The Grafx Blogs

Despite the fact that many of us sit here and think we are untouchable on our Mac’s by viruses and other nasties its still important to keep those applications we use most patched and up to date.

In a bulletin released on Tuesday, Adobe says there are  ”critical vulnerabilities” that could crash your applications or “…potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.” They recommend that anyone using version 9.2 and earlier update to Adobe Reader 9.3 and Acrobat 9.3 right away. Likewise, those using Acrobat 8.1.7 should update to version 8.2.

We also recommend you complete these updates and you can find more details and the patches themselves by clicking here.

This is an app I couldn’t live without, so I thought I’d share it with you. We all know how useful Apple’s Keychain is in saving our passwords, but 1Password takes it a stage further.

One of my favourite features is the secure password generation. Many of my customers use very insecure passwords, and nearly all of you use the same password for everything. This isn’t very secure. 1Password can generate massively secure passwords for you, and store them for you so you never need to remember them.

1Password integrates with Safari, Firefox and other browsers so you can enter your usernames and secure passwords at the click of a button. 1Password can also store details about you, your credit cards, your software licences and much more. This means that the next time you sign up for a new service (like Amazon or something) you can click one button and have the form filled out with your name, address etc.

It’s all stored securely so you don’t need to worry about security. There is also an iPhone app, so if you want to log int to Twitter, Gmail or even your online banking on the go you now can, securely.

The free trial is highly recommended and will save you a ton of time and effort which is what computers are for right?

People ask me all the time “do I need anti-virus?”. Currently the answer is  no you don’t. There are no virus’ for Macs in the wild that can infect your system. The question you should be asking is “should I use anti-virus?” The answer of course, depends.

If you are a small business that emails files back and forth to companies who use Windows PCs you should probably consider it, because while you are immune, you can still pass virus’ on.

If you are working with a client and do not want to be seen passing on a possible virus, then you probably should consider it. Note; many email providers offer virus checking for incoming email, but not necessarily for outgoing mail. Worth checking if you are not sure what you have!

For individuals, I won’t say it’s a bad idea but I don’t run it, and we don’t use it at work either. If you want to know more about which anti-virus package to use, or if you should use one then please feel free to email me.

This is a little bit of an advanced tip, but useful for those who know a little more about networking.

Sometimes you are on the same network as something, such as a server, and you need to know if you will be able to access it from the outside. You don’t want to drive all the way home just to find it’s not working. This is where todays tip comes in handy.

If you go into System Preferences, Network and then choose the “+” to add a new service in 10.5 (Leopard) you will be able to add a new VPN connection. Add the details as follows (making sure it’s set as L2TP) and you can pretend to have left the building without actually pulling an Elvis.

These VPN details are from HotSpot Shield and simply allow you to work around needing to install the application. If you would like to learn more about HotSpot Shield  then please visit their website. I can’t say I have ever met these guys, but I have been using their VPN for years and it’s saved me a lot of time and hassle. Also, consider using them when on public wifi at Starbucks or an Airport; it’s much more secure that way.

Let me know if it’s not clear, but I wanted to keep it short and sweet as it’s kind of advanced and not necessary for most of the people reading this.