running on your computer same time, for example).

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Thanks for the replies.  Cyber Security has always interested me.  The only fear I have is not getting a job without any experience.  Was just looking at entry level jobs available and there are a ton, but almost all of them require 3+ years experience.......doesn't seem like entry level to me :806:

 

The absolute last thing I need to do is earn another degree and not get hired in that field like I did with my BSME.  Was looking into Utica College, seems like they have one of the best reputations out there for a BS in cyber security.  Along with good reviews about the content/professors/etc. for the online program.  

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14 hours ago, tshile said:

ERP -> Excel -> Save as PDF -> Print -> Scan to PDF -> Email -> "How do I convert this to excel?"

 

This is why I hate people.

 

"Did you know how much drive space was left?"

 

"No, I thought we were good."

 

"Did you know how much data you were uploading to the server?"

 

"No, I was left out the meetings."

 

"But you're leading the implementation, how do I know more about what they're trying to upload then you do?"

 

....

 

I'm paraphrasing, because when she attempted to throw me under the bus on a public slack channel I eviscerated her.  Love her, but I had to, your pathetic "There's no policy saying to check drive space before uploading" had to be destroyed in a way that they all knew I would come after them if they did that again. You wouldn't do that to your thumb drive or SD card, why in God's name would you do that to a production server? President started typing then stopped, I'll know at my 8:30 department meeting tomorrow, another one of those where I got away with saying it because it would look bad that coming out from an actual manager (though I know they were all thinking it).

Edited by Renegade7
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On 5/8/2018 at 2:50 PM, Dont Taze Me Bro said:

Thanks for the replies.  Cyber Security has always interested me.  The only fear I have is not getting a job without any experience.  Was just looking at entry level jobs available and there are a ton, but almost all of them require 3+ years experience.......doesn't seem like entry level to me :806:

 

The absolute last thing I need to do is earn another degree and not get hired in that field like I did with my BSME.  Was looking into Utica College, seems like they have one of the best reputations out there for a BS in cyber security.  Along with good reviews about the content/professors/etc. for the online program.  

 

You know about this website? https://www.mycomputercareer.edu/free-computer-career-evaluation/

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6 hours ago, tshile said:

“There’s no policy for ....”

 

I hate people. I couldn’t work in corporate IT. I’d cause too many problems by publicly embarrassing people for their stupidity. 

Understandable.  There's probably a NIST policy for wiping your ass when you go to the bathroom, but in private sector it's like "I didn't know it was rule".  I'm sorry does it need to be?

 

In all fairness, I've seen what happens when "not writing it down" causes problems that could be avoided (It's beyond important to not only get managers to sign off on policy changes but that they REMEMBER they signed off on it).  Having said that, common sense is not a compliance issue.

 

Huge reason my manager made a position for me from scratch since she gave the job I interviewed for to somebody else is because she could tell I give a ****.  We talked about it this morning in her office, basically said what I already knew that even if you're right, if you go about it in the wrong way, its like you were never right to begin with (my dad used to preach that a lot when I was younger, but even he has problems with it, gotten better though).  We agreed that I walked right up to the line on that one, but she understood completely where I was coming from and we laugh about her talent for formulating what comes out of her mouth and me basically being her Anger Translator.

 

Image result for anger translator

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Exactly why I became self employed, when I didn't agree with how a client ran things, I was suddenly "busy" on a long term basis. I have worked with one business development guy for almost 20 years and once I get settled in Austin I will write for him again. 

 

But that's not the path everyone should choose, given different life circumstances.

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  • 2 weeks later...
43 minutes ago, tshile said:

so who's using windows hello for business?

 

does it suck?

 

 

 

There are paranoid people at my client site who have band-aide and other such inventions on their laptop's camera. Don't think they be helloing anyone soon....lol

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1 hour ago, tshile said:

so who's using windows hello for business?

 

does it suck?

 

 

Sounds interesting, but we have to upgrade our KMS server before we can push out volume licensing for Windows 10 (I have it, but I'm using a MAK key).  I'll tell anyone that will listen that if you have the option for something beyond a password or MFA, take it, the best password is only as good as the easiest keylogger.

 

I think I'm seeing STIGs for it, that's a good sign if DoD is okay with it, it will be forever before I convince my manager to invest in the fingerprint devicies, I'm not comfortable with the idea of everyone's webcam using facial recognition software, just feels too creepy to me right now.

 

@zskins  We have custom sliders that cover our webcams with company logo on it : )

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Fellow IT folks and decision makers,

 

I'm trying to build a decision tree or flow chart of some sort that will include decisions on types of equipment (servers, routers, WAN op, etc) and specs etc. for deploying a remote/branch office.

So if we open a new office of 25-100 people, what equipment would be in the standard kit? Questions might include:

Do they have a need to store data? Type? Size? Average file size? Stored locally or at HQ site?

What size circuit?

Not looking to re-invent the wheel.

 

Anybody got anything to share?

Edited by Zguy28
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