IceFloor: Harden Your Mac OS X Firewall

Figure 1.

Once upon a time, I believed that computers behind the router/firewall on a home network were pretty safe from hacking. Yes, I knew that I could download nasty bits of software from the Internet, but as far as being hacked by access from “my” network, it just wasn’t likely. I didn’t use software firewalls on… Continue reading IceFloor: Harden Your Mac OS X Firewall

Port Forwarding and Small Network Security

I Hate Bots

Port forwarding is found in both business enterprise and small-business computer networks. As home computer networks are becoming both more common and complex, port forwarding can be found here as well. While enterprise level networks use highly advanced routers and hardware firewalls for protection, the processes of secure shells, tunneling, and port forwarding can function with a… Continue reading Port Forwarding and Small Network Security

Watermark Your Photos or Digital Artwork With The FREE CF/X Watermark Pro

If you have photos or digital artwork you wish to protect, the CF/X Watermark Pro for Mac OSX will be a great tool for you to use.  The CF/X Watermark Pro makes it easy to watermark your work with text, logos, gps data, and even QRCodes.  It is flexible, free, and easy to use. When… Continue reading Watermark Your Photos or Digital Artwork With The FREE CF/X Watermark Pro

htaccess Blacklist To Repel Exploits

Use an Angry Emoticon, or more effectively, a Blacklist to repel Internet Bad Guys

Bad guys are out there spamming, scraping, and hacking.  If that wasn’t enough, “bots” have automated a lot of the evil processes.  Yikes!!!  If you are new to WordPress, or haven’t done this yet (What are you thinking?), get a security plugin for your site NOW!!!  If you don’t, it’s only a matter of time… Continue reading htaccess Blacklist To Repel Exploits

Dealing With Apache Error 403 BFHS

Trouble Is Coming   The day started out as any other day. I got out of bed. Rounded up my two dogs and let them “outside”. Made some coffee. Fired up my Mac, and began to read my emails. As I scanned my emails looking for any that were urgent, I quickly saw that my… Continue reading Dealing With Apache Error 403 BFHS

Use A VPN To Speedup Netflix on Verizon

Who knew???

Some History Streaming video takes up bandwidth.  Netflix streams a lot of video, so the company was taking up huge chunks of bandwidth from ISP’s.  By coincidence, it seems that Netflix users found that their experience began to deteriorate….a lot, while other video streaming sources worked fine. Strange.  It seems that Netflix thought so too,… Continue reading Use A VPN To Speedup Netflix on Verizon

AppCleaner – The Best Free Uninstaller For Mac

So you have apps on your Mac “taking up space”.  You just aren’t using them, or if you are like me, you can’t remember why you installed them in the first place.  OS X makes uninstalling easy, you just drag the icon of your unwanted orphan from the Applications folder to the “Trash basket” on… Continue reading AppCleaner – The Best Free Uninstaller For Mac

Use A Content Delivery Network For Your Website

Figure 1

Several months ago, my website’s page load times were, in a word, miserable. In the last couple of years, not only has the number of posts increased on LarryTalksTech.com, but the amount of graphics I use to add interest and help explain some part of a particular post has increased as well. Parsing out the… Continue reading Use A Content Delivery Network For Your Website

Use “Folder Actions” In OS X For Malware Detection

Blogger Jacob Salmela came up with a really simple way to help you detect an installation of malware in OS X by using some built-in resources ( Folder Actions) of the operating system itself.  To drive their malware, bad guys attempt to get a LaunchDaemon or LaunchAgent installed in one or more of the following… Continue reading Use “Folder Actions” In OS X For Malware Detection