Cracks in the OS X Armor
Macs are superior to Windows PCs in so many ways. Take the wave after wave of devastating Windows viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, malware, and other catastrophic security breaches making the news: we're not worried, we use Macs. None of these high profile afflictions directly affect Macintosh computers. Unfortunately, recent developments in the Mac security world show that our days of carefree computing may be over.
No new Mac viruses have been found, but some bright users have discovered a way for a malicious hacker could install and run an unseen program on an unsuspecting Mac user's computer. Theoretically a user could visit a web site, click on a standard-looking link and end up with all their data erased.
There are no sites that do this now, but the technique is now widely known. Apple has issued two Security Updates that help combat this threat. After installing these updates your computer will occasionally display a message like this:
"The document you are opening will open the application "Quicken 2002 Deluxe" for the first time. Are you sure you want to open this application"
Clicking the "Cancel" button prevents the document from opening. "Open" proceeds. If you do not recognize the listed document or application, click cancel. Once you have opened a legitimate document with a particular application (Quicken, Word, Mail, etc), you will not be prompted again for that application.
Precautions you should take now
Using your Software Update System Preference, install all the available Security Updates. The latest ones (dated 2004-06-07) require that your version of OS X be either 10.2.8 (the last Jaguar version) or 10.3.4 (the latest Panther version). You can also update your computers to these version via the Software Update System Preference, although ideally some problems can be avoided by downloading and running Apple's standalone "Combo" updaters:
After all of these updates, be sure to "fix your disk permissions" using the Disk Utility application, available in your Applications folder's Utilities folder.
Another precaution to take is never use your file server, web server, database server or other essential dedicated computer to browse the web or access email. It may be convenient to do but it now puts this computer at increased risk of disaster.
When the Fix makes it Worse (OS 9 & OS X)
If you've used a Mac for more than a few years you've probably experienced the Blinking Question Mark. The Blinking Question Mark inside a folder icon may appear on your screen after a crash or freeze, or even when starting up after a normal shutdown. It is the computer's way of telling you that it can't find system software necessary for it to start up properly. It will blink forever until you do something to fix the underlying condition. For some of you that means calling the friendly folks at Modern Mac Repair. For others, it means pulling out the Norton Utilities disk and fixing it yourself. Before you roll up your sleeves and crack open the Time Life Home Computer Repair book, educate yourself about the difference between Disk Repair and File Recovery.
Most of the conditions that cause the Blinking ? are easily fixed by Norton Disk Doctor, Alsoft's DiskWarrior, MicroMat's Techtool Pro, or even Apple's free Disk First Aid on the system software install disk included with your computer. These "Disk Repair" utilities will fix the invisible directory structure of the drive so the computer can find the data it needs. Occasionally a problem is so serious that these utilities cannot fix it, and they will tell you so. Even less frequently, one or another of these utilities will inform you that it *can* repair the problem, and proceeds, but the "repair" renders your data lost. What you should have done in this case is to ensure that the "repair" won't harm your data, and if you're not certain of this then recover your files first.
How does one know which course of action is appropriate? If you've been doing frequent and thorough backups of your computers, then you don't risk much by attempting the fix. Otherwise, it's very difficult to know. The going the file recovery route first is the safest.
This month's data loss disasters
Several years worth of a client's data will cost over $1500 and many days to recover (maybe) when their laptop's hard drive failed catastrophically.
Several years of another client's email messages required many hours and over $500 to recover after they accidently trashed the Deleted Mail folder; the recovered data required a good deal of work by the user before it was usable.
Don't forget to BACKUP YOUR DATA FREQUENTLY AND THOROUGHLY!
Modern Mac Repair Inc.
PO Box 563
Belmont, MA 02478
(617) 484-9185
(617) 507-6644 (fax)
Email: brian@modernmacrepair.com