Back to School: Securing your Mac for public use
Apple’s going Back to School! We’ll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings in September.
It’s time once again to head back to school. Some are entering high school, while others are going to college for the first time. If you’re taking your Mac with you, you need to learn some security basics. In this post, I will show you how to secure your operating system and hardware.
Operating System (Software)
Mac OS X makes a great operating system for students and businesses because of its inherent security. However, any computer without a strong password or other means of security is an accident waiting to happen.
The first thing you need to do is set a login password. To do this, go into Accounts in the System Preferences pane. Once there you will be able to set your password for logging in. While in Accounts, you might want to disable automatic login. This forces your computer to ask for a password upon startup and makes it harder for someone to walk up to your computer and use it (or steal it and use it).
Turning off Sharing services is another way to protect someone from remotely connecting to your Mac. Go to System Preferences > Sharing. Once there, un-check all sharing services that you don’t use. Disabling File Sharing, Remote Login, Screen Sharing, and other services such as these can save your Mac from being “hijacked.” If you must have these services turned on, then make sure you have a secure password set.
Hardware
Securing Mac OS X isn’t the only thing you need to do. If you live in a dorm, or in a shared apartment, then you may want to consider securing your hardware. No matter what security measures you put into place, they can always be circumvented by someone just stealing the machine.
Most Macs have a standard security port to connect a lock. This is a great way to protect notebooks as well as desktops and even printers and other peripherals. The locks are fairly inexpensive (around $40 US) and can save your expensive hardware from being stolen. You can find them at most big-box computer retailers and even online from companies like Kensington.
More on security…
If you want more information on Security and your Mac/iPhone, then visit Apple’s Security category. You can also get more Apple Back to School goodness by visiting our Back to School page.
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Ten ways OS X rocks
Smashing Magazine does a good old-fashioned “why OS X is so much better” piece — ok, well they’re not that blatant (it’s actually focused on the “top ten usability highs”), but with all of the iPhone/App Store news going around, it’s kind of refreshing to see some nice, traditional Mac praise.
So why is OS X better than other (*cough*Windows*cough) operating systems? Metaphors play a huge part — when you use a Mac, you’re not just browsing through files or using plugins, you’re flipping through what look like album covers, or pulling up a “Dashboard.” And everything is extremely intuitive — it’s clear upon first look at the screen what does what or where to find certain features of the operating system.
Every system has problems, and OS X is no exception. But using it day to day, OS X definitely gives out all kinds of “wait, it was that easy?” and “just works” moments. And that’s why we’re such big fans of it in the first place. [Smashingmagazine]
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Apple prepping iPhone 2.1 software
The folks at The Boy Genius Report spent some time poking around server logs and found references to iPhone OS 2.0.1. It seems that build 5B101 is the 2.0.1 software for first-generation iPhones, while 5B103 is for 3G iPhones.
No word on what’s included, of course, or when this might hit iTunes. According to AppleInsider, some people are having trouble with the camera and the accelerometer since the update. Have any of you 1st generation iPhone owners had software trouble since the update? Here’s hoping this update will solve the problem.
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Flickr Find: Macintosh on Nintendo DS
While browsing Flickr this afternoon, we came across a shot of a Nintendo DS running Macintosh System 6 in emulation on reader Ken Fager’s Flickr stream. Of course, we contacted him to ask how he did it. Here’s what he had to say.
First, grab a DS flash card and install MiniVMacDS onto its root directory.
Once that’s done, place the Mac Plus ROM into the “vmac” folder along with a System 6/7 install disk (you can make a blank disk image using Disk Utility).
Finally, turn on the DS and select MiniVMacDS. It will boot the disk images. From there, install (minimal) System 6 onto the blank disk image.
Ken notes that it’s a bit pokey, but hey, this wasn’t done for speed! Have fun if you try this for yourself. Thanks for sharing, Ken! We love it.
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EFiX wants to bring OSX86 to the masses
Word in the OSX86 world is that a new product will revolutionize (and simplify) the process of installing OS X on a PC — and that product is called the EFiX. The USB dongle allegedly pops into a free port and allows you to install the retail version of the Mac operating system on just about any system by automatically locating the proper hacks and drivers needed. Famed OSX86 hacker Netkas has demoed a beta unit on video (which you can see after the break) and claims that it’s working as it should. The manufacturer is aiming to have models available for purchase by June 23rd… barring any more “sabotage.” This sounds like a much more reasonable solution than marketing a Mac clone — feel free to send one our way whenever you like guys.
[Via Boing Boing Gadgets]
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