Why You Should Use a Password Manager
If you want to secure your online accounts, a password manager is the best way to do this. Using a password manager offers the following advantages:
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The Need To Be Proactive
If you know that a snow storm is approaching your home, do you prepare? Perhaps you stock up on some extra food, test your flashlight or your generator. Do you need to prepare? No, but you’ve likely learned that it’s better to prepare than to pay the price of running low on milk, bread, batteries, … Read more
10 Reasons to Upgrade to Apple’s Version 27 Operating Systems This Fall
Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote—the final public appearance for outgoing CEO Tim Cook—was different this year. Although it was still a tour of the changes we’ll see in version 27 of Apple’s operating systems, the company broke it into three parts. The first focused on interface refinements, performance improvements, and feature tweaks that smooth rough […]
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photo by Karolina Grabowska www.kaboompics.com
Read moreCheck Your Input Source If Your Mac Types Unexpected Characters
If your Mac starts typing unexpected characters—or rejects a password you know is correct—check to see if the Input Source menu appears in the upper-right corner of the screen, indicating that your Mac has more than one keyboard layout available for writing in other languages. Accidentally switching from the standard U.S. keyboard (or whatever you […]
Read moreHow to Look Up a Saved Wi-Fi Network Password
Apple offers several simple ways to share Wi-Fi network passwords. When someone nearby tries to connect to a Wi-Fi network with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and they are in your Contacts app, you will be automatically prompted to share the network password with them. Additionally, in the Passwords app, you can display a Wi-Fi […]
Read moreUpdated Passwords App Adds History
One small way Apple’s Passwords app lagged behind top password managers like 1Password was in its lack of a password history. It’s sometimes helpful—such as when trying to figure out why a seemingly correct password isn’t being accepted—to see previous passwords for a site and when they were changed. In macOS 26 Tahoe, iOS 26, […]
Read moreBasic Security Recommendations
Below are my current basic recommendations for protecting your data on your Mac, protecting your online accounts, and reducing the likelihood that you would fall for ever more sophisticated scams. I’ll update my recommendations over time so review this Tech Tip periodically. I expand on these security and privacy recommendations in an earlier Tech Tip. … Read more
16 Billion Passwords Exposed in Recent Data Breach: Turn on 2FA!
Data breaches keep coming, and the latest one revealed by Cybernews involves 16 billion passwords. There’s no way to know for sure if your passwords are included, though it’s always worth checking Have I Been Pwned and paying attention to monitoring features in password managers. Some media reports claim that passwords from accounts at Apple, […]
Read moreWhy Passkeys Are Better than Passwords (And How to Use Them)
No one likes passwords. Users find managing them annoying, and website managers worry about login credentials being stolen in a data breach. The industry has developed a better solution: passkeys. Passwords versus Passkeys Traditional multi-factor authentication involves three methods of authentication, at least two of which are required for protection. They include something you know […]
Read moreShare Wi-Fi Network Passwords Using QR Codes
A neat feature built into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS is that when you are connected to a Wi-Fi network, your devices will offer to share the Wi-Fi password if others near you try to connect to the same network. However, for this feature to work, they must be in your Contacts, and at times, it […]
Read moreIn Times of Uncertainty, Increase Your Digital Privacy and Security
With so many troubling things happening in the world, some clients have inquired about ways to enhance their security. While we don’t want to encourage paranoia, there are many legitimate threats, and everyone will have their own levels of worry about each one. The effort and inconvenience that different people are willing to endure also […]
Read moreWhat to Expect when in Contact with Apple Support
It is increasingly difficult to distinguish between legitimate phone calls and scam phone calls. Scammers use ever more sophisticated deception methods to convince people to reveal personal information such as an account password or credit card details. One example of these sophisticated methods is described in this Krebs On Security article about phone phishing. To … Read more
Passwords Becomes a Real App in macOS 15 Sequoia, iOS 18, and iPadOS 18
Although we’re still fans of 1Password, and there are plenty of other good password managers out there, like BitWarden and Dashlane, Apple has finally removed the last hurdle to using its built-in password management capabilities. Starting in macOS 15 Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and visionOS 2, Passwords is now a real app rather than […]
Read moreSet macOS to Require a Password after Screen Saver Start or Display Sleep
Although paying attention to online security is of primary importance, don’t forget local security. You don’t want to go out for lunch and let someone wandering by your office poke through your email, messages, photos, and private files. To ensure this doesn’t happen, set your Mac to start the screen saver or sleep the display […]
Read moreUse 1Password to Enter Your Mac Login Password
We think of 1Password as being helpful for entering passwords on websites and in iPhone and iPad apps. But its Universal Autofill feature has a hidden capability that lets 1Password enter your Mac login password when you have to provide it to change certain system settings, install apps, format drives in Disk Utility, and more. […]
Read moreChanging Passwords Periodically Doesn’t Increase Security
Does your organization or some financial website require you to create a new password periodically? This practice was recommended long ago, but some organizations haven’t kept up with current recommendations that discourage such policies. If you’re bound by a password expiration policy, you can use this article to encourage your IT department or financial institution […]
Read moreHelp! My Account Has Been Hacked—What Should I Do?
How would you realize that one or more of your Internet accounts—email, social media, financial—have been hacked? (Some prefer the terms “compromised” or “breached”—you may hear them from support techs.) Unfortunately, there’s no telltale warning sign because “hacked” could mean any number of things. Here are some possible indications: People you trust report receiving email […]
Read moreAfter “Mother of All Breaches,” Update Passwords on Compromised Sites
January’s big security news was the Mother of All Breaches, the release of a massive database containing 26 billion records built from previous breaches across numerous websites, including Adobe, Dropbox, LinkedIn, and Twitter. It’s unclear how much of the leaked data is new, but it’s a good reminder to update your passwords for accounts on […]
Read moreWant to Password-Protect a PDF? Follow These Best Practices
We periodically field questions about password-protecting a PDF to prevent the wrong people from reading it. Lawyers want to ensure that drafts of legal documents don’t fall into the wrong hands, financial advisers want to keep confidential financial information private, and authors want to prevent their writing from being shared broadly on the Internet. Others […]
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