Keeping your information secure from prying eyes.
You are the weakest link in your computer’s security! Please keep reading this important Tech Tip. If you’re not already aware of this fact, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the easiest way for a hacker to get into your Mac is through you. Tricking you into divulging information, installing software … Read more
Please watch out for tech support phone scams. There are two types of scams. The first type are scammers who call you at home and fraudulently claim to be from some group like Apple or Microsoft. The second type are groups that you mistakenly call when you’re seeking technical support.
Read morePlease be aware that some pop-up windows indicating that you need to update the Adobe Flash Player on your Mac could be bogus. Yup, that’s right. We live in a messy complex world and you cannot trust everything you read. So, how do you know which Flash Player update windows you can trust? My answer is, do not … Read more
Have you forgotten or misplaced your Airport or Time Capsule passwords? If so, you should consider using the Soft Reset feature that Apple builds into Airports and Time Capsules. You could also review my previous Tech Tip about retrieving your Airport password from your Keychain which could save you from having to perform a Soft Reset. I should … Read more
Would you like to encrypt a PDF? Encrypting a PDF can be handy if you want to protect sensitive data contained in a PDF that you store on your Mac, or before you share the PDF via email, Dropbox or via some other means. Encrypting a PDF can be accomplished easily using Apple’s Preview application … Read more
Do you want to either sell or retire a Mac that has a solid state hard drive (aka flash storage)? If so, it is prudent to securely erase the hard drive beforehand. Here are instructions on how to do this. This procedure will make all of your personal data inaccessible. There are two stages of this process. In phase … Read more
Have you been annoyed by bogus pop-up warnings while viewing web pages in Safari? These bogus warnings typically use very dire wording. They often implore you to call a 1-800 phone number. These warnings have become increasingly common over the past 2 years. I previously wrote about these bogus warnings and how to deal with them if … Read more
The days of Mac users blithely using their computers and not worrying about security issues are gone. Over the past few years the amount of malware that targets Mac users has proliferated. (Malware is a portmanteau of malicious software.) Your best protection against malware is to have a good backup system in place and to be cautious about what files … Read more
Do you ever get emails from a real company like Apple, HP, Adobe, Bank of America, Chase or PayPal that look real, but you’re not sure if they are legitimate emails? If so, here are two things you can look at in order to determine their authenticity.
Read moreBe aware of a myriad of bogus pop-ups that might appear when you are visiting web sites. Typically these pop-ups contain messages that indicate that your computer has been compromised or some sort of security issue has been detected. Often the message include a phone number to call to get assistance. Furthermore, these pop-up windows are … Read more
Has your Mac suddenly become slow or started having trouble doing the usual daily tasks? If so, you might have some accidentally installed app that isn’t helpful to your Mac. Not all of these apps are malicious, but for the sake of simplicity, I’ll call them malware here. Malware behavior ranges anywhere from giving annoying pop … Read more
Are you having problems accessing your Gmail account from Apple Mail or Microsoft Outlook? Over the past 6 months I’ve encountered a number of clients who have had problems reliably accessing their Gmail account via these apps. Here’s a list of symptoms my clients experienced and how I fixed the problems.
Read moreIs your web browser acting oddly all of the sudden? Do funny windows pop-up showing you ads? Do your Google searches look weird? If so, you might have inadvertently installed some adware on your Mac. Starting in late 2014 I noticed a rash of Macs infected with adware. Adware is software that makes ads pop-up … Read more
If Sophos detects that your Mac has a virus-infected file on it, here are instructions on how to use the Quarantine Manager to get rid of the infection. Previously, I’ve endorsed the use of an anti-virus application and specifically recommend Sophos or ClamXav.
Read moreSophos is a great anti-virus application for Mac users. Sophos is free for home users and quite affordable for business users. Sophos updates itself daily and scans every file that you download or open.
Read moreAre you retiring an older Mac that has a mechanical, spinning hard drive and its running macOS version 10.7 or higher? If so, here are instructions on how you can securely erase the Mac’s hard drive before you donate your Mac or sell it.
Read moreA few weeks ago Apple released an update which addresses the bash security vulnerability found in OS X during the last week of September 2014. The security vulnerability was nicknamed shellshock or the bash bug and reportedly affects all versions of OS X as well as many versions of Linux and Unix released over the past … Read more
I know you subscribe to my Tech Tips to get pearls of wisdom and nuggets of knowledge. Not this week. This Tech Tip is just for fun. Hope you enjoy it. I know we can all relate to this scenario. Computer: Please enter your new password. Person: cabbage
Read moreThis Tech Tip is a cautionary tale. As a general rule, I recommend that you avoid installing apps that claim to tune-up or optimize your Mac. Last week, I worked on two Macs whose performance was negatively impacted by MacKeeper, MacBooster and TuneUpMyMac. A third Mac’s web browsing had been hijacked by Conduit Search. It’s not clear … Read more
DuckDuckGo is a search engine that is much less well-known than Google, but you should check it out. As the title of this article indicates, DuckDuckGo is a privacy-friendly alternative to Google.
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