Preventing Manual Password Resets on a Mac by Using FileVault Security osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® Preventing Manual Password Resets on a Mac by Using FileVault Security

Nearly all Mac users have a login and password required to access the Mac upon boot (and if you don’t, you should!), which provides a reasonable layer of password protection to keep out most prying eyes. Users with more advanced security needs may need to go further to protect their Mac from unauthorized access though, and because there are ways of resetting a Mac administrator password by using a variety of tricks, the simpler user login protections are not necessarily adequate for every user in higher security situations and at-risk environments.

Ultimately, this becomes a matter of preventing the standard and advanced password reset options for Mac OS X that are achievable through Single User Mode and by using boot disks. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this, but perhaps the most simple method to prevent even more advanced login bypass attempts is to enable full disk encryption, known as FileVault, which not only encrypts all data on the disk, but also places a mandatory login earlier in the boot stages of OS X. The resulting early login requirements prevents unauthorized access to the Mac through single user mode and external boot volumes, which can help to avoid even the more advanced tricks of bypassing user and admin logins or resetting passwords through the command line.

To greatly simplify things, a simple before and after comparison shows the stages of boot, with the before representing the theoretical bypass methods that can be used by knowledgeable individuals to gain access to machines with simple password protection, and the after with the Filevault login effectively forming a login blockade earlier in the boot process, which negates most bypass attempts:

• Before: Boot > Single User Mode > Advanced Password Bypass > Login with full access


• After: Boot > FileVault Security Login required for full access

FileVault is extremely easy to setup for just about anyone and can be done quickly in the “Security” preference panel of OS X. We have covered FileVault encryption thoroughly before, and for the unfamiliar it’s an advanced security feature that offers incredible protection for data on Macs by encrypting the entire disk. Just be sure to understand the risks and limitations associated with using full disk encryption – the speed readers version is basically this; if you forget the FileVault password and you lose the recovery key, your data is permanently locked up and inaccessible by just about everyone. Thus, it may not be practical for every Mac user out there, but for those users with stricter security requirements, it can be highly recommended to use Filevault alongside a good habit of regularly using a locked screen to help prevent unauthorized access.

For performance reasons, FileVault protection is best used on an SSD flash storage drive, but it does work on regular hard drives as well, though some users may notice an occasional slight performance degradation.

Thanks to Pavol for the tip idea and question! Got a question, comment, or tip idea? Let us know!

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Preventing Manual Password Resets on a Mac by Using FileVault Security osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® Preventing Manual Password Resets on a Mac by Using FileVault Security

Nearly all Mac users have a login and password required to access the Mac upon boot (and if you don’t, you should!), which provides a reasonable layer of password protection to keep out most prying eyes. Users with more advanced security needs may need to go further to protect their Mac from unauthorized access though, and because there are ways of resetting a Mac administrator password by using a variety of tricks, the simpler user login protections are not necessarily adequate for every user in higher security situations and at-risk environments.

Ultimately, this becomes a matter of preventing the standard and advanced password reset options for Mac OS X that are achievable through Single User Mode and by using boot disks. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this, but perhaps the most simple method to prevent even more advanced login bypass attempts is to enable full disk encryption, known as FileVault, which not only encrypts all data on the disk, but also places a mandatory login earlier in the boot stages of OS X. The resulting early login requirements prevents unauthorized access to the Mac through single user mode and external boot volumes, which can help to avoid even the more advanced tricks of bypassing user and admin logins or resetting passwords through the command line.

To greatly simplify things, a simple before and after comparison shows the stages of boot, with the before representing the theoretical bypass methods that can be used by knowledgeable individuals to gain access to machines with simple password protection, and the after with the Filevault login effectively forming a login blockade earlier in the boot process, which negates most bypass attempts:

• Before: Boot > Single User Mode > Advanced Password Bypass > Login with full access


• After: Boot > FileVault Security Login required for full access

FileVault is extremely easy to setup for just about anyone and can be done quickly in the “Security” preference panel of OS X. We have covered FileVault encryption thoroughly before, and for the unfamiliar it’s an advanced security feature that offers incredible protection for data on Macs by encrypting the entire disk. Just be sure to understand the risks and limitations associated with using full disk encryption – the speed readers version is basically this; if you forget the FileVault password and you lose the recovery key, your data is permanently locked up and inaccessible by just about everyone. Thus, it may not be practical for every Mac user out there, but for those users with stricter security requirements, it can be highly recommended to use Filevault alongside a good habit of regularly using a locked screen to help prevent unauthorized access.

For performance reasons, FileVault protection is best used on an SSD flash storage drive, but it does work on regular hard drives as well, though some users may notice an occasional slight performance degradation.

Thanks to Pavol for the tip idea and question! Got a question, comment, or tip idea? Let us know!

Email this Preventing Manual Password Resets on a Mac by Using FileVault Security to a Friend! Receive Articles like this one direct to your email box! Subscribe for free today!

Preventing Manual Password Resets on a Mac by Using FileVault Security osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® Preventing Manual Password Resets on a Mac by Using FileVault Security

Nearly all Mac users have a login and password required to access the Mac upon boot (and if you don’t, you should!), which provides a reasonable layer of password protection to keep out most prying eyes. Users with more advanced security needs may need to go further to protect their Mac from unauthorized access though, and because there are ways of resetting a Mac administrator password by using a variety of tricks, the simpler user login protections are not necessarily adequate for every user in higher security situations and at-risk environments.

Ultimately, this becomes a matter of preventing the standard and advanced password reset options for Mac OS X that are achievable through Single User Mode and by using boot disks. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this, but perhaps the most simple method to prevent even more advanced login bypass attempts is to enable full disk encryption, known as FileVault, which not only encrypts all data on the disk, but also places a mandatory login earlier in the boot stages of OS X. The resulting early login requirements prevents unauthorized access to the Mac through single user mode and external boot volumes, which can help to avoid even the more advanced tricks of bypassing user and admin logins or resetting passwords through the command line.

To greatly simplify things, a simple before and after comparison shows the stages of boot, with the before representing the theoretical bypass methods that can be used by knowledgeable individuals to gain access to machines with simple password protection, and the after with the Filevault login effectively forming a login blockade earlier in the boot process, which negates most bypass attempts:

• Before: Boot > Single User Mode > Advanced Password Bypass > Login with full access


• After: Boot > FileVault Security Login required for full access

FileVault is extremely easy to setup for just about anyone and can be done quickly in the “Security” preference panel of OS X. We have covered FileVault encryption thoroughly before, and for the unfamiliar it’s an advanced security feature that offers incredible protection for data on Macs by encrypting the entire disk. Just be sure to understand the risks and limitations associated with using full disk encryption – the speed readers version is basically this; if you forget the FileVault password and you lose the recovery key, your data is permanently locked up and inaccessible by just about everyone. Thus, it may not be practical for every Mac user out there, but for those users with stricter security requirements, it can be highly recommended to use Filevault alongside a good habit of regularly using a locked screen to help prevent unauthorized access.

For performance reasons, FileVault protection is best used on an SSD flash storage drive, but it does work on regular hard drives as well, though some users may notice an occasional slight performance degradation.

Thanks to Pavol for the tip idea and question! Got a question, comment, or tip idea? Let us know!

Email this Preventing Manual Password Resets on a Mac by Using FileVault Security to a Friend! Receive Articles like this one direct to your email box! Subscribe for free today!

4 Free OS X Utilities That All Mac Users Should Have osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® 4 Free OS X Utilities That All Mac Users Should Have

OS X may come with plenty of great apps and utilities to get you started, but there are a few incredibly helpful utilities that are either missing or could be improved. That’s what we’re focusing on here, with four of the most helpful utilities for OS X that everyone should have on their Mac. Best of all? They’re all free!

1: Dropbox – Cloud File Storage & Sharing

Dropbox is a cloud file storage and sharing app that integrates seamlessly into the OS X Finder. You’ll get a folder called “Dropbox” where anything dragged into that folder gets stored securely in the cloud… if you have DropBox on another Mac (or iOS device, Windows, Linux PC), those files will instantly appear in the Dropbox folder on those computers too. Want to share one of those files with someone else? Just use the DropBox menu bar item to select the file and choose “Share Link” to get a URL you can send to someone else.

Why doesn’t OS X and iOS have a built-in Dropbox like feature as part of iCloud? Nobody knows, but just about everyone wishes Apple would include the cloud syncing and sharing ability natively, without resorting to unsupported tweaks or third party applications. Whether or not the Mac will ever have such a native feature is a big unknown, but Dropbox is a truly great app with complete cross-platform support that excels at simplified cloud storage.

2: The Unarchiver – Decompress Any Archive Format

OS X comes with an effective unzipping app that can handle a variety of archive formats, but once you start hitting the more obscure compression formats like rar and 7z you’ll find it to be inadequate. That’s why every Mac user should get The Unarchiver, it’s free and will handle just about any conceivable archive format with ease.

Having The Unarchiver installed basically means never wondering “how do I open this archive I downloaded?” again.

3: AppCleaner – Advanced Application Uninstaller

Uninstalling Mac apps can typically be done simply by deleting the respective app from the /Applications/ folder, and that works for many apps. But, that doesn’t necessarily remove every single file associated with the app. That’s where AppCleaner comes in. You drag and drop an application into AppCleaner, let it search for all files associated with an app, then choose the “Delete” option to do a thorough uninstall of the app.

AppCleaner is so handy at cleaning up residual app messes and leftover junk that it should become the default method of how apps are uninstalled from OS X. Easily a must-have utility, and it still holds ourrecommendation.

4: ClipMenu – Clipboard History Manager

Everyone relies on copy and paste, but there’s only one primary clipboard buffer in OS X (well, two if you count the hidden terminal-centric cut option). Enter ClipMenu, a clipboard manager that stores a history of all files copied into the clipboard for easy and rapid retrieval when needed in the future. Think of this as an endless copy & paste buffer that resides in the menubar.

ClipMenu is so helpful for productivity gains that once you get accustomed to using it, you’ll wonder how you possibly lived without it. Longtime readers will recall that we discussed this one here some time ago, and it’s just as great now as it was then.

-

Looking for some more great free apps? Here are 11 more must-haves for OS X.

What are your must-have Mac utilities? Did we miss anything crucial? Let us know in the comments.

Email this 4 Free OS X Utilities That All Mac Users Should Have to a Friend! Receive Articles like this one direct to your email box! Subscribe for free today!

4 Free OS X Utilities That All Mac Users Should Have osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® 4 Free OS X Utilities That All Mac Users Should Have

OS X may come with plenty of great apps and utilities to get you started, but there are a few incredibly helpful utilities that are either missing or could be improved. That’s what we’re focusing on here, with four of the most helpful utilities for OS X that everyone should have on their Mac. Best of all? They’re all free!

1: Dropbox – Cloud File Storage & Sharing

Dropbox is a cloud file storage and sharing app that integrates seamlessly into the OS X Finder. You’ll get a folder called “Dropbox” where anything dragged into that folder gets stored securely in the cloud… if you have DropBox on another Mac (or iOS device, Windows, Linux PC), those files will instantly appear in the Dropbox folder on those computers too. Want to share one of those files with someone else? Just use the DropBox menu bar item to select the file and choose “Share Link” to get a URL you can send to someone else.

Why doesn’t OS X and iOS have a built-in Dropbox like feature as part of iCloud? Nobody knows, but just about everyone wishes Apple would include the cloud syncing and sharing ability natively, without resorting to unsupported tweaks or third party applications. Whether or not the Mac will ever have such a native feature is a big unknown, but Dropbox is a truly great app with complete cross-platform support that excels at simplified cloud storage.

2: The Unarchiver – Decompress Any Archive Format

OS X comes with an effective unzipping app that can handle a variety of archive formats, but once you start hitting the more obscure compression formats like rar and 7z you’ll find it to be inadequate. That’s why every Mac user should get The Unarchiver, it’s free and will handle just about any conceivable archive format with ease.

Having The Unarchiver installed basically means never wondering “how do I open this archive I downloaded?” again.

3: AppCleaner – Advanced Application Uninstaller

Uninstalling Mac apps can typically be done simply by deleting the respective app from the /Applications/ folder, and that works for many apps. But, that doesn’t necessarily remove every single file associated with the app. That’s where AppCleaner comes in. You drag and drop an application into AppCleaner, let it search for all files associated with an app, then choose the “Delete” option to do a thorough uninstall of the app.

AppCleaner is so handy at cleaning up residual app messes and leftover junk that it should become the default method of how apps are uninstalled from OS X. Easily a must-have utility, and it still holds ourrecommendation.

4: ClipMenu – Clipboard History Manager

Everyone relies on copy and paste, but there’s only one primary clipboard buffer in OS X (well, two if you count the hidden terminal-centric cut option). Enter ClipMenu, a clipboard manager that stores a history of all files copied into the clipboard for easy and rapid retrieval when needed in the future. Think of this as an endless copy & paste buffer that resides in the menubar.

ClipMenu is so helpful for productivity gains that once you get accustomed to using it, you’ll wonder how you possibly lived without it. Longtime readers will recall that we discussed this one here some time ago, and it’s just as great now as it was then.

-

Looking for some more great free apps? Here are 11 more must-haves for OS X.

What are your must-have Mac utilities? Did we miss anything crucial? Let us know in the comments.

Email this 4 Free OS X Utilities That All Mac Users Should Have to a Friend! Receive Articles like this one direct to your email box! Subscribe for free today!

4 Free OS X Utilities That All Mac Users Should Have osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® 4 Free OS X Utilities That All Mac Users Should Have

OS X may come with plenty of great apps and utilities to get you started, but there are a few incredibly helpful utilities that are either missing or could be improved. That’s what we’re focusing on here, with four of the most helpful utilities for OS X that everyone should have on their Mac. Best of all? They’re all free!

1: Dropbox – Cloud File Storage & Sharing

Dropbox is a cloud file storage and sharing app that integrates seamlessly into the OS X Finder. You’ll get a folder called “Dropbox” where anything dragged into that folder gets stored securely in the cloud… if you have DropBox on another Mac (or iOS device, Windows, Linux PC), those files will instantly appear in the Dropbox folder on those computers too. Want to share one of those files with someone else? Just use the DropBox menu bar item to select the file and choose “Share Link” to get a URL you can send to someone else.

Why doesn’t OS X and iOS have a built-in Dropbox like feature as part of iCloud? Nobody knows, but just about everyone wishes Apple would include the cloud syncing and sharing ability natively, without resorting to unsupported tweaks or third party applications. Whether or not the Mac will ever have such a native feature is a big unknown, but Dropbox is a truly great app with complete cross-platform support that excels at simplified cloud storage.

2: The Unarchiver – Decompress Any Archive Format

OS X comes with an effective unzipping app that can handle a variety of archive formats, but once you start hitting the more obscure compression formats like rar and 7z you’ll find it to be inadequate. That’s why every Mac user should get The Unarchiver, it’s free and will handle just about any conceivable archive format with ease.

Having The Unarchiver installed basically means never wondering “how do I open this archive I downloaded?” again.

3: AppCleaner – Advanced Application Uninstaller

Uninstalling Mac apps can typically be done simply by deleting the respective app from the /Applications/ folder, and that works for many apps. But, that doesn’t necessarily remove every single file associated with the app. That’s where AppCleaner comes in. You drag and drop an application into AppCleaner, let it search for all files associated with an app, then choose the “Delete” option to do a thorough uninstall of the app.

AppCleaner is so handy at cleaning up residual app messes and leftover junk that it should become the default method of how apps are uninstalled from OS X. Easily a must-have utility, and it still holds ourrecommendation.

4: ClipMenu – Clipboard History Manager

Everyone relies on copy and paste, but there’s only one primary clipboard buffer in OS X (well, two if you count the hidden terminal-centric cut option). Enter ClipMenu, a clipboard manager that stores a history of all files copied into the clipboard for easy and rapid retrieval when needed in the future. Think of this as an endless copy & paste buffer that resides in the menubar.

ClipMenu is so helpful for productivity gains that once you get accustomed to using it, you’ll wonder how you possibly lived without it. Longtime readers will recall that we discussed this one here some time ago, and it’s just as great now as it was then.

-

Looking for some more great free apps? Here are 11 more must-haves for OS X.

What are your must-have Mac utilities? Did we miss anything crucial? Let us know in the comments.

Email this 4 Free OS X Utilities That All Mac Users Should Have to a Friend! Receive Articles like this one direct to your email box! Subscribe for free today!

13 of the Best Mac OS X Tips for 2013 osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® 13 of the Best Mac OS X Tips for 2013

The Mac had a great year in 2013, with powerful new Macs on both the portable and desktop side, and the release of OS X Mavericks, which has been easily one of the best major updates to the Mac operating system in years. Here are thirteen of our favorite tip and tricks articles focusing on the Mac from the year past. From newbie tips to expert tricks, they may not have been the most popular but you’re sure to learn something new regardless of your knowledge level.

1. Preparing a Mac for Mavericks – a simple guide to get any Mac ready for a major OS update, be it Mavericks or anything else


2. Creating an OS X Mavericks installer drive with a USB flash key – a bootable install drive for Mavericks makes installing the update on several Macs super easy, without having to redownload the whole thing on each machine


3. How to clean install Mavericks – many users updated to Mavericks directly from older versions of OS X, but a clean install can be the preferred option for some advanced users


4. 6 of the best simple tips for OS X Mavericks – get started with some of the easiest yet most rewarding tricks on Mavericks


5. Downgrading OS X Mavericks – decided you don’t like Mavericks? You may be able to downgrade if you use Time Machine


6. 7 of the most useful command line tips for OS X – knowing how to use Terminal app can open the door for all sorts of powerful tricks


7. Customize the login screen wallpaper image in Mavericks – bored with the OS X Login window? You can customize it to your liking


8. Put the OS X Dock into the screen corner – pin the dock into the corner of the display to customize your Mac a bit


9. Schedule Do Not Disturb to be more productive – the Do Not Disturb feature arrives to Mac OS X with scheduling, allowing you to ignore all those pestering notifications for a set time


10. Find the best wi-fi channel to use – the Wireless Tool in OS X can help you quickly discover and optimize your local wifi router and network


11. Recover deleted files from a Mac – using a third party utility you can often recover files that have been removed from a Mac… but you must act quick for the best results


12. 5 tricks using the Command key to improve your workflow – that little Command key can really boost your OS X workflow


13. Must-know usages of the ‘cd’ command – nearly all command line users are familiar with ‘cd’, and these tricks can help you master the command and get around much faster than before

Did we forget something you found awesome? Let us know in the comments! Don’t forget to check out our 13 iOS tips roundups for 2013 while you’re at it!

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