PAST MEETINGS


 

February 21, 2011 - Hammondsport Mac Users Group

ATTENDING: Tom B, Bob S, Jerry L and Larry T.

TOPIC: Privacy and Security

The group discussed various ways of safeguarding our privacy and securing our data while using our macs, while at the same time not making it unreasonably cumbersome.

15 Ways to Secure Your Mac - Tom briefly discussed and demonstrated how to do most of these suggestions from an excellent article by Ryan Faas in ComputerWorld.

Web of Trust (WOT) - Jerry demonstrated a great add-on for your browser called WOT (Web of Trust). It helps identify safe sites as well as suspicious ones.

Tom demonstrated how to use the free anti-virus application called ClamXav.

Tom demonstrated how to use1Password 3. This app will work with most browsers and allows you to log-in to secure websites with a single click. Use 1Password 2 for OS 10.4 Tiger ($39 with free trial).

Bonjour Browser - free app to locate all Bonjour activity on your Mac - OSX 10.8 or higher - (download 191k)

Adblock Plus - Jerry recommended this last meeting. Download link for Firefox Add-Ons for Adblock Plus 1.3.3 - You will also need a free subscription list of ads to block - recommended: Fanboy's List.

Sophos - free Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition (download 74mb)


SOME OTHER WAYS TO STAY SAFE

Set up a Standard Account (Non-Admin) in Sys Prefs as your main account

Make an encrypted Disk Image with Disk Utility to safeguard important docs.

EMAIL- avoid forwarding to multiple addresses - use BCC or Group Mail - see how.

Filter SPAM with on-line e-mail accounts (i.e. Gmail) forwarded to your ISP account in Mail.

Use Secure Erase Options in Disk Utility to clean off a HD before selling a computer


HARDWARE

Eton Clipray LED Light - handy crank-powered flashlight (1 minute =10 minutes of light) has USB port for charging a cell phone as well - $15 +7 shipping)

Edimax nLite USB2.0 WiFi Stick - $15 OWC - read how to set up on a Mac laptop

NewerTechnology MaxPower USB WiFi Stick - $12 OWC


SOME GOOD ARTICLES

Apple's Security Past Defines Its Future - good article in Tidbits to help us non-experts understand some of the security problems facing both Macs and PCs.

Tips To Create Strong Passwords - shows a handy formula for creating a great, memorable password

NY Times Wrong about WPA Cracking - insightful points by Glenn Fleishman


CREEPY

Spokeo.com - not your Grandma's white pages. Look up your name to see what data has been collected on you.. (Of course, then they will know your IP address as well).


HUMOR

Remember - Are we getting more forgetful? (Tip: Read how to download a YouTube video )


Hammondsport Mac Users Group - Hammondsport, NY 14840 - www.hportmug.com