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
Tag: Mac
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
Keep Your Mac Safe – Part 3 (Preparing for Disaster)
In Part 1 of this series, I discussed ways to keep your Mac safe: Tightening up Java and Flash Player access; some suggestions on anti-virus programs; setup programs for built-in firewalls; and some types of password protection. Part 2, discussed a data encryption program, and some ways to more safely “surf the net”. If you… Continue reading Keep Your Mac Safe – Part 3 (Preparing for Disaster)
Linux and Unix File Permissions
What Do You Mean I Can’t Do This? If this hasn’t happened to you already, it surely will: On your Mac or Linux computer, you attempt to load, save, copy, paste, or delete a file, and you receive a message on your screen that your request has been canceled because you do not have the… Continue reading Linux and Unix File Permissions
How to Transfer Your Vinyl Records to MP3 (and get CD quality results)
The Goal While doing research for this article on converting music from vinyl records to mp3’s, I viewed on the Internet numerous YouTube videos, and read a lot of “How To’s” on the subject . A good number of well meaning people spent a lot of time explaining this conversion process, and if one followed… Continue reading How to Transfer Your Vinyl Records to MP3 (and get CD quality results)
Open Source Software for Your Mac – Save Big / Loose Little
What Is Open Source Software? You just purchased your new Mac, and now it’s time to add software. Gulp! Sticker-shock, software is expensive. Here are some examples (Note: These are full version prices, not upgrades or student prices): Microsoft Office 2011 $148.99 Adobe Photoshop CS6 $413.99 Quark Express V 9.0 $1024.14 On the other hand,… Continue reading Open Source Software for Your Mac – Save Big / Loose Little
DVD Hunter for Mac OS X
You need DVD Hunter (for Mac OS X) if you have large collection of motion pictures on DVD and need a way to organize them. I have used several commercial movie databases, and even created my own in Access, but they all left me wanting for more. I found and installed DVD Hunter over a… Continue reading DVD Hunter for Mac OS X
CheatSheet & Grab
This past week, I found two very useful programs that you might want to use on your Mac: CheatSheet. I discovered this as a Mac Gem on the MacWorld web site: (http://www.macworld.com/article/1167118/cheatsheet_helps_you_find_and_remember_keyboard_shortcuts.html) Simply, after CheatSheet is installed and running, by holding down the Command key for two seconds, an overlay pops up showing the available… Continue reading CheatSheet & Grab
Anonymity on the Web – Tor Browser
Developed by the Tor Project, Tor is free open source software that allows you to surf the web with a high degree on anonymity. Initially, your web request (for the website you will eventually connect to) is bounced through a number of server relays, and through this process, your IP address (your online identity) is… Continue reading Anonymity on the Web – Tor Browser
Run Two Computers with a Single Keyboard and Mouse – Update
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article on how to run two computers with single keyboard and mouse. The software at the heart of this process is an open source item called Synergy. In the article, I also mentioned several different types of software using Synergy. In all the examples, you must have… Continue reading Run Two Computers with a Single Keyboard and Mouse – Update