@scottalanmiller said in HP Possible pulling a Lenovo with Stealthy spyware?:

@guyinpv said in HP Possible pulling a Lenovo with Stealthy spyware?:

I'm saying, how is HP doing the same thing any different? Nobody has reported what data it was collecting or if it was personal or bad. Only that it was installed without permission.

1. That's all that matters. It's malware stealing data that isn't approved.
2. They don't know what it is collecting, as this is all stolen data being collected in secret.

And I'm saying, for #1, most internet-connected thingies we use probably do the same. We only get mad when someone finds it and makes it public. We're only mad because they got caught.

I perfectly understand the reaction of #2. But what is Google storing and collecting, or your ISP, or the NSA, or DNS providers, or your browser, or email clients? Does anybody know? If they aren't caught, we can't be mad, but we all know they are doing it.

@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@guyinpv said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

I debated back and forth about this style. Originally Onenote puts all notes in a single folder. It's only when that grew to 50+ note files that I thought I should just store the note file in the client's own folder I have in OneDrive. This hasn't seemed to cause any issues so far.

Oh on OneDrive, not SP, I see. We have it in SP folders and it is a disaster. To the point that it pushed it over the edge to "failure" rather than "good enough."

I don't understand the role of SP in my O365 subscription. I did not buy the plan with SP, but like if I share a file from OneDrive, it has a SP URL, so I don't know. I can log in a Sharepoint dashboard of some sort, but it doesn't do much, or I can't use it, it's just there, because I have O365. it's weird.

@scottalanmiller said in HP Possible pulling a Lenovo with Stealthy spyware?:

@guyinpv said in HP Possible pulling a Lenovo with Stealthy spyware?:

I'm certainly not ok with the general idea of what happened, but they aren't siphoning off your contact list and personal documents.

How do you know this? Illegal spyware is illegal spyware. They are stealing data without permission, they are deploying malware without permission. What they are gathering today or that you know about isn't really part of the discussion.

It's not illegal if it's in the terms and agreements.

One wonders, why shouldn't a hardware maker like HP send hardware use stats back? Anybody wonder what data their internet-connected TVs are sending back? Xbox and Playstation and Roku and Amazon Echo and all those IOT thingies?
I have a Synology device, I have no clue if hardware stats and telemetry data are being sent home. Probably, I don't know.

I'm not saying I like it, but heck, even "fake desktop web apps in a chrome frame" apps come with Google Analytics that is reporting everything about how the app is used.
Like when one of these apps gets an update and they remove a feature, then a few people complain and they say "well we noticed very few users were using that feature and so we moved in this other direction..."
And just how did they know so few people clicked a certain link somewhere within their app and how much?

I'm saying, how is HP doing the same thing any different? Nobody has reported what data it was collecting or if it was personal or bad. Only that it was installed without permission. If Amazon Echo phones home how the device is used, why can't HP phone home about how their laptop is used?

I guess I'm really asking, are we just having double standards and only barking at HP because they are doing exactly what everybody else does, only they were caught?
If my Synology were running background spyware and phoning home, I don't know it, I also wasn't asked. But since I don't know about it, I can't be mad at them. I CAN be mad at HP, cause they goofed and made their spyware more visible.
So I don't know, it feels like double standards to me.
Every device phones home licenses and logins and maybe even usage data. But since they don't ask us, and we don't see, it must be ok.

@tim_g said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@guyinpv said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@fuznutz04 said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@fuznutz04 said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@fuznutz04 said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

https://wiki.js.org/

Now this looks like a WIKI that I would actually use. I've been searching for one that has a good way to display code snippets. (like the way code is displayed here on ML) This looks like it does the trick.

I've not used it yet, but I've been looking for something just like this for a while. Hoping to deploy it soon.

Fingers crossed. I really want a better internal documentation tool. OneNote and SharePoint are getting too cluttered.

OMG I can't stand OneNote.

I used to like it. But as documentation grows, it quickly becomes cluttered.

Exactly. It's good for a tiny, tiny bit of stuff when everyone is looking at it. But once you get to any size, it is impossible.

Not to derail conversation but how so?

I got an Office365 for my business and figured I'd start using it for client data. I had left Evernote and didn't have many other choices.

I store each client's OneNote file in their directory on OneDrive. In the note I have a tab for general client info, and another tab for jobs, with each job in a page.
I may use other tabs for archiving jobs, todo, etc.

Then I have one note for the business, and some others as personal note files.

In your view, what is lacking in their feature set? And given that I have Office365 and the whole suite of tools, what would be a good alternative?

It sounds like you are mistaking it for a CRM tool.

I like using it for a more longer term clipboard... but not much else... Or a place to gather thoughts to get them down quickly without formatting issues.

Not necessarily a CRM, just internal notes about jobs/tasks, and record of my time.

I don't find a problem with its performance. Though it might bit a bit over-featured. I don't use anything in the entire ribbon. At most I make some text bold or increase font size. I've used the checkboxes a few times.

@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

That makes OneNote that much worse. Folders are not how Sharepoint is meant to be used.

Sharepoint doesn't have folder?
Anyway I'm using O365 that doesn't include SP, which is weird because the language of it lingers around. I don't have SP, but somehow it's kind of still used somewhere in the back I think.

I debated back and forth about this style. Originally Onenote puts all notes in a single folder. It's only when that grew to 50+ note files that I thought I should just store the note file in the client's own folder I have in OneDrive. This hasn't seemed to cause any issues so far.

For me the biggest problems are over-featured, can't create structured data (like templates for common note taking situations). And kind of odd storage system with all those separate note files. On one hand I can understand how it works and it makes sense, but on the other hand it would be nice if all notes of all types were just a single database.

But I really don't have any ideas for alternative, I've not been happy with anything.
I want it to be:

• An app, usable from any device, browser, desktop app, etc
• secure, encrypted if stored in the cloud, perhaps password protected to get in.
• beautifully organized in categorical structures (client->job->sprint->notes) etc.
• ease of searching and filtering by clients or jobs or globally, by tags, categories, or other meta data
• ability to create data structures, like templates or sets of key=value pairs, modules, forms, whatever
• nice exporting and printing abilities.
• very limited sections able to be shared to or collaborated on with client.
• archiving/backups, keep non-proprietary archives for safe keeping, for example an XML dump
• internally archive just to be able to hide things within the app and keep it clean

All I know is OneNote, Evernote, wikis, Word docs, or a project management/todo app.
The problem with project management and todo apps is they are good for organizing lists of things to do, but not so much for documentation beyond simple text notes and comments.

@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@fuznutz04 said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@fuznutz04 said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@fuznutz04 said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:

https://wiki.js.org/

Now this looks like a WIKI that I would actually use. I've been searching for one that has a good way to display code snippets. (like the way code is displayed here on ML) This looks like it does the trick.

I've not used it yet, but I've been looking for something just like this for a while. Hoping to deploy it soon.

Fingers crossed. I really want a better internal documentation tool. OneNote and SharePoint are getting too cluttered.

OMG I can't stand OneNote.

I used to like it. But as documentation grows, it quickly becomes cluttered.

Exactly. It's good for a tiny, tiny bit of stuff when everyone is looking at it. But once you get to any size, it is impossible.

Not to derail conversation but how so?

I got an Office365 for my business and figured I'd start using it for client data. I had left Evernote and didn't have many other choices.

I store each client's OneNote file in their directory on OneDrive. In the note I have a tab for general client info, and another tab for jobs, with each job in a page.
I may use other tabs for archiving jobs, todo, etc.

Then I have one note for the business, and some others as personal note files.

In your view, what is lacking in their feature set? And given that I have Office365 and the whole suite of tools, what would be a good alternative?

I'm sure the nuances are worth arguing.

I'm certainly not ok with the general idea of what happened, but they aren't siphoning off your contact list and personal documents. It sounds like they are getting system data of the HP hardware, presumably so they can improve future hardware/software updates or provide support, whatever.

I don't know, that's what I'm asking. What exactly is it siphoning, and why? And is their use of this tool and its data gathering agreed upon in some HP license or hardware agreement somewhere?

It seems like every device and software any more wants to phone home some kind of environment/telemetry data. Again presumably because it helps them develop the software better and debug edge case issues.

never heard of turnkey or alpharacks.

What is it doing that's harmful?

HP Spectres are pretty sweet.

Ticketing systems (osticket, etc)
Knowledgebase (wikis, forums, etc)
Document management (openkm, etc)
Intranet (Bitrix24, Confluence, Jira, etc)
Media server (Plex, Younity, Subsonic, etc)
Game server (Minecraft, CS:GO, Teamspeak)
Web server (WHM/cPanel, Vesta, CentOS Web Panel, Webmin, etc)
General business services (Zentyal, etc)
Personal cloud (Owncloud, Seafile, Syncthing, Pydio, etc)

I think for now I'm going to go with Crashplan business, mainly because it's 75% off. I'll push this off for a year and save a few bucks.

My user folder and my data drive are just over 500GB so not a huge backup, but still, CP is currently dead and waiting even a week to backup to BB hurts a little.

I do have O365 so I've got 1TB there. I actually store some Windows user folder (docs/music/images/videos) directly into OneDrive. I just don't want to use it as a "backup" in the fuller sense of the word. It's not exactly protected from crypto and would be a huge pain to recover from.

That's the impression I have. I've always liked Backblaze, if for no other reason their transparency about their infrastructure, and cool hard drive failure reports.

I don't think $10/m is all that terrible if I had to, but if BB is $50/yr and also unlimited, what's the benefit? I'd rather save the other $5 and buy another silly online subscription!

I was on Crashplan for many years, simple unlimited plan, cheap enough, just my one home computer.

Now they are getting rid of "home" plans, only business plans, which would be $10/m per computer.

I'm looking at options, I'm sure I'm not the only one! iDrive, Crashplan business, BackBlaze, Spideroak, etc etc

A few features would be nice:
Ability to adjust what is backed up, not one of these "we'll automatically grab only your user folder and exclude tons of stuff" deals.
Client-side encryption would be nice. Trust no one.
Individual file restores, ability to browse backup files and histories, etc.
Restore to alternate computer in case of new HDD or crash, etc.
Light on resources.

I'm considering two options at the moment. Continue with Crashplan business as they are giving 75% discount for first year. That at least puts off the decision for another year, and I don't have to wait weeks to upload backup to new service.
Backblaze, for home plan is $5/m unlimited. But business plan is also unlimited for $50/yr (which is $4.17/m) .

I'm already paying Crashplan $6.54/m, so switch to BB is actually cheaper anyway. I don't really want to do $10/m on CP.

Any other good options?

@tim_g

Reading your question again, maybe yes. You don't have to manually do downloading and uploading yourself.
In fact you can configure WinSCP to automatically upload on save so every time you save the file, it just uploads immediately.

This also applies to the feature for keeping a remote directory up to date. It can "watch" an entire local folder and will automatically upload any saved changes in any file.

I combine this feature with a feature in Visual Studio Code to automatically save my file on loss of focus. So what this means is, when I open a file in WinSCP and VSC, I can make edits and simply click over to my browser. In the meantime, VSC looses focus and auto-saves my file, and then WinSCP auto-uploads it. So by the time I click over to the browser, 1 or 2 seconds later I can refresh to see changes.

@tim_g
Technically no. If you click to edit a file, it will download a temp copy since you would be editing it with a local text editor.
As soon as you close WinSCP these temp copies are destroyed. In fact if you just close the text editor the temp copy is destroyed. So it only downloads the specific file you want while it is in use, unless you do the whole synchronize thing.

The only way to edit the file "directly" on the server is connect with SSH and use the terminal. Or if you have something like cPanel, use the built-in file explorer and edit the files with the built-in text editor.

Or use a cloud based IDE such as https://c9.io/ which can connect over SSH to your own server.

Regarding editing HTML files or Wordpress template files, these are tiny files, so the fact that it has to download a temp copy while you edit isn't a big deal.

A last option is to host your own IDE connected to your project, something like this: http://codiad.com/
It will provide a web-based IDE connected directly to your files on the server.

I don't know that faxing is the worst.

I'd say email is to faxing what radio is to ham.

Some day when the world burns and our enemies have destroyed the web, there will be nerds faxing each other over POTS.

WinSCP is fairly standard.

Enter all the sites, storing credentials and keys as you see fit. Then configure whatever you like as the text editor of choice. Notepad++, Sublime, VSC, et al. You can make it so that double-clicking any file goes strait to your editor of choice. Or create multiple editors that handle different file types.

A nice thing about WinSCP is that it's scriptable and has a command line executable for using however needed. I use it, for example, to automatically connect to a server and download backups to my local machine as a scheduled task in Windows.

Another handy feature is that you can save any given login as a Windows shortcut icon so simply double-click the icon and it opens up that connection. I use this by saving a shortcut in each project folder for different sites I work on. So I open my working folder and can double-click strait into the files.

Let's see, what else? You can tell it to synchronize local and remote folders to compare differences and sync up. You can tell it to keep a remote folder up to date so that every save of a local file will automatically upload to remote. You can open multiple sessions to different connections at the same time and even copy files between different sessions on completely different connections (tabbed interface). It can store multiple open sessions as a single state so that you can with a click open a WinSCP session that automatically opens multiple connections at the same time, such as if you commonly work on multiple servers at once.
If you connect with SSH, you can even bring up and run terminal commands.

All that said, it's a bit more powerful than typical tools like FileZilla and CyberDuck, but still has a few quirks. It's pretty much a standard though.

I'll tell you, it's automated attendant phone menu systems.

Please, let this tech die a slow painful death. And please, companies just hire a little thing we used to call a receptionist. Have a human answer the darn phone and then direct the call. Automated systems with their slow talking computer people who never have any answers or menus to what we actually need, are useless.
And then in the 1 in 10 chance a menu kind of sounds like what I need, the person who eventually answers just tells me I need a different department anyway and then puts me back on hold again.

Ya I get it, a "personal attendant" sounded all science fiction 20 years ago or whatever, but for the love of all that is good, and to prevent turning all your customers into raging haters of your company, just get a freaking receptionist to answer phone calls and direct them!

The age of fighting a phone attendant for 28 minutes just to figure out how to reach a receptionist who can direct my call properly in all of 8 seconds must come to an end.

My life as a customer of any company on earth has never been made better or easier with these systems. They are only an exercise in frustration and make me angry and stressed by the time I actually do get to a person.
If you want the secret why phone operators hate their jobs, it's because the auto attendant already pissed off the customer and put them on edge before they answered!

Rant over

@ambarishrh said in Recommend options for project management for freelancer:

Please Check https://92fiveapp.com/#features

It's $199 No Monthly Fees. No renewal of account. Just one time price for single domain.Self hosted Unlimited users, projects, tasks, files etc.Free Updates forever

This seems really interesting, no live demo though, I have to sign up for a demo I guess.
Not much info anywhere online, and the stuff I do find is for the old version, which I tried downloading but it won't run, just throws all kinda errors.

@nashbrydges
I wouldn't have thought Ryver. I've had an account there for a while, watching it develop.

I think this would be suitable for small time stuff, small clients with just one or two people. You only get a single chat stream with no real channels or multiple threads, though posts can kind of fill that need.

It would suffer a bit in the UX I think. For example to comment on a post you have to expand it and then scroll to the bottom. This could get ugly on longer posts. But also you don't get any kind of general dashboard regarding activity, or even basic management of something like tasks.

It could be useful as a Slack alternative for live chatting but that's about it. I'd almost rather stick to Telegram for chats. I can throw a few people into a group chat and then I can use the app everywhere.

@scottalanmiller said in Recommend options for project management for freelancer:

@guyinpv said in Recommend options for project management for freelancer:

Is it too much to ask? Probably. A typical "all in one" service generally lacks one or two very important features, or is just ridiculously expensive, like add $10/m for every single person! Yeah, not as a freelancer, I don't have thousands a month to communicate with everybody!

You are asking for a ton of functionality there. Some of that stuff, like CRM alone, often costs more than $10/user/mo. To get that all put together would be incredibly expensive for a vendor to do. Enterprise email alone is $4, enterprise Slack-like functionality is similar, CRM is often $25 and so forth. $10 would be a steal for that.

I'm only talking basic features though. Commercial CRM apps often come with crazy stuff like email marketing and sales funnels and reporting and communications tracking etc etc.
By CRM I really just mean, a place to store info on the client.

For example take Trello, if I use the free version, it's way too open. A person I invite can basically go right in and start deleting boards and cards and wrecking havoc. But even if I use Trello, where would I store the client's contact info? I mean I could just create something like an "info" column and store various cards about this kind of thing. It just feels hacky.

On the other hand, many project management tools will at least give you a basic profile page for each user. But not typically simpler apps like todo or task management apps.

What I'm saying is that the tool, if it has a focus at all on freelancers, needs to store a lot of separate types of data. Client data, private data, project data, tasks, files. I have a preference for wanting this data stored in it's own dedicated area, unlike perhaps Trello, where I have to fit everything in a card, which is the only kind of data it stores.

I also didn't say it has to be free, if it's a quality product that fits the need. I just don't want to have to keep paying more and more every time I get a new client or start a project. I'd like to be able to archive and store and keep all past projects, but not continuing paying for the person it was attached to. Plus the fact that I may do multiple projects for the same client, but the project could be separated by a year from the last project. So I don't want projects/tasks being intermingled with each other. Each project is its own thing. Though a perpetual ongoing project is fine too.

Yes, I want a lot of features, but the features don't have to be intensely complicated. It just has to make sense. A freelancer, with multiple clients and projects, keeping all the information separated and safe, easy to navigate and onboard clients, easy to backup/archive/search.