Sadly, after years as a customer, Other World Computing has decided they no longer want my business.
[Read more…]MacBook External DVD Player
My trusty mid-2012 MacBook Pro running Catalina got an upgrade by replacing the integrated SuperDrive with an OWC Data Doubler and SSD, moving the SuperDrive to an OWC SuperSlim external enclosure. Everything went great except they don’t tell you make it clear that the DVD Player app will not play DVDs from an external SuperDrive.
Keychain Password Search
Recent security breaches at online companies large and small has been making the news and becoming disturbingly routine. Now we’re starting to get spam that shows a real password from these old security breaches. It would be handy to know all of the places where I’ve used this old password so I can update it. Since I use the macOS and iOS keychain to store these passwords across all of my devices I wanted to search all of my saved logins but Keychain Access doesn’t let us do that.
iPhone Plus Experiment
When the iPhone 6 Plus introduced the massive new screen option four years ago, it came with compelling Plus-only landscape features that were heavily promoted. This seemed like a great new option that should only get better as its features would surely be enhanced over time. With the iPhone XS Max debut, the experiment is over.
Time Machine Speed-Up Tip
If you’re like me, Time Machine tends to run slowly most of the time, or maybe you are trying to do a large initial Time Machine backup and want to squeeze some more performance out of it. A simple tip: Quit the Finder.
Sync Bookmarks Across Browsers
Testing web pages in different browsers is part of my daily routine and I start with Safari, Chrome, and Firefox. It’s handy to have the same set of bookmarks always at-the-ready no matter which browser I am using at the moment. This used to be done simply with the Xmarks browser extension but after that service went away I could not find a simple replacement. With a little work you can use iCloud bookmark syncing to do this for you.
Malware 2018
Someone very close to me who is computer adept was tricked into downloading and running a sneaky Flash installer that actually installed malware. This exercise was a good time to review my checklist for finding and fixing this situation. I was pleasantly surprised to discover some new useful tools and updated my checklist for 2018.
Don’t think you are immune because you know more than others. If your computer is connected to the internet and you use a web browser it can happen to you, especially if you use Outlook (aka Lookout!).
FileVault Undo
When I upgraded to High Sierra, I thought it was time to try a semi-clean install since I had done many years of upgrades. After wiping the drive and restoring from a Time Machine backup, it was time to enable FileVault as I had done for years. It did not go so well this time.
DNSCrypt Version 2
All that stuff I said before in Internet Address Lookup Security? Well, that’s the old way and probably doesn’t even work anymore. At least, that’s how it appeared to me and sent me off to find the new solution: DNSCrypt version 2.
Startup Item Help
One of the simple steps in Bad App Alert was to add the startup item and what made this simple was using a free app. After following the app’s recommendation to update, it is no longer free to add or otherwise manage startup items. That’s ok, I’m sure there is another free utility out there makes this overcomplicated task simple.