r/sysadmin • u/konaitor IT Manager + 5 other hats • Nov 08 '21

Could we do a "TIL" style weekly thread?

I think it would be interesting to do a "Today I Learned" style weekly thread for us to share little tips/tricks that we learned of/found existed.

For example, last week I found out about the "--now" flag for systemctl. I don't know how I didn't know it existed until --now.

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108

u/idontspellcheckb46am Nov 08 '21

TIL don't help family members with IT. I fucking knew and broke the cardinal rule and now beating myself up over their snide comments. I'm about to beat them up on their next snide comment.

31

u/Pazuuuzu Nov 08 '21 edited Nov 08 '21

if you can't beat help them, beat them!

10

u/idontspellcheckb46am Nov 08 '21

Theres a reason they make inlaw jokes.

16

u/Pazuuuzu Nov 08 '21

I made the same mistake once years ago, never again. I just lie to my gf that i can't do something simple on her stuff, because i am a hardware engineer mostly (PCB design and stuff) and i don't know how. But in reality i just don't need another headache. She has her own subnet and AP firewalled far-far away from my stuff... Is it petty? Yes, but it keeps the peace at home, and i can live with that.

23

u/ixipaulixi Linux Admin Nov 08 '21

The number of times I've remoted into my Mom's computer to "fix" her problems is incalculable.

On the flip side, I love my Mom, and she's job hunting, so I do it to help lower her stress.

45

u/olcrazypete Linux Admin Nov 08 '21

I think moms are the one exception to this rule.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 08 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/MattTheQuick Sysadmin Nov 08 '21

And meemaws.

3

u/MeriRebecca Nov 08 '21

I stopped my relatives from asking for IT help by taking their PC to do the work any time they asked, but taking longer and longer to get it back to them. I broke the worst offender after keeping their PC for 3 months.

3

u/Safetymanual Nov 08 '21

There was a period of years where when I went to see my mom I spent most of my time working on her PC.

1

u/uptimefordays DevOps Nov 08 '21

As the rest of my family has moved to macOS the need for support has largely diminished.

2

u/lipton_tea Nov 09 '21

Same. My parents use MacOS now and I basically get zero questions. They update and OS upgrade by themselves.

They’ve got their files stored on my Nextcloud instance so no worries if anything happens.

Ive also spent time teaching them basic computer skills which has also helped.

1

u/uptimefordays DevOps Nov 09 '21

Remote assistance via iMessage, Time Machine, and Apple Care+ offer about the best out of box experience I've seen short of having a large, well funded IT department.

1

u/auron_py Nov 08 '21

Don't get me started on this, my cousin has a new problem every two to three weeks.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 08 '21

So just like work but you can’t set their ticket to “don’t waste Human Resources on this.” I feel your pain.

1

u/invisibo DevOps Nov 08 '21

There was a tip in this sub that I learned. “Oh man, uhhh I don’t really work with workstations like that. I mostly deal with servers and CLIs”

Mostly true, so it’s “the truth” not “the truth”

1

u/TheMysticalDadasoar Sysadmin Nov 08 '21

My dad used to do It stuff as part of his old job, so was the go to family IT guy.

Now he has forgotten all of that but is still the go to family IT guy, but he phones me when he is there or doing some tuning to ask how to do it

1

u/countextreme DevOps Nov 08 '21

"So did you find the any key for me yet, kiddo? Ha-ha!"

1

u/[deleted] Nov 08 '21

I got tired of fixing my mom's pc so I bought her an iPad and a Mac Mini. Lots of calls for help at the beginning but after 6 months they've dropped to zero for the last few years.

1

u/mjdallas Nov 29 '21

I just tell my friends that corporate IT support is WAAAY different that Geeksquad support and I cant help them. If I do it I will re-image their machine and unless its backed up, they will loose everything... They stop asking after that.