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Information about Mac Virus Scares…

A virus for the mac? Should you be concerned?

No, not really. But let me explain…

(this email is also available along with other posts of interest to Mac users on our MacCogBlog: http://maccognoscenti.blogspot.com/)

Over the last few weeks, the press has picked up on three different security concerns for OS X. As your Mac gurus, we feel like you should know about them and hear about them from us rather than someone who could make you panic about your security… so here we go:

First, we heard about a Bluetooth worm that would supposedly be able to spread from computer to computer over a wireless technology called Bluetooth. This could have been pretty bad… if Apple hadn’t already fixed it over 9 months ago. Yeah, you read that right. Apple fixed this vulnerability when it was still theoretical and if you’d been performing your “Security Updates” like the “Software Update” application tells you to, you’re fine.
Threat level: 1 out of 10
more reading:

Next, we heard about a Trojan Horse called Leap.A, also known as Oompa Loompa that could spread itself to your friends in your iChat buddy list. It doesn’t do anything malicious to your computer and requires you, the user, to give it permission to do anything. It works like this: You might see a message from an iChat buddy that says something about Leopard 10.5 pics. You might be curious to see Apple’s next operating system so you click on it and agree to download it. Note: this requires YOUR PERMISSION. And not just once, but it takes you clicking on it THREE TIMES. Hint: You should not be downloading stuff unless you know what it is and whether the person intended to send it to you. My suggestion is to text chat that person to ask them what they’re sending you before you accept. If it’s a virus trying to spread itself, they won’t have any idea what you’re talking about and you can refuse the file transfer… end of story. If they say, “Dude, you’ve got to check out those pics”, then by all means…
Bottom Line: If you excercise very basic precautions about downloading files to your computer, there is no way this Trojan Horse can get into your computer. If you’re not sure, don’t accept!
Threat Level: 2 out of 10
more reading:

Lastly, and most recently, we found out about an actual flaw in Safari and Mail’s handling of some types of files. Before I explain it, let me first say that Apple is working on a fix for it as I type, and there is an easy temporary fix you can do…
The flaw is there but the threat is still theoretical, by the way. It was discovered by a German security firm and picked up by lots of tech press around the world. To date, there is no exploit. This vulnerability allows someone to write a script on a web page that will download itself (only if you’re using Safari. Firefox is not vulnerable), appear to be a JPG or ZIP file, and could run malicious commands on your Mac. The problem is that Safari automatically opens certain types of files it thinks are safe… and incorrectly identifies this particular type of file. So until Apple releases the next “Security Update”, which you should always install when it asks, by the way, you can perform a quick and easy fix:
Go to Safari > Preferences > General > Uncheck “Open ‘Safe’ files after downloading”
The Mail program also has the unfortunate ability to execute programs that seem like other things like .jpg files. But YOU have to click on them. This is very easy and simple to avoid:
Don’t click on attachments unless you know where and who they came from! Period.
It’s that easy. Just use common sense. If you perform this fix on Safari and don’t open attachments you don’t know about, you’ll be fine.
Threat Level: 5 out of 10
more reading:

The moral of this story is that there is nothing yet to get worried about and you don’t need to rush out and buy virus protection software. I certainly won’t. BUT, it should serve as a reminder that even though MacOS X is very secure and MUCH more secure than Windows, it’s still important to exercise basic precautions when using the internet.

Still have questions? Email me at [email protected]

Justin


www.maccog.com

Apple Consultants Network certified member



This is a legit Paypal email

Ok, so I wanted to give you an example of a legit paypal email so you
can compare it to the scam one below. Note that this one doesn’t
include a link to the website and doesn’t make it sound like an
emergency.

Begin forwarded message:

> From: “[email protected]” <[email protected]>
> Date: January 13, 2006 12:40:56 AM PST
> To: Rhapsody <[email protected]>
> Subject: Credit Card Removal
>
> Dear Rhapsody,
>
> Because it has expired, your credit card ending in 1711 has been
> removed from your PayPal account.
>
> If this was the only credit card on your PayPal account, you will
> need to add a new card to continue sending instant PayPal
> payments.If you have a confirmed bank account attached to your
> PayPal account, you will still be able to send eCheck payments.
>
> To add a new credit card:
>
> 1. Log in to your PayPal account
> 2. Go to the Profile subtab
> 3. Click on the ‘Credit Cards’ link in the Financial Information
> column
> 4. Click ‘Add’
> 5. Enter your credit card information
> 6. Click ‘Save’
>
>
> Thank you for using PayPal!
> The PayPal Team
>
> GET MORE CREDIT
> PayPal Buyer Credit is a personal line of credit that you can use
> anywhere PayPal is accepted. Apply today and enjoy these benefits:
>
> Shop now and pay later – make low monthly payments
> Take advantage of promotional financing on select eBay items
> Getfull buyer protectionfrom PayPal for all your purchases
>
>
>
> Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored
> and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your
> PayPal account and click the Help link located in the top right
> corner of any PayPal page.
>
> PayPal Email ID PP031
>
>



Justin Bradshaw … [email protected]

Ben Lam … [email protected]

www.maccog.com

Windows XP incompatible with Mactels

This is a bummer. No dual booting your new intel mac with Windows XP.
Maybe with Vista, but we’ll see. Also annoying is that the Apple
intel systems are 32 bit, not 64 like the G5. Seems like a step back,
huh?

The new Apple Stuff

So you may have heard by now that Apple announced a bevy of new stuff yesterday.  Here is the rundown and the opinion of the Cognoscenti…


Apple remote for iPod
Very cool that they’re finally responding to users’ needs for an FM tuner and re-introducing the idea of a wired remote (the 2nd generation iPod came with them but they were taken out of the box and then discontinued). It does bother me a bit that they seem to only be compatible with the new iPod Video and iPod Nano. What the heck is that, right?

OS X 10.4.4
This is a minor and free upgrade to your favorite Operating System available today. It includes new widgets and I’m sure some bug fixes and stuff.  Significantly it is the only version so far that runs on Intel Processors. That only matters, of course, if you have one of the new machines just announced… read on

iTunes content
You can now buy SNL and some sports content on the iTunes Music/Video Store. Um, there is some other stuff but, well, go check it out yourself…

iWork ’06
Pages and Keynote have received major upgrades and are still available for $79 (New or Upgraded). Pages is a great alternative to Word as long as you don’t frequently share files with other people using Word, and Keynote is leagues better than PowerPoint if you’re doing presentations. 

iLife ’06
Maybe my favorite announcement, and the most predictable for sure… but I really like iPhoto, iMovie and all of the iLife apps. 
 iPhoto now has full screen editing, which is super cool because before you could only rotate, rate and delete while in full screen. It also supports up to 250,000 photos in one library, but really, who’s going to let their library get that big? I would highly recommend starting a new library ever year or two if you take lots of pics. It’s so much easier to back up a library if it’s less than 4.4 gigs (the size of a DVD) 
 iMovie has some cool new motion templates that let you make your movies look much more professional… though of course they’ll look like a lot of other people’s movies too, but hey.
 iDVD has a magic DVD thing which is cool, but most importantly, it now supports 3rd party burners! That was a huge doink that lots of people in the know got angry about. Now it’s better and I can use my 16x external burner instead of the 4x in my laptop. Even more importantly, someone who doesn’t have a burner built in can now use iDVD. yay, Apple.
 GarageBand has a podcast studio which makes it insanely easy to create a podcast. Now you have no excuse
 iTunes now has a removable bar below your music lists that shows stuff from the Music Store that is like what you’re playing. I, for one, will not be looking at that too much, but like the little arrows they added a few months ago, it’s pretty easy to get rid of, so I’m okay with it.

.Mac
I’m very excited about the .Mac updates. They’re really starting to integrate their online service into iLife even more. The new program, iWeb, promises to be the best way for the average joe to put up a website and is probably even easier than HomePage. I’ll let you know more when I get my hands on it, but keep your eye on this one – all of you with .Mac accounts that is.
 Anyone else wanna do a Blog like this? Well now you can do it even easier than before with .Mac. I might even switch this Blog over to .Mac when I get the new iLife.
 Photocasting. It’s like podcasting but for photos. How much would you love to share your photos with certain loved ones really easily? Email? HA! just photocast it with iPhoto. You’ll wonder what it was like before it got this easy.

intel iMac
No, it wasn’t the MacMini, it was the iMac G5. They’ve simply taken out the G5 and put in the Intel Core Duo. So now it has two processors in there and supposedly gets twice the performance. We’ll see about that. But yeah, it’s very cool… and the same price and all the same specs except for the processor.

intel PowerBook (i.e. MacBook Pro)
Nope, it wasn’t an iBook that got the intel chip first (as all the rumors indicated), and technically, it’s not even the PowerBook, because they’re doing away with that name. They’re now calling it a MacBook and it looks very similar to the PowerBook but is very different inside. It also got the Core Duo chip which is way faster than the G4. It’s thinner than the current 15in PowerBook (but not lighter, go figure), has a much better screen (not related to the processor upgrade by the way) and some other neat bells and whistles like an IR sensor remote control and a built in iSight camera for video conferencing on the go. Wow. The dissapointing things to me are the name (MacBook Pro sounds weird to me right now though I’m sure I’ll get used to it) and this laptop doesn’t have FireWire 800 for some odd reason. WHY, Apple? Thank goodness it still has FireWire 400 (unlike the new iPods). Confusing? a little, yeah. Apple likes to change up their designs a little unexpectedly sometimes and for inexplicable reasons.

What does this intel stuff mean for me and do I need one?
Well, first of all, it doesn’t mean that your user experience will change at all. If you buy one of the new intel Macs you probably won’t really notice any difference.  Not satisfied? read on for a more in depth explanation…

All your old applications will still run on the new machines and new, optimized versions of those apps are probably in heavy development as you read this.  Of course all of Apple’s apps are already optimized and will come that way on the new system. If you have some high end applications like FinalCut Pro you’ll have to use the old version and put up with the performance hit or pony up $49 for the new one. Of course, if the performance claims with these new machines are even close to being true, the new machines will still be faster for these apps even though they’re not running at top possible speed.  
In english? Don’t worry about it. In time, everything will be optimized for intel as well as PowerPC and we won’t even be talking about this.

Got more questions? Send me an email to [email protected] or post it as a comment and I’ll put the answer up here…

justin

Beware of PayPal scams!

This is one of the most common and dangerous scams out there.  Read this email post carefully. 


First, note that PayPal or any other reputable company like AOL will never send you a dire message like this. 
Second, when you drag over the link they give you, leave your mouse there for a second before clicking it and you’ll see that the URL that you’re actually going to is different than the one they specify in the email… and it’s NOT to PayPal’s website. That site will always have “paypal.com” in the beginning.

Click on “junk” to a message like this and move on with your life.  If you have a Mac, these are the worst kinds of scams you have to worry about because you’re not going to get a virus from an email.

exciting, huh?

justin

Begin scam message:


From: “Customer Support” <[email protected]>
Date: November 23, 2005 8:42:50 PM PST
Subject: PayPal Notification ( Your account is suspended )
Reply-To: “Customer Support” <[email protected]>

 Dear valued PayPal member,

Our IP sentinel has detected a strange IP using you PayPal account and it might be used for illegal activities.If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update your personal records you will not run into any future problems with the online service. However, failure to update your records will result in account suspension. Please update your records by November 11th.

Once you have updated your account records your PayPal session will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Failure to update will result in cancellation of service, Terms of Service ( TOS ) violations or future problems.

To update your PayPal records click here:

http://cgi1.PayPal.com/aw-cgi/PayPalISAPI.dll?UPdate

Thank you,
Account Management.

As outlined in our User Agreement, PayPal will periodically send you information about site changes and enhancements
Visit our Privacy Policy and User Agreement if you have any questions.


I don’t get why people use windows…

I’ll confess. I’m bias. I can’t help it. I use Windows as little as possible, but even though my specialty is the Mac my job forces me to deal with Windows…. and every time I use it (knowing more about it than 90% of people out there, mind you)… I get frustrated and usually even angry at the crappiness that it is.
So on that note of disbelief why any sane individual would choose to be subjected to viruses, spyware, bloatware, trojan horses and a million unnecessary clicks, I give you this article of encouragement if you’re a new or contemplative future switcher:

Seattle Times : Mac takes a bite out of Windows