Upgrade Backblaze 6 to Backblaze 7

Do you use Backblaze to backup your Mac? It’s a great way to create an off-site backup of your Mac’s data. When CrashPlan eliminated their backup service for home customers, I recommended that most of my residential customers switch to Backblaze.

In the fall of 2019, Backblaze version 7 was released. Backblaze tends to automatically upgrade itself, but for reasons I haven’t been able to identify Backblaze version 6 doesn’t seem to always upgrade itself to version 7. Here are instructions on how to manually upgrade your Mac to Backblaze version 7. Version 7 adds compatibility with macOS Catalina (aka macOS 10.15). For a little bit more money, it also adds the ability to increase the file retention feature from 30 days to unlimited. Read More from “Upgrade Backblaze 6 to Backblaze 7”

How To Disinfect Your Mac, iPhone or iPad

Years ago I wrote an article about cleaning your Mac or iPhone screen. Given concerns about COVID-19 and the flu, it’s useful to point out that Apple provides cleaning guidelines for all of your Apple products. In particular, Apple appears to have recently updated their article with guidance on how to disinfect your Apple products. If you’re the only person who uses and touches your device, you don’t need to disinfect it since you can’t catch a disease from yourself. But if you put your device onto unclean tables or other hard surfaces or you need to let others use your device(s), then Apple recommends using a Clorox Disinfecting Wipe or another wipe that contains at least 70 percent isopropyl alcohol. Be aware that these wipes can break down the oleophobic coating on iPhones and iPads. They could also negatively impact the coating on your Mac’s Retina display. Thus, you should only wipe the device gently. Also, be sure to avoid getting moisture in any of the openings in your device. To be extra safe, you should turn off your device while you’re cleaning it, then make sure the moisture has evaporated before you turn on the device. Apple points out that you should not use bleach on your Apple products.

How To Organize Screenshots & Reference Photos, Part 3

Part 1 & Part 2 of this photo organizing tutorial help you declutter your main photo library by neatly organizing valuable screenshots and reference photos into folders in the Notes app. When you separate informational images from precious photo memories, you begin streamlining your photo collection to what matters most. And as an added bonus, you find your saved reference material more easily.

Going forward, I recommend creating a new habit of saving all informational images directly to the Notes app. This will save you endless time and effort. In the future you won’t need to take time out to organize these types of photos and most importantly, you can quickly search for what you need.

Before I walk you through how to save new informational images directly to the Notes app, write down the total number of photos in your Photos app as well as the number of screenshots (hopefully, your screenshot count is zero). Then compare these numbers to when you began this photo organizing project — and celebrate your accomplishment!

This Tech Tip comes from Mirja Heide of RefreshFotos. Mirja specializes in digital photo management and training for Apple products and offers individual Q&A sessions and custom photo organizing programs. So whether you’re looking for training to organize your photos yourself, a guided program with coaching and training to help you accomplish your goals efficiently and in a timely manner, or a photo manager to complete the project for you, Mirja is delighted to help. She’s the founder of RefreshFotos, a tech consultant & instructor, an abstract photographer and a Certified Photo Manager with a serious passion for organizing and all things creative. Learn more at RefreshFotos.

Read More from “How To Organize Screenshots & Reference Photos, Part 3”

How To Organize Screenshots & Reference Photos, Part 2

In Part 1 of this 3-part tutorial, you began organizing your informational images by moving important screenshots to the Notes app and then deleting them from the Photos app. In Part 2, I’ll walk you through how to organize reference photos which include images of furniture, books, cars and clothing. Like with screenshots, remember to ask discerning questions to determine whether or not the reference photos are truly meaningful to you. Choose whether you’re going to work on your iPhone, iPad or Mac computer. Then move all valuable reference photos from the Photos app to the Notes app. Afterwards, delete the reference photos from the Photos app.

This Tech Tip comes from Mirja Heide of RefreshFotos. Mirja specializes in digital photo management and training for Apple products and offers individual Q&A sessions and custom photo organizing programs. So whether you’re looking for training to organize your photos yourself, a guided program with coaching and training to help you accomplish your goals efficiently and in a timely manner, or a photo manager to complete the project for you, Mirja is delighted to help. She’s the founder of RefreshFotos, a tech consultant & instructor, an abstract photographer and a Certified Photo Manager with a serious passion for organizing and all things creative. Learn more at RefreshFotos. Read More from “How To Organize Screenshots & Reference Photos, Part 2”

How To Organize Screenshots & Reference Photos, Part 1

In this three part series, I’d like to share a few methods for better managing screenshots and reference photos that don’t actually belong in your main photo library where you keep meaningful photos of family, friends, vacations, special events, artwork and creative projects.

Many photos and screenshots are informational…photos of books, recipes, products you like, things you want to remember and reference. There’s a better way to organize these types of images than mixing them in with your most precious photos. The key is to create a new habit of saving them to the Notes app on your iPhone/iPad. If you’re using iCloud, the notes will automatically sync to your Mac computer.

This new habit won’t require extra time — it will actually save you time and also help you find the information you need more easily.

I’ll begin with how to organize screenshots (Part 1) and reference photos (Part 2) already saved in your Photos app, then I’ll share how to save new informational images directly to the Notes app (Part 3).

This Tech Tip comes from Mirja Heide of RefreshFotos. Mirja specializes in digital photo management and training for Apple products and offers individual Q&A sessions and custom photo organizing programs. So whether you’re looking for training to organize your photos yourself, a guided program with coaching and training to help you accomplish your goals efficiently and in a timely manner, or a photo manager to complete the project for you, Mirja is delighted to help. She’s the founder of RefreshFotos, a tech consultant & instructor, an abstract photographer and a Certified Photo Manager with a serious passion for organizing and all things creative. Learn more at RefreshFotos.

Read More from “How To Organize Screenshots & Reference Photos, Part 1”

Use eDrawings Viewer, A Free Way To View AutoCAD (.dwg) Files

Do you ever need to open AutoCAD files? If you’re renovating your home or office there’s a chance that an architect or contractor might send you an AutoCAD file in .dwg format. eDrawings Viewer is a free application that lets you open and view these files.  It’s been around for at least 15 years. The developer makes their money selling other applications which allow architects and others create .dwg files, so I expect eDrawings Viewer to remain free. Download it and give it a try.

 

A Free And Easy Way To Test Your Fax Machine

Do you have a fax machine? Have you ever wanted to test it to determine that it’s working? Perhaps a colleague or a friend indicated that he or she was unable to fax you. GotFreeFax is an easy way to determine if your fax machine can receive an email. FaxBeep is an easy way to determine if your fax machine can send a fax. Below are instructions for using both services.

Read More from “A Free And Easy Way To Test Your Fax Machine”

Setting Up An Auto-Reply In Gmail

Do you use Gmail? Would you like to setup an automated reply email to indicate that you’re going to be on vacation or out of the office? Google provides some simple, step-by-step setup instructions for their Vacation Responder. Since Gmail’s interface changes often, I do not think it makes sense for me to re-write them in this article as they could change without notice.

Here are some related notes.

Your automated reply is sent to people only the first time they contact you. It resets after four days and if that same person emails you after four days then he or she would receive your automated reply a second time.

You can have your automated reply sent to everybody or only to people who you have saved to your Google Contacts list. If your Gmail account is provided by your employer or school you can choose whether your automated reply is sent to everybody or only to people in your organization.

Email messages delivered to your spam folder will not get your automated reply.

Email messages from a mailing list will not get your automated reply.

The Importance Of Monitoring One’s Backups

This week’s Tech Tip is a cautionary tale. Last week, I offered some guidance on how to prepare for a Genius Bar appointment and the importance of knowing that you have a current Time Machine backup of your Mac, before taking your Mac to the Genius Bar. Recently, I had two clients take their Macs to Genius Bar appointments. In each instance, Apple erased all of their data. One client, who I’ll call Bill, had a current Time Machine backup and we were able to use it to return his Mac to a functioning state after Apple returned it to him in a non-functioning state. The other client, who I’ll call Sally thought she had a current Time Machine backup, but, it turns out she didn’t.

Bill’s incident highlights the importance of know which version of the Mac operating system is installed on your Mac. Sally’s incident highlights the importance of knowing how to monitor your backup systems, backing up daily as well as the need to have a second, redundant backup system. Because she had Backblaze performing backups, we were able to recover all of her data, but she could have had a less stressful time if she’d really had a current Time Machine backup. Read More from “The Importance Of Monitoring One’s Backups”

How To Prepare For A Genius Bar Appointment

Are you planning on taking your Mac, iPhone or iPad to a Genius Bar appointment? Here are some items to keep in mind as you prepare for your appointment.

  1. Make a note of which version of the operating system is installed on your device.
  2. Check your backup systems so you know, with certainty, that your device is backed up.
  3. Know your administrative user account password. (This only applies to Macs.)
  4. Be prepared to be without your device for a few days and, in rare situations, up to a couple of weeks.

Read More from “How To Prepare For A Genius Bar Appointment”

How To Enter A New Email Password On Your iPhone

Are you unable to either send or receive emails on your iPhone? Are you getting an error message about an incorrect password? Sending and receiving emails are independent processes so one could be working while the other one is not. More specifically, your iPhone could be able to send emails but not receive emails, or vice versa. Consequently, there are two places you need to visit to enter the correct email account password.  Read More from “How To Enter A New Email Password On Your iPhone”

Report Spam And Phishing Emails That Arrive In Your iCloud Inbox

Do you use an iCloud email account? (iCloud email accounts can end in any of the following suffixes: Mac.com, Me.com or iCloud.com.)

Do some spam emails arrive in your Inbox?  Apple’s spam filters are pretty effective, but nobody’s spam filters are perfect. Thus, if spam or phishing emails get past Apple’s spam filters and arrive in your Inbox, you can report them to Apple. Apple will then work on improving their spam filters. Read More from “Report Spam And Phishing Emails That Arrive In Your iCloud Inbox”

Upgrade Firmware On HP MFP M477 Series Printer To Resolve 59.F0 Error

Do you have an HP Color LaserJet MFP M477 series printer? Is your printer displaying 59.F0 error on its touchscreen display? Online research indicates that this error message can indicate that your printer has experienced a hardware malfunction. However, sometimes, this error can be resolved by upgrading the printer’s firmware. Hewlett Packard makes a Mac application named HP Firmware Updater. However, this application can’t communicate with the printer when it is displaying this error message. Here are instructions that I received from HP that include alternate ways to install a firmware update. Read More from “Upgrade Firmware On HP MFP M477 Series Printer To Resolve 59.F0 Error”

Replace Worn Out AirPod Batteries

Do you own AirPods, Apple’s wireless earbuds? Have you noticed that your AirPods do not hold a charge as long as when they were new? If so, this could be a sign that your AirPods’ internal batteries are worn out. All rechargeable batteries wear out from normal usage. This is just a fact of life. Did you know that Apple will replace your AirPods batteries for $49 (as of Nov 2019)? This is much less than the cost of a new pair of AirPods, which start at $159. Read More from “Replace Worn Out AirPod Batteries”

Dropbox Pros and Cons

Does your small business have a Mac, in your office, working as a file server? Do you wonder if you should continue to do this or switch to a cloud-based file sharing system, such as Dropbox? Let’s look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of using Dropbox. In the past few years I’ve had a number of small business clients decide that they no longer want the expense of buying, supporting and backing up their own in-house file server. For them, Dropbox is a cost-effective solution. Dropbox may not be a viable option for every small business, but let’s consider the pros and cons.

This article compares Dropbox and file servers in the following areas:

  1. Price
  2. Remote Access
  3. Outside Sharing
  4. File Sharing Controls
  5. Various Security Considerations

Let me start by looking at the areas where Dropbox compares well against a file server. 

1. Price

To improve the readability of this article, I’ve put all of the details of my price comparison as an endnote to this article. For my comparison I look at a hypothetical company with 3 employees and their costs over a 5 year period. I compare the costs of owning and maintaining a Mac setup as a file server with using Dropbox for their file sharing needs. Again, see details below.

This total cost of ownership for a Mac file server could be $5000 over a 5 year period.

The total cost of a Dropbox subscription is  $3858 over a 5 year period.

Dropbox offers a noticeable price savings.

If we change our hypothetical company to 6 employees then the costs of the file server are likely about the same. However, our Dropbox costs would double to about $5600 over 5 years. Dropbox’s price savings appear to dwindle as the number of employees increases.

Price Conclusion – Depending upon the size of the company Dropbox may or may not offer a price savings. I think Dropbox’s price sweet spot is companies with 3-8 employees. As the number of employees increase, Dropbox makes less sense based on cost-alone.

However, Dropbox offers another price savings since no additional costs are required to access Dropbox when a staff person is out of the office. Typically a file server requires a business to setup a VPN. Let’s look at these costs.

2. Remote Access (Getting to your files when you are outside the office)

Let’s compare what is required to remotely access both Dropbox and a file server. More specifically, when employees are working from home or whenever they are out of the office, what is required to permit them to access shared folders? Dropbox has no additional costs or requirements. If your employees use laptops while at the office to access Dropbox then these laptops can be used, as is, anytime the employee has an Internet connection. 

In our file server scenario, an employee’s laptop would need to be configured to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection to be able to access the file server. Apple no longer offers a built-in VPN solution in their Mac server software. Thus, you will need to spend time and money setting up an alternative, such as iVPN, and then configure each of your employees Mac laptops and then train them on how to use the VPN.

Remote Access Conclusion – Dropbox wins since it does not require any additional costs, labor or training to allow employees to access files when outside of the office. Perhaps this cost savings furhter tips the balance in favor of Dropbox for overall costs.

3. Outside Sharing 

Let’s imagine that you need to collaborate with others, outside your company, on a project. Perhaps you want your collaborators to be able to access a project folder which you store in Dropbox, or on your file server. Dropbox makes this pretty easy. You can give people outside your company access to a folder inside your Dropbox account. As long as the outsider is willing to setup his or her own free Dropbox account then they will have easy access. 

Granting an outside person access to a folder on a central file server is possible, but you’d spend time creating a user account on the server and giving them VPN access to your company’s network. Many companies would not grant access to the network so that’s a show stopper. At this point, you’d likely start sending files back and forth as email attachments. 

Outside Sharing Conclusion – Dropbox wins since Dropbox permits this while the file server model typically does not. However, it is important to note that setting up your folder structure appropriately is a key consideration if you are using Dropbox. Dropbox is only able to share folders at one level. This means you can’t have a parent folder that is shared with, say, one outside person outside your company and also have a subfolder shared with a different person outside your company.

Now let’s look at the areas where Dropbox does not look as good as a file server.

4. File Sharing Control

File servers support more complex file and folder permission configurations. For example, file servers let you setup a folder named Shared Projects, which is accessible by all of your employees and then create a folder within Shared Projects named Financial Reports that has more restrictive permissions. Maybe only the business owner and accountant might be able to access the Financial Reports folder. Dropbox can let you have both a widely shared Shared Projects folder and a more restricted Financial Reports folder, but Financial Reports can’t live inside of Shared Projects.

File Servers also typically create a number of logs that let one see who has accessed, edited or deleted a file. Dropbox Standard does not offer the same level of tracking.  Some higher tiers of Dropbox Business do. Thus, there is much less accountability available for a small office using Dropbox. This type of accountability is often needed as the number of employees in a company grows, but it can be helpful even when there are only a handful of users.

File Sharing Control Conclusion – File servers offer great flexibility. There have been times when Dropbox’s restrictions have been a nuisance, but work-arounds are always possible. File access logs are a standard feature of file servers, but are only available on higher priced Dropbox accounts.

5. Various Security Considerations

With Dropbox, you hand over some control of your data since you’re entrusting your data to a middleman and since your data is accessible via the Internet. This increases the risk that somebody outside of your organization could access your data. FirstDropbox, the company, has a backdoor into your account. While I am pretty sure that Dropbox employees can not casually look at your files, I am also pretty sure that in order to provide technical support and test their own systems, select employees might access your account and could need to inspect certain files. I would also guess that if a subpoena was issued by the government that they could gain access to your data. You could encrypt select files in your account to try to reduce this risk.

This is a good time for me to mention that Dropbox encrypts your files during transit and storage, but the files stored on your Mac, in your Dropbox folder, are not encrypted unless you use a service like Boxcryptor or the Mac operating system’s FileVault.

Second, there is also a risk that the bad guys could get into your Dropbox account and access your files. One of your employees could be lured into divulging his or her Dropbox account password via a Phishing attack. Alternatively, Dropbox could make a goof as they did in 2011 when a programming flaw in Dropbox’s web site permitted anybody to get into anybody else’s Dropbox account. This flaw only existed for 4 hours, but it highlights the possibility.

Next, let’s think about corrupt files or accidentally deleted files. If your company runs its own file server then you control your own in-house and off-site backups. Thus, you can restore corrupt or damaged files. If your company uses Dropbox then you typically need to rely on Dropbox’s file recovery feature. Depending upon the type of Dropbox account you have, Dropbox provides you with 30-180 days of file recovery. In other words, if a file gets damaged or deleted, but this is not discovered for 30 or more days then there is a chance that you won’t be able to recover that file. This vulnerability could be minimized if you make your own backups of your Dropbox account. To be effective, one Mac in your office would need to have a copy of all of the files in your Dropbox account  and then you would need to backup this Mac to one or more destinations. In other words, this one Mac cannot use Dropbox’s Selective Sync or Smart Sync features.

Do you realize that you could lose all of the files in your Dropbox account if your account expires? This might sound far-fetched, but it could happen. Let’s imagine that the credit card you use to pay for your Dropbox account has expired. Dropbox sends emails to remind you about a billing problem, but it is possible that these emails could be overlooked if one is traveling, sick or otherwise distracted. If your account were to expire, I am sure Dropbox does not delete your files immediately, but I do not know the length of the grace period. Thus, it is possible that your files could be deleted.

Do you have good policies and procedures in place when an employee leaves your company? If your company uses Dropbox, an employee could access your Dropbox account from his or her own personally owned computer, phone or tablet. When employee’s leave you should revoke access by any personally owned devices and initiate a remote delete of files from that device. If your company uses a file server, typically remote access requires VPN access. VPN access could be revoked easily for a given employee on his or her last day of employment.

Similarly, do you have good policies and procedures in place in the event a laptop, tablet or phone, with Dropbox access, is lost or stolen? My own laptop was stolen at the end of 2017. Because I had a number of security features enabled on my laptop, I was confident that the thieves could not gain access to any of the data on my laptop, including files I keep in Dropbox. You should make sure you have setup appropriate security policies on all devices that access Dropbox.

If your company uses a file server then typically all of the files do not reside on the laptop. Thus, if the laptop is secured and/or VPN use requires employees to manually enter a password in order to connect, your file server would be secure.

Various Security Considerations Conclusion – File servers tend to offer greater security since they are in your office and not on the public Internet, like Dropbox. Dropbox offers greater convenience, but this convenience comes at the cost of higher security risks. If you use Dropbox it is important to minimize these risks by having your own backup of your data and have good security procedures in place on your computers.

Overall ConclusionDropbox can be an appealing and cost-effective option for easily sharing files with your team and outside collaborators, but it does not make sense in all situations. Additionally, there are some additional security concerns that one needs to think through and protect against. 

 

 

Endnote: Price Comparison Details (mentioned at the start of this article)

If this company wants to buy, backup and maintain their own Mac as a file server they might be looking at the following 5 year costs:

  • Mac mini with monitor – $1200
  • Backup hard drives – $200
  • Off-site backup subscription – $120/year or $500 over 5 years.
  • Labor for initial setup – $600
  • Estimated annual labor for server maintenance and updates, setting up user accounts, etc. – $500/year or $2500 over 5 years

This totals $5000 over a 5 year period

Dropbox offers a few tiers of service but our fictitious company is going to select Dropbox Standard for Business, which currently costs $12.50 per user per month if paid annually. Let’s assume that Dropbox has a price increase during the middle of the 5 year period. I should note that Dropbox Business accounts have a minimum cost of 3 user licenses or $37.50

  • Dropbox costs for 3 users for years 1-3 – $150 per user per year x 3 users = $450 x 3 years = $1350
  • Dropbox costs for 3 users for years 4-5 – $168 per user per year x 3 users = $504 x 2 years = $1008

Let’s add a line item for supporting Dropbox. We have to assume that staff will need some Dropbox training and/or something will go awry and some time will need to be spent troubleshooting Dropbox. Let’s estimate this support cost at $300/year or $1500 over 5 years.

The total cost of a Dropbox subscription and technical support is  $3858 over a 5 year period

In this hypothetical example, of 3 users for 5 years, Dropbox is less expensive than a file server.

Let’s image that our company now has 6 employees. The cost of the file server are likely about the same. However, our Dropbox subscription costs would increase to about $4600 over 5 years. With support this could bring the cost to about $5600. Thus, with 6 employees the cost of Dropbox is about the same as a file server.

If you had a company with a dozen employees you might find that Dropbox is more expensive than maintaining a file server. Our imaginary file server might require a beefier computer or be equipped with more storage space to handle 12 users so the file server costs would increase, but probably not at the same rate as Dropbox’s costs increase. Thus, the cost savings provided by Dropbox appear to dwindle as the size of the company increases.

How To Migrate To A New iPhone At The Apple Store

Is it time to replace your iPhone? If you don’t live near an Apple Store, or just want to do this migration yourself, please follow the guidance I provide in How To Migrate To a New iPhone. If you are not comfortable doing it yourself and you live near an Apple Store then you could let them help you. Here’s an overview of how the migration process will go and the things I recommend you do to prepare for your trip to the Apple Store. Every visit and migration will be a bit different, but I recommend that you plan on this taking 60-90 minutes.  Read More from “How To Migrate To A New iPhone At The Apple Store”

Time To Retire Windows 7 If You Use It In Parallels Or Fusion

Do you use either Parallels or VMWare Fusion on your Mac? Does your virtual machine  use the Windows 7 operating system? If so, it’s time to retire Windows 7 and switch to Windows 10. Windows 7 was released in 2009 and Microsoft ended mainstream support for it in 2015. Microsoft is ending their extended support in January 2020; so no more security updates. Switch to Windows 10 which was released in mid-2015 and receives regular updates. There are a number of ways to switch from Windows 7 to 10. The exact steps are beyond the scope of this article, but here’s an overview of some options. If you’re using a current version of Parallels, it has a built-in menu command for helping you to upgrade to Windows 10. You should make sure you have a current backup of your Windows 7 virtual machine before you attempt to upgrade it. Alternatively, you might prefer to create a new virtual machine using Windows 10. If you choose this option then you should be prepared to reinstall any applications that you rely on, in your virtual machine, such as QuickBooks or RevIT.