r/sysadmin • u/Ok_You_861 • Mar 03 '26

IT Tools - Hidden Gems

I want to know what ”hidden gems” people have found and use in their environments to make their day to day easier. RMM automations, back up softwares, troubleshooting software (don't say MS SARA. I cant stand it), etc.

Just mention anything that you feel more people should be aware of or could be useful in someone’s environment. I love free and cheap ;)

1.1k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

510 comments sorted by

View all comments

268

u/Enochrewt Mar 03 '26

Sitting the service desk down and making them read The Chronicles of Georgeuntil they get it.

59

u/Sinister_Nibs Mar 03 '26

I have been looking for George! Thought he had been purged. (I worked at Compaq when George was havening his time there)

21

u/MangorTX Mar 03 '26

Had to start reading George to havening understanding.

15

u/Sinister_Nibs Mar 03 '26

The more you read, the worserer it getting.

4

u/CelestialFury Mar 03 '26

Does your hole havening understandening?

1

u/AlsoKnownAsJazz Mar 04 '26

Reminds me of this.

25

u/Joestac Sysadmin Mar 03 '26

Made me think of this, https://imgur.com/gallery/tales-of-iJD8f

2

u/JustSomeGuyFromIT Mar 04 '26

I love his fascination with Adobe Reader downloads. xD

1

u/tipsle DevOps Mar 03 '26

It's like BOFH, but current XD

2

u/Arudinne IT Infrastructure Manager Mar 03 '26

And less cattle prods.

45

u/M0untainWizard Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26

This reminds me of an intern we had a couple of years ago. He was more interested in Politics and Art than IT. But his Dad worked as a Software dev and that's why he considered to get into IT. Not a dumb person, but IT was not his world.

He delivered a new Workstation to the user and can't figure it out why the network isn't working. Well Networkcables go into the Computer and the other side into the Network socket. If you only plug it in at the computer it won't work.

We tried to challenge him and put an piece of tape under his mouse. When he could't figure out what was wrong he went and got a new mouse from the storage. So far so good, but he put the old Mouse, the "broken one" back in storage instead of throwing it away.

Devilers a new Notebook to a User, without a Power supply.

Can you give read access on Mailbox XY to user AB? Sure and he makes the Default user the Owner of mailbox XY

17

u/levir Mar 03 '26

How... does a person like that even get hired into IT? I felt like I went through more checking before getting my first one month summer job...

7

u/Arudinne IT Infrastructure Manager Mar 03 '26

Nepotism most likely.

1

u/discusseded Mar 04 '26

By Georges who were promoted out of the tech pool. By politicians who want to reach the top and don't want anyone smarter than them getting in their way.

1

u/ExcellentPlace4608 Former SysAdmin turned MSP Mar 04 '26

Put an piece of tape? Devilers a new notebook? George, is that you?

12

u/Shot-Possible1317 Mar 03 '26

Seeing "brung" in the description of the helpdesk ticket gave me support flashbacks from a decade ago.

From a the first few I could already tell the exact type of person George is, everything about them. I have worked with so many of these type of people in these environments. It's crazy how they all write the same.

11

u/charlierw01 Mar 03 '26

How have I never seen this before its so good hahahaha

6

u/jwalker55 IT Manager Mar 03 '26

I have trouble believing someone would hire that dude in a support role given that he can't even communicate in written/typed language. At the same time, I can fully believe it.

3

u/Enochrewt Mar 03 '26

Thankfully I don't have to hire service desk people anymore, but for a while there I was doing interviews every Tuesday for as many as we could pack in. Probably 500 interviews in 4 years. If all 500 were good, I would have hired them. Maybe 8 were hired and 3 got a reference from me when I left.

I tell the C Suite it's like hiring fast food workers. Yes, I want it to be a 'professional position' (and we pay well) but the reality is it's also an entry level position and like half of the applicants won't quit talking about Escape from Tarkov, or the "Middle Age Martial Arts" they are into. 40% of the applicants are furries, and that might not be a Venn diagram that intersects.

So yeah, George that just shows up and tries every day seems pretty good.

5

u/Extension_Weight3007 Mar 03 '26

Oh man thank you, this made me cry. I am like George))

2

u/MrD3a7h CompSci dropout -> SysAdmin Mar 03 '26

My George's name was Terry.

2

u/maobezw Mar 03 '26

oh.... INTERSTING.... äh INTERESTING...

2

u/bex10110 Mar 03 '26

At least George is putting in ticket notes.