Category Archives: Macintosh

Why you shouldn’t pay for PC security

Macintosh, Security, Software, , , , ,

We are firm believers that you shouldn’t have to pay for antivirus security for your PC or Mac.

If the manufacturers of the operating system have left it vulnerable in any way then they should be the ones that pay or there should be free alternatives. So, without further a do, here is some great free software you can use to keep your computer secure.

With Mac, viruses aren’t so much the issue as is malware, this is generally due to the way the OS is developed (and based on Unix).

PC:

For a little while now Microsoft have provided free software in the form of Microsoft Security Essentials, and now Windows Defender, which is built in and updates when Windows updates. So cancel your annual Anti-virus subs and download this instead!

Link: http://go.frantik.it/mse

Note; this is for Windows 7. If you have 8 or newer it’s built in and you don’t need to worry.

Mac: We have provided links to a couple of great AV packages for Mac previously! See the following: Free Antivirus For Mac

On checking these are probably still on top. Don’t hang around and test either today!

Alternatives:

We always recommend using Malwarebytes Free too to use in addition to the above and this can be used once a week or month just to make sure your computer is protected.

Link:  http://go.frantik.it/mbam

 

Cloud Backup – Profiling Backblaze

IT, Macintosh, , , , ,

Backblaze LogoAs we have discussed previously, the importance of backing up your work and backing up your computers is growing increasingly as more and more of our work is computerized.

Many people already have local backup in the form of Windows Backup or Time Machine if on Mac, which is great, but also relies heavily on physical hardware and for that to be connected for the backup to run.

Being Mac fans ourselves, we run a local Time Machine backup. We also wanted to have an offsite backup, always on and ensuring that all our files were backed up.

We won’t go into too much detail about the different types of backup, different backup schedules and so on as that can all get a little bit too complex for one post but after much research of backup solutions we have found Backblaze to be reliable and work well. We have tested it on our Macs with the free trial, and satisfied, are now very happy with what it provides.

Backblaze is both Windows and Mac compatible, offers continuous backup, encrypts your data on the fly and allows you to restore data wherever you are!

For more information check out the site and get a free trial now: www.backblaze.com

Note: we’re not affiliated, we just really like the service!

Free Antivirus For Mac

Macintosh, Security, Software, , , , , , ,

Avast! for Mac

You would be pretty naive to think that Apple Macs are bullet proof now. With their increasing popularity (which I love) they are becoming a bigger target for people to attack.

Therefore we recommend that you install some software (no need to pay) that will help keep you Mac protected…

With each new install of the Operating System Apple have been locking the system down and improving the security but it’s worthwhile loading some extra software so you don’t get caught out.

Sophos for Mac has been around for a while and generally works very well…. but another one you could try is Avast! Free Antivirus for Mac – see review here: https://uk.pcmag.com/antivirus/35311/avast-security-for-machttp://www.macworld.co.uk/macsoftware/reviews/?reviewid=3367786

Here’s a link to download: https://www.avast.com/en-gb/free-mac-security

Stay safe and happy computing!

No Drag’n’Drop in Disk Utility when booting from CD

IT, Macintosh, , , , , ,

The family Mac Mini has just been upgraded from having a 60GB HDD to a 500GB Drive. I went through the usual spiel of creating a disk image using Carbon Copy Cloner and saving that to an external drive.

We then removed the drive and put the new one in, booted from the original Mac OS X install CD that came with the Mac and attempted to restore the DMG that was on the external drive.

We selected the source (the image we had created) and then did as it said, attempt to drag and drop the destination drive to the field it told us to drag it to. But alas this wouldn’t happen.

After becoming increasingly frustrated I decided to do some power-Googling and it turned out that the 2006 year Mac Mini was supplied with an install DVD that had in fact got a bug – in that there was no way you could drag and drop with the graphical interface.

So this is where the following post came in useful – here!

Luckily you were still able to restore using Temerinal, huzzah! And if that link gets moved here it is for future:

Update: Using the asr function worked perfectly. Remember to first mount your image using Disc Utility on the Install DVD, then quit Disk Utility and go to Terminal (also on the DVD).

Type in “mount” to see the mounted disks and their /dev points.

I had to use the option –erase because without it, it would not copy (not enough disk space), but it may work either way for you. Now knowing that it works 100% perfect (and fairily fast for ~56GB restore image) I would recommend using –erase to erase the target disk before restoring.

asr restore –source [source dev entry] –target [target dev entry] –erase

Dock Spaces – for those that don’t like a cluttered Dock

Macintosh, , , ,
Dock Spaces
For those that don't like a cluttered dock

Dock Spaces is a really cool app. It lets you customise a series of Docks which you can then tie in with Spaces (comes built into Snow Leopard) and in return you can have a customised dock for every space you have set up.

For example I have a General/Web space and the apps on my Dock include Mail, Web Browsers, and Social Media tools.

The next space is for my Web Design and Maintenance stuff, so all tools to do that clever stuff as well as photo editing and a few utils sit on another dock there.

My next space is for music and media. iTunes and other apps are on my dock there.

My next space is for Office apps.

Anyway, you get the idea. It’s a £5 pound app, for Mac OS X and is guaranteed to be useful if you want to make the most of your Mac or are of the productive kind.

You can find it here: http://www.nscoding.co.uk/