Fab's AutoBackup 7 Pro - a must have tool for techs

[britechguy]

Those home visits when the client is seated beside you and they "pretend" like they're not looking. They are.

Well, this is where practices differ, too. I invite my clients to sit and watch if they so choose. I consider that I am there not only to offer a service, but to educate. And if I've got a particularly tech talented client who wants to try DIY next time, so be it. It seems that relatively few go the DIY route, but they appreciate being able to watch if they want to.

But what I really mean is that I doubt that those same clients are any too impressed by whether your name and logo appears, or not. And there's no way to settle that, nor to change my opinion.

But now I'm more confused than ever since it appears what's being asked for has already been an option with Fabs for quite some time.

 

[GTP]

.....has already been an option with Fabs for quite some time.

As long as I can remember. I guess only Fabrice would know the exact date it was offered as an option.

 

[Porthos]

I invite my clients to sit and watch if they so choose. I consider that I am there not only to offer a service, but to educate.

I set up a new computer remotely today with data transfer. What should have taken 2-3 hours max took 5 since the user kept questioning me on every other thing. Spoiler alert, I do not charge by the hour. Never have. If I charged by the hour, the charge would have been more than the computer cost and would not have any business.

 

[GTP]

Well, this is where practices differ, too. I invite my clients to sit and watch if they so choose.

As do I, but you do get the cheeky ones who will try to save a few dollars.
I just remembered a couple of instances whereby I had to transfer some "paid" tools to a clients desktop to run them from a remote session. They were convinced thatnow they were on their desktop that they now "owned" those tools and were disgruntled when I removed them.

 

[GTP]

Exactly why I had a "flat fee" for workshop. I always explained that if an onsite job was going to take more than a certain time I would have to take it back to the workshop.
When the charge started to get too high they would complain about it.
People are cheapskates and jump at any chance to save money.

Part of the reason I stopped doing onsite too. When I told them that "by the time I charge travel and a per hour" that it would be much cheaper for them to bring it to me. Also, I could do other work as well.

 

[britechguy]

It really is fascinating to see how diametrically opposed practices and opinions are in terms of how we each choose to do business, much of which is based on personal preference.

I absolutely, positively have never, ever, wanted to do any "flat fee" work because every blessed job ends up having "unexpected stuff" turn up, often because of "Oh, by the ways," coming up during that were never mentioned before.

And I, myself, far, far, far prefer doing onsite work. The reasons are stated on the homepage of my website:
"Many issues occur due to something specific about the way computers and other electronic devices are set up where they're being used. Because of this, I've learned having someone bring them to me is frequently not the best way to work out technology problems. Often what's making you want to tear your hair out is the result of a formerly perfect setup that now requires some changes. This is why I prefer to help at your home or office when that's possible."

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[GTP]

It really is fascinating to see how diametrically opposed practices and opinions are in terms of how we each choose to do business, much of which is based on personal preference.

I absolutely, positively have never, ever, wanted to do any "flat fee".....

It was practice I employed for all the years I was doing business. It worked well as long as you gave the client the right expectations on repair times. It allowed me to work on many systems at once, doing 10 mins on this one 10 on that etc.
The jobs were completed satisfactorily (no shortcuts!!) and in good time.

In the good? (or bad depending on your POV) old days when 80% of my business was virus/malware removal and cleanup
I regularly had up to 10 PC's being scanned (limited space for any more) at any one time.

I could build/setup new desktops and setup new laptops for clients as well while other tasks were being carried out.

My clients were very happy with this arrangement and rarely had to wait more than a couple of days. (except when parts/orders/deliveries were outside my control).

Never did a client wait more than 1 working week.

 

[britechguy]

It comes back to:

• There is no One, True Way
• You've got to do what works for you

 

[Porthos]

In the good? (or bad depending on your POV) old days when 80% of my business was virus/malware removal and cleanup
I regularly had up to 10 PC's being scanned (limited space for any more) at any one time.

I actually remember that. I made good money at the shop. When Windows 8 and newer went mainstream that ended quickly.

My clients were very happy with this arrangement and rarely had to wait more than a couple of days. (except when parts/orders/deliveries were outside my control).

Exactly. Unfortunately Amazon prime was not around and shipping was not 2 day or the next day like it is now.

 

[River Valley Computer]

Exactly why I had a "flat fee" for workshop. I always explained that if an onsite job was going to take more than a certain time I would have to take it back to the workshop.
When the charge started to get too high they would complain about it.
People are cheapskates and jump at any chance to save money.

Part of the reason I stopped doing onsite too. When I told them that "by the time I charge travel and a per hour" that it would be much cheaper for them to bring it to me. Also, I could do other work as well.

We quit on-site service calls several years ago except for some we feel we need to do a SC. I tell you what - the four of us sure breath a lot easier now.

 

[fabs]

@sapphirescales It took a while but I have some new screen shots with the requested changes:

The home screen is back. The 3 buttons Backup, Restore and Transfer have moved off the hamburger menu to it and a "home" button (disabled here since we are already on the home screen) has replaced them in the menu. Note the logo is back too and this will indeed be customizable.


Backup settings screen has not changed, except that home button is enabled so we can get back to home screen.


Items now show in 2 rows instead of taking entire width. This way, the need to scroll is cut by half as requested.
in a first place, I thought about hiding item paths but finally, I've kept it in sight as it is too difficult to handle. I already has a tough time handling if an item need to be at first row or the second one with a lot of glitches. I need to keep them here just because that would not be usable at all through a screen reader program if I replace them with some inexplicit button that would need the same height space anyway.

 

[timeshifter]

Can Fabs show a SUBST drive as a source for backup or transfer? I tried but it didn't work. Didn't know if there was a way to work around or something.

 

[fabs]

It lists fixed drives and subst drive may not be considered like this. A workaround would be to select the windows directory instead of using the drive selection menu.
Let me know if this does the trick

 

[sapphirescales]

@fabs Sorry it took so long to reply. I don't have time to be on here very much anymore but I just wanted to say how nice that looks! I'm curious about the "select source" screen. Now there's 4 steps instead of 3. Why? Just so you can back up a remote computer? How does selecting a computer from the network work? Who the heck is sharing their entire C drive over the network? I just don't see the point of that function though maybe I just don't understand how it works.

 

[fabs]

Just so you can back up a remote computer? How does selecting a computer from the network work? Who the heck is sharing their entire C drive over the network?

You understand well. That's what's in the project. That would be for domain computers and it will use administrative shares like C$ that links to entire C drive and that are only browsable by administrators. I often have the need to transfer data from computers that are still in use in order to replace them. This is why I had this idea. So far, items détection works this way:
- Fab's has to be started as domain administrator
- Remote computer is selected as source option
- Tech enters network machine name or it's IP address and hits a "connect" button
- If access is granted, Fab's will enable remote registry access on network machine, connect to it and get user profiles and items from there.
When closing, Fab's disconnects from remote registry and sets back remote registry service to disabled (that's the default setting). So it does not leave security breach behind it.

 

[sapphirescales]

I often have the need to transfer data from computers that are still in use in order to replace them.

That's a cool feature but that's not something I think I would use often and I doubt most technicians who use your software would want to back up a network computer very often either. Is "this computer" automatically selected by default each time or do you have to manually select it every time you go to make a backup? It would be nice if "this computer" and "this operating system" were selected by default so you don't have to specify this every time.

 

[fabs]

That's a cool feature but that's not something I think I would use often and I doubt most technicians who use your software would want to back up a network computer very often either.

You are right for technicians. However, for the ones that are also network administrators, this is golden.

Is "this computer" automatically selected by default each time or do you have to manually select it every time you go to make a backup? It would be nice if "this computer" and "this operating system" were selected by default so you don't have to specify this every time.

That's actually the case.

 

[sapphirescales]

That's actually the case.

Cool! My only other suggestion in this case is to make sure the "this computer" and "this operating system" had some sort of indication that they're selected. Maybe a blue background in the square or even a border around the square or something so it's obvious that they've already been selected by default. Or maybe have the one that's not selected be greyed out. I dunno. I assume as soon as you get to the backup screen if you try to click on "this computer" or "this operating system" nothing will happen because they're already selected, right? If so that might be confusing without some sort of indication that they're active.

EDIT: "This computer" already looks like it's selected because it's blue while the "Network computer" is grey. Now if you could do something similar to the "this operating system" icon that should be enough to indicate that those options are already selected.

 

[fabs]

EDIT: "This computer" already looks like it's selected because it's blue while the "Network computer" is grey. Now if you could do something similar to the "this operating system" icon that should be enough to indicate that those options are already selected.

There's the same thing for "This operationg system" and "Other drive or old install" buttons. If one is chosen, the other turns into grey.

 

[britechguy]

"Greying/Graying out"/Stippling out goes WAY back for unselected and/or not-selectable in the current context.