Be Excellent To Each Other

So I made the switchy-swoosh over to the Mac and everything seems lovely enough, but I do have a few questions for our resident experts. Like what exactly do I have to do to be secure on the web? I'm a bit suspicious of it "just being fine" although that's the impression I've garnered.

Also, x11. How come everything that tries to use it (Open Office 2.x, Gimp) fails miserably? That's not exactly what I thought they meant by "it just works". And along those lines, what's simpler-but-not-too-simple yet just as free as Gimp? I really could do with a modest image editor.

Secure on the web in Mac world means watching out for phishing sites, avoiding spam, etc. There's nothing technological (driveby downloads, viruses, malware) that can happen to you.

X11 isn't really a Mac thing, it's a recompiled Linux thing. It's as obnoxiously difficult to use as everything else in the Linux world (such as GIMP, for example). I don't think there's a decent free image editor for the Mac (and yes, I include GIMP in that). Pixelmator's good, but not free.

FTFY.

Sledge—what kind of editing do you want to do? There are a shed-load of free and cheap editors for Mac. Try macupdate.com and versiontracker.com for software update lists/searches. As for X11, like mrbogus says, it's hardly a Mac standard. In layman's terms, it's not a million miles away from the likes of VMWare Fusion.

Cheers chaps. I've been looking at VersionTracker and Apple Downloads but didn't know about MacUpdate -- looks good. The only problem with those sites is the plethora of apps and how long it would take to try them out, which is why recommendations are always handy. I guess I'm after something a fair bit more advanced than Paint but not necessarily as adept as, say, Paint Shop Pro 7.

For security, visit http://www.iantivirus.com. It's free for home machines, a little like AVG.

There aren't any OSX viruses in the wild at the moment, but I wouldn't bet on that situation enduring.

Not sure what you want to do with your image editor, but Seashore does basic stuff well enough.

*snort*

It's a lot safer online with a mac but it's hardly bulletproof.

OT: Anyone wanting to sell an old iBook/Macbook? I've been thinking of getting hold of one for Mrs Z. Doesn't need to be high spec just in full working order and have WiFi.

Yes you can certainly still be hit by bullets.

I've got an old iBook (12"), but it's not wireless I'm afraid. I wouldn't want that much for it, though.

Coolio.

*PM sent*

What can it possibly do to protect you though?

Surely if a virus does appear, the software would need updating to cope anyhow. What does it do apart from detect windows viruses to prevent you spreading them - something I selfishly don't give a toss about doing.

I've got a MacBook 2 GHz/4 GB RAM/80 GB/Superdrive that I'm considering selling on to upgrade. Feel free to make an offer on that if you want. (Note that this is probably higher-spec than what you were talking about, but it should therefore last pretty well, and it's in decent nick.)

For free, MetalAngel's recommendation of Seashore probably fits the bill.

I should point out, though, that on the Mac, you're more likely to find fewer freeware apps and more shareware apps, but the shareware productions are generally of a higher quality than on Windows. If you open up your selection whenever you're looking for something to stuff that costs under $50, you'll likely find many more toys to play with.

MacOSX can have security vulnerabilities same as any other platform, as can the apps that run on it. They may be harder to take advantage of, and hand less power to the attacker, but the possibility is there. One example is the recent DNS cache poisoning vulnerability, affecting all versions of BIND (and pretty much all other DNS implementations) - having a Mac would have been no protection whatsoever against an attack targeting that.

All vulnerabilities need software updates to fix. Virus scanners plug the gap between vulns being exploited and fixes being available. The other function they have is around stupid user activity. No matter your OS, if you go to "MyDodgySoftware.com" and install something malicious, you're in trouble.

Thanks Craig. Yeah, I think it's a little over specced for what I was looking for tbh and I wouldn't want to insult you with my cash offer. I think Myps old ibook with an airport card would probably be my limit.

Thanks though.

X11? Yuck!

For OpenOffice, use NeoOffice, which at least tries to be Mac native (I think). It's fairly sucky compared to MS Office but it does work and the pdf creation thing is pretty neat.

For free image editors, I've never found one that I like yet. I've tried plenty of demo versions of pay-ware too.
That's the one thing that I miss from the PC, where I used something called PhotoStudio. I resorted to using an unlimited review copy of Photoshop, which isn't exactly noob-friendly either and often frustrates me.

Frankly, this is the one area where the desktop model that the Mac uses really starts to annoy me - I just find it really stupid and cluttered how other windows get in the way of what you're trying to do in an image program, when you've got several images and toolboxes open. I really need a dedicated "complete screen" window (like in Windows), or actual separate screen (like in AmigaOS).

Hrmph.

I take it you're aware that every app in MacOS X can spit out a PDF from the print dialog?


Hit 'F' a couple of times in Photoshop.

Personally, I like the Mac's model. You can mix and match windows from different apps (in terms of depth), which I find essential for working on websites. However, you can optionally bring all windows to the front, or in apps like Photoshop work in a full-screen/windowed view if you want to.

Yes, I just somehow wasn't expecting it to work for OpenOffice



OK I wasn't aware about that 'F' feature, I will try it later, thanks.

Photoshop currently has four modes on the Mac, which are basically standard windows, application window (expands document to all available space, and places grey behind all palettes), full-screen document (document window expands to full screen, behind all palettes and even the Dock), full-screen black (as previous, but with a black background, and removing all screen furniture—including the menu bar—when you hit Tab). CS4 will bring in a hateful application window (which, thankfully, should be optional on the Mac), fitting in with Adobe's desire to crush the life out of the Mac version and make it identical to the Windows one. (See also: the nasty palette controls in CS3.)

I never knew the print to PDF feature existed until the other week - what a joy! I had been using a web program to make low quality, restrictive, rubbing PDFs when that little gem had been on my computer for two years

rubbing PDFs?

Are they brass?

Goodness.

You should just be able to drag it back on?

Were the hell have you been Grim...?

Did you go to CERN with Angry Man?

Hehe, yes - that's how technologically backwards it was - to make a copy you had to lay a sheet of paper over the top and rub it with a crayon.

I may have meant 'rubbish'.

"Holiday"

Bag yourself many White Rhino?

You need to find it first - it won't be placed on the desktop.

Open the folder Hard Drive/Users/[your user name] - the Downloads folder is in there, and can be dragged back into the dock.

Have you ever seen a Mac with a virus? Or malware installed?

Yes to both. Macs are highly unlikely to be hit by exploits in the wild, but the vulnerabilities exist just like any other platform.

Examples:

Buffer overflow in Mail in Apple Mac OS X 10.4 up to 10.4.5, when patched with Security Update 2006-001, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a long Real Name value in an e-mail attachment sent in AppleDouble format, which triggers the overflow when the user double-clicks on an attachment.

The "Open 'safe' files after downloading" option in Safari on Apple Mac OS X allows remote user-assisted attackers to execute arbitrary commands by tricking a user into downloading a __MACOSX folder that contains metadata (resource fork) that invokes the Terminal, which automatically interprets the script using bash, as demonstrated using a ZIP file that contains a script with a safe file extension.

passwd in Directory Services in Mac OS X 10.3.x before 10.3.9 and 10.4.x before 10.4.5 allows local users to create arbitrary world-writable files as root by specifying an alternate file in the password database option.

Apple Mac OS X 10.0 through 10.2.8 allows local users with a USB keyboard to gain unauthorized access by holding down the CTRL and C keys when the system is booting, which crashes the init process and leaves the user in a root shell.

Buffer overflow in ICQ 2.6x for MacOS X 10.0 through 10.1.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via a long request.

Don't blind me with your science, Craster!

I have no idea what any of that means and now am worried that my computer will be attacked by aliens

Good God yes, mainly owned by people who had been told there was no such thing on the Mac, unsurprisingly.

Also, haven't you seen Independence Day? Jeff Goldblum uploads a virus to the mothership off his MAC LAPTOP.

I need his 'interface with host' program.

OK, I change my advice to:

- Don't open spam emails;
- Avoid warez sites;
- Install the latest OS updates.

You shouldn't be allowed to use the internet unless you're already doing this.

If you were running Windows before, this should be ingrained by now anyway. You shouldn't even consider it to be cautious behaviour, which is why I was so dismissive in my initial response. If you've managed to maintain a clean install of Windows, you'll find that achieving the same on the Mac requires considerably less effort. You *don't* need a virus killer, despite what the virus killer vendors will tell you. You *don't* need an AdAware-equivalent. You *do* need a modicum of common sense - no matter how robust the platform is by default, nothing is going to help if you try and help out a Nigerian chap who is having problems getting access to his money.

Don't need any of that on windows either.

Your advice was fine - it was the throwaway one liner that was the issue

Only takes one bad apple...

Anorak.

Wozniak.

Jobsworth.

Cunt.

Am I doing it right?

You've got a one-button mind.

True. But then Windows also has a habit of telling me every single time it does something right. *Connected your mouse without exploding!* Gee, thanks. *Managed to connect to wireless network without blowing up!* OK, now please shut up. (Clearly, there's an option for getting rid of that, but I'd hate to deprive Windows of its fun, especially when it's such a second-class citizen in this house.)

But don't do it through Software Update if possible, according to macfixit.com... and I'd be inclined to agree after my recent strife (which I was only able to resolve through a £10 firewire cable and the good fortune of having another Mac to connect it up to).

An improper or incomplete update installation can screw your machine up. Best to use the downloadable DMGs off Apple.com, apparently.