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
Email may be the most common form of phishing, but it’s not the only one. Modern Web browsers support a technology that enables websites to display system-level notifications just like regular apps. These push notifications have good uses, such as letting frequently updated websites inform users of new headlines, changed discussion threads, and more. Unfortunately, […]
Read moreHave you received an email which starts off by listing one of your passwords and then goes on to indicate that a video recording of you watching an adult content video which will be sent to your friends unless you pay a few thousand dollars in bitcoin? Please don’t believe everything you read. Emails like … Read more
Are you confused by messages from Malwarebytes about the need to update or upgrade? If so, you’re not alone. My general recommendation is that you always want to update Malwarebytes, but you probably don’t need to upgrade it.
Read moreDo some legitimate emails that you receive end up on your spam folder? You may be able to prevent this from happening by putting the sender’s email address on your email server’s allow list. Before we talk about how to do that, let’s start by reviewing the general process of how emails get identified as … Read more
Do you need an anti-virus app on your iPhone? The short answer is no, there is very little risk that your iPhone could get infected with malicious software, like a virus. However, one should continue to be vigilant and concerned about the security of one’s phone and the personal data on it. There are a few … Read more
Have you used MalwareBytes to remove malware from your Mac? Malwarebytes does a great job of removing harmful software from your Mac, but it sometimes leaves bits and pieces of the malware on your Mac. These remnants are not harmful to your Mac, but I like to get rid of them anyway. If you are one … Read more
[Update Nov 2023: As of 2021, Adobe has ended support for the Flash Player plugin. Please uninstall it if it’s still on your Mac.] Please 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 … 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
Be 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
Is 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 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
Do you have children? Would you like to configure your home network to easily block adult content? Here’s an easy and affordable way to set up adult content filtering for all Macs, PCs, iPhones and iPads on your network. Sign-up for the free OpenDNS Home service.
Read moreWhile viruses are not a major risk for Mac users, it’s still prudent to have an anti-virus application installed on your Mac. Sophos offers a free Macintosh anti-virus application for use on home computers. Give it a try.
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