Tag: Mac OS X

5 Easy to Follow Tips to Enhance Your Mac’s Security

August 06, 2008 by Jason

PWN to OWN. This is the name of the contest that made most users worldwide seriously think about reading a book or two to learn about securing their ASAP. During the aforementioned contest a running was the first to give in to the intrusion attempts. It may not have been the brightest day in ’s history but it surely was the one when every owner out there gave a second thought to the “ are the most secure” theory.

So, if aren’t as secure as we have previously thought (I did too and even bet on the Vista that it would be the first to be compromised), what can we do to defend ourselves against attacks? One way would be to fire up the old integrated and configure it to accept only incoming connections from IP addresses we know.

Although this is a good thing to do, the integrated doesn’t do as good of a job as would want us to believe. If you are not a very experienced user you’ll probably end up just enabling the damn thing and what protection do you think you’ll get? I’ll tell you: not very much because the machine that got “owned” at the PWN to OWN contest had the default settings and it went down pretty fast. Read More»

How to Move Web Applications to Your Desktop

May 05, 2008 by Jason

Although many people have their favorite web apps setup as their homepage on their browsers, there are times when running a web app inside its own window - in a separate process - could come handy. Think about having your browser clogged up with way above 30-40 tabs open and crashing at random times.

Then, you will just have to open it again and fire up the web interface you were working with at the time of the crash. A web app will automatically eliminate the need of restarting your work flow all over again just because a buggy decided that he had enough.

That’s only a quick example why one would need a web app to run on its . To be able to do it, you will have to use an application developed by and named Prism. It enables the end user to easily integrate any type of into a friendly environment. Read More»

2008 Has Not Been Kind to Windows Vista

February 10, 2008 by Jason

The beginning of 2008 has not been kind to Vista. ’s latest , applauded as the most secure version of available on the market, needs to start licking its many wounds. The Redmond company has been performing a vulnerability counting game throughout 2007,comparing Vista with XP, as well as with direct competitors and , in terms of the volume of vulnerabilities affecting each platform. And as it looks that transformed the vulnerabilities comparison in somewhat of a tradition over the course of the past year, the company is bound to a recount.

“As part of our regularly scheduled bulletin release, we’re currently planning to release 12 Bulletins– seven Critical and five Important. These updates will require a restart and will be detectable using the Baseline Analyzer and the Enterprise Scan Tool. As we do each month, the Malicious Software Removal Tool will be updated. Finally, we are planning to release seven high-priority, non- updates on Update and Server Update Services (WSUS) as well as two high-priority, non- updates on Update and Server Update Services (WSUS),” stated Bill Sisk, Response Center Communications Manager. Read More»

Windows Vista vs. Mac OS X

December 20, 2007 by Jason

When it comes down to the Windows Vista vs. Mac OS X face-off, consumer perception is an important factor in bringing to center stage the most secure of the two. And driven by an immutable marketing ideology, manages to position itself in the limelight. is nothing short of the Holly Grail in terms of protecting its users, while Vista, via the inherent associating with the line-up of products, is situated at the very opposite pole.

But at the same time, statistics manage to paint an entirely different picture of the two platforms. A new perspective over Vista vs. begins to take contour, one that is largely in the advantage of ’s latest client. has not reacted in any manner to the vulnerability and update counting games that tilt the balance in Vista’s favor. Not that it would have many avenues to deny hard facts. Read More»

Leopard Flies Off the Shelf, But Glitches Reported

November 01, 2007 by Jason

The long awaited and much anticipated launch of the latest version of the , codenamed , has resulted in the usual round of craziness from ’s adoring fans. Early adopters camped outside stores to be first in the queue, and what a queue it was! Early estimates suggest that around 9 percent of users upgraded to in the first couple of days of it going on sale, and at $129 a pop that’s a welcome boost to the coffers.

There’s been a fair amount of excitement surrounding the launch but the claimed 300 ‘New’ features have been widely dismissed as hype, and one or two commentators have pointed out that a couple of them bear an uncanny resemblance to features in Vista, which is clearly designed to challenge. Read More»