What resources would you bring to an IT job if you knew you couldn't access Google?

[BelUwUga]

Hey I am potentially picking up an IT contract with an old employer for one of their PC refresh projects. It's simple hardware installs and migrating backups, plus a few weeks of general support after the fact. The only big challenge is that there is virtually no internet access. What would normally be resolved with a Google search is a much bigger problem there. Knowing this in advance this time, I figured I would ask for cheat sheet recommendations so I am better prepared. I know everything with 7 I need backwards and forwards, I am mostly looking for stuff someone unfamiliar with 10 might not expect. I would deeply appreciate any recommendations. Thanks!

 

[NigKid]

Man respect for taking that, i would honestly not go near infrastructure without google
But for real, how is there no internet? like not even lte? Are you working on some blacksite?

 

[BelUwUga]

Man respect for taking that, i would honestly not go near infrastructure without google
But for real, how is there no internet? like not even lte? Are you working on some blacksite?

Thanks. It was very intimidating on my first contract with them but it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. It's a contractor specializing in remote sites like oil platforms and ships. If I have LTE it will be prohibitively expensive. I can't have my phone in work areas either. There's usually satcom but the ping is measured in full seconds and most bandwidth is in use for more important things. It's not so bad because they have very experienced people running the teams but I'd prefer avoiding having to ask them for help as much as possible.

 

[Daddy's Little Kitten]

I suppose you could make an UBS drive or HDD with info.

 

[BelUwUga]

I suppose you could make an UBS drive or HDD with info.

That's the plan. I still actually have my old thumb drive with some of their helpful stuff and drivers on there. It was all pre-10 though and I want to make sure I don't miss anything when I go to update it. It's not like I'd get fired for not knowing something, it's just having to deal with it and ask really slows things down.

 

[Some JERK]

Do you not have a cellphone or are they not allowed on the premises or something?

 

[BelUwUga]

Do you not have a cellphone or are they not allowed on the premises or something?

Any of the areas I'd be working are unlikely to have any service. It's steel structures that usually have their own mini-cell network and site-issued phones for intrasite communication. Phones are also prohibited in sensitive areas. All of that notwithstanding, it's likely also somewhere international where LTE costs an arm and a leg. So while I may have my phone, in terms of the job it's almost like I won't.

 

[Salubrious]

I was going to recommend getting Audible and then downloading the necessary textbooks so that they can be read "offline", but if you aren't allowed to even carry your phone then that's an issue.

I think maybe you can still download it to a laptop, but I've never tried.

 

[Shig O'nella]

Virtually no internet? Might want to get a list of the new hardware you're upgrading to and download the newest drivers to a thumbdrive too.

 

[BelUwUga]

I was going to recommend getting Audible and then downloading the necessary textbooks so that they can be read "offline", but if you aren't allowed to even carry your phone then that's an issue.

I think maybe you can still download it to a laptop, but I've never tried.

Yeah I unfortunately only learned this after arriving on-site last time but I'm definitely packing my laptop and some external HDDs with all my PDFs and entertainment and stuff. I was stuck watching TV last time. I'm more just double checking for like quick reference stuff like I had for 7. I really liked 7 so when I was compelled to upgrade to 10 I had a visceral hate for it out of spite. There's probably some lesson in there about embracing inevitable changes but I'd rather not in this case. I'll survive I just might have to deal with some excess ribbing from bigger nerds about my ignorance.

Edit:

Virtually no internet? Might want to get a list of the new hardware you're upgrading to and download the newest drivers to a thumbdrive too.

That's provided by the contracting company. They know well enough to have that ready from the start. They even have some fancier stuff for drivers that's reserved for big commercial clients. Getting copies to take home is almost part of my compensation LOL. It's amazing how many problems are driver issues.

 

[Some JERK]

Well give yourself a little credit and relax a bit. A new OS is like driving a new manual transmission car. The details are different but the basics are the same. If you're just updating hardware and dealing with backups you'll settle into a workflow pretty fast. The suggestion about having drivers handy is good. And remember... It's windows. So even though 10 looks a lot different than 7, the registry, device manager, command line, event log, classic control panel and policy editor are all still there, and you can call them directly from the run dialog if you can't find them from the menus.

 

[MrTroll]

I'd be more worried about having a direct line to this contracting company to ask for help when one of their fancy new drivers doesn't work than I would about not having internet access.

 

[BelUwUga]

I'd be more worried about having a direct line to this contracting company to ask for help when one of their fancy new drivers doesn't work than I would about not having internet access.

Trying not to power level: The place I'd be working essentially buys enough brand new hardware it's straight from somewhere like Dell and their IT team has 24/7 support. They have the drivers and resources and the fancy stuff. The contractors are semi-competent people brought in to handle this project since it's an irregular and massive increase in workload. There will be a tard wrangler from the contractor but he's really just the least-retarded and makes sure we're doing what the internal IT team wants us to be.

There's enough support, personnel, and finances that it's not like I'm trying to prevent a disaster or something. It's just that it's an insane workload and the biggest wrench in the gears for me last time was delays and complication caused by needing assistance to resolve issues because I had no way to easily look up solutions. Even when things are going as planned it's a major grind.

 

[Fomo Hoire]

Archiver from Software Endorsements

Never used it myself, but it claims to automatically locally archive pages you visit.

If you know a place where people often go for help with relevant problems, maybe use that to archive the most relevant parts. (If it were development stuff, I'd search stack overflow by tag and click random threads that sound vaguely on topic).

I was going to say you should probably get an external application that can search all text files in a directory so you can locate the answers later, since obviously an archived search bar won't work... But it looks like the project has updated and has a built in search now. Nifty. Thanks for drawing my attention to this, OP!

 

[Delta Integrale]

If it's Windows stuff, Microsoft maintains their documentation on GitHub now. You should be able to download the repos.

Microsoft Docs

The modern documentation service for Microsoft. Microsoft Docs has 1771 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.

github.com

If you have an idea of what kind of hardware you'll be supporting, I suggest doing the same with the documentation for that as well. Most of the stuff you find on sites like stack overflow links back to the official documentation one way or another. From personal experience, probably a good 60-70% of things I need to look up are mentioned in the official documentation somewhere.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Is all of this purely setting up software or is it more installation of the hardware itself that then connects to servers that push out the policy, settings and other software to the machines?

 

[BelUwUga]

Is all of this purely setting up software or is it more installation of the hardware itself that then connects to servers that push out the policy, settings and other software to the machines?

It changes project to project. I have a pretty good idea that it will be POS systems that are plug and play as far as my work would be concerned, or it would be printers/Windows 10 PCs. Normal workflow is show up to old PC location with the new one, backup the old machine, break it down, assemble new machine, restore from backup, connect to domain and other housekeeping, and then packing the old PC into the empty box for later disposal. The catch is the user of every machine I touch will also get my work phone number and I am then on call for the rest of the contract. Invariably if there is any issue even tangentially related to computers I will be nagged until it is fixed. It's sometimes frustrating but that's why the gig blows the doors off prevailing wages for similar work.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

It changes project to project. I have a pretty good idea that it will be POS systems that are plug and play as far as my work would be concerned, or it would be printers/Windows 10 PCs. Normal workflow is show up to old PC location with the new one, backup the old machine, break it down, assemble new machine, restore from backup, connect to domain and other housekeeping, and then packing the old PC into the empty box for later disposal. The catch is the user of every machine I touch will also get my work phone number and I am then on call for the rest of the contract. Invariably if there is any issue even tangentially related to computers I will be nagged until it is fixed. It's sometimes frustrating but that's why the gig blows the doors off prevailing wages for similar work.

Alright. What does the backup mean? Some sort of cloned disk, VM or just backing up what you think is necessary?

 

[BelUwUga]

Alright. What does the backup mean? Some sort of cloned disk, VM or just backing up what you think is necessary?

Usually the heavy lifting is done by windows migration tool that's built in. Sometimes it's grabbing a few files manually. I don't know what the nerd in the IT office has done beforehand. New machine gets restored from the migration tool file, files manually saved are replaced, and then I call office-nerd to beam down special software and some final things. I meet more of the "moving things place to place" and "square peg-square hole, round peg-round hole" kind of qualifications stuff for them. There's usually one or two people from the team doing something via computer in the IT office though I am unsure what.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Usually the heavy lifting is done by windows migration tool that's built in. Sometimes it's grabbing a few files manually. I don't know what the nerd in the IT office has done beforehand. New machine gets restored from the migration tool file, files manually saved are replaced, and then I call office-nerd to beam down special software and some final things. I meet more of the "moving things place to place" and "square peg-square hole, round peg-round hole" kind of qualifications stuff for them. There's usually one or two people from the team doing something via computer in the IT office though I am unsure what.

Ah. If they have something like personal word lists and dictionaries you will want to grab those. People create words like "kw" to auto correct to "kiwifarms", but think other (much lengthier) boilerplate things. For people using Office it can be upsetting if their setup is gone. The hot tip is do not delete any data until people complains about X missing, it's not just about missing their office functionality but who knows what they had configured that was squirreled away somewhere in app directory or deep in their old profile directory.