The iPhone is vulnerable to malware, as this article points out:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/researchers-websites-infected-iphones-spyware-151931958.html
Not only is this disconcerting that it happened, I wonder why Apple hasn't at least commented on
this? Any electronic device is capable of being hacked it seems. All one has to do is visit a "tainted"
website to get infected. And it seems there's no way to determine what a "tainted" website is.
Jim Hamm
Question: Can you use one drive for both Time Machine backup and saving a clone of the macOS?
It would be possible to use a single drive for both a clone drive and a Time Machine drive, but as you’ll soon see, this is very complicated to accomplish.
You would first have to use the entire drive as a clone, and then repartition the unused space to use as the Time Machine backup. The reason for this is that when you create a clone, it must create a small partition in a special place on the drive. This partition is also a part of the internal drive that you don’t see, which is technically the Restore partition of the internal drive. If you first partitioned the drive then tried to use one partition for the clone, that Restore partition might not get created properly. Furthermore, if you first divided the drive into two partitions, the chances are that you won’t be able to boot up from that drive at all.
There’s another very good reason to use two separate drives, one for a clone and the other for Time Machine. The clone, being bootable, would allow you to boot up from that drive when your internal drive fails completely. You then update that clone from the Time Machine backup and the most you will have lost is one hour of any changes you made. This allows you to continue using your computer, although it will take a longer time to boot up and log in. But you could instead replace the internal drive with the clone drive to get it to boot up faster (can only be done if the interface of the two drives are the same and if the clone drive can fit in the same space as the internal drive, size in GB does not matter). When you are ready to replace the bad drive, you first clone it from the clone drive, and no further update from the Time Machine would be necessary when you put the new drive in the computer if you had already updated the clone from Time Machine.
Please view the following video on MacMost.com: https://macmost.com/time-machine-versus-cloning.html. It explains the real difference between a clone and Time Machine. What it doesn’t mention is that you cannot boot up from a Time Machine drive, but that you can boot up from a clone drive.
Now, for some people, keeping a clone is irrelevant. This is because you can either get a new computer with the OS already on it that you can simply update from a Time Machine backup, or you can install a new instance of macOS onto the new drive from the Internet using the Restore function by holding down the Command key and the R key together when you start the computer. You then update from the Time Machine backup. However, having a clone drive simply means not having to wait on the Internet to download the OS.
John R Carter, Sr.
If you plan to try Apple's new credit card, I think you'll find this article from the TidBITS Newsletter helpful.
Jim Hamm
https://tidbits.com/2019/08/14/how-to-get-the-most-from-your-apple-card-benefits/
You probably know that Google records most everything you do using a Google search. I was surprised to learn, for example, when Amazon sends me a receipt for my purchase, Google faithfully keeps a copy for its own records. Here are some articles describing ways to reduce or eliminate this intrusion of your privacy.
Google privacy. Here is an article discussing all that Google records about you, and how you can manually reduce some of what has been recorded. Looks to be somewhat of a tedious project to manually delete data that's been stored on your activities.
Use DuckDuckGo as your search engine. Read here
Use Startpage as your search engine. Read here
Use the BraveBrowser. Read here
I do realize and appreciate how helpful Google can be when I'm looking for something and use their search engine. And, of course, somehow this has to be paid for, and ads -- and subsequent purchases -- are what keeps Google and websites functioning and 'free'. Well, free to some degree. We still pay a price in the tracking and recording of what we do on the web.
As far as I know, I haven't been harmed by Google keeping track of everything I do over the years, but I also can't say I appreciate Google doing that. I, and you, have some options to reduce this tracking.
Jim Hamm
Here are 10 tips for your iPad that you might find helpful.
Jim Hamm
https://www.komando.com/tips/582104/10-things-you-didnt-know-your-ipad-could-do
If you should have a problem with Safari opening a home page that you don't want, read the following note from a friend. Safari kept opening 'Yahoo' as the home page, which she didn't want. She found a solution, and I am posting this FYI and possible help someday.
Jim Hamm
"I think I solved my problem. I happened to look at Safari advanced preferences and noticed the box for stopping plugins was checked. Sometimes I have issues with not being able to open a file because Safari has blocked the plug in. So I unchecked it thinking maybe I'll be able to open such files in the future.
Turns out when I launched Safari again the Yahoo search page did not appear. So I went back to Safari prefs and changed my homepage. Yay! abc15.com now shows up at launch.
Still don't know why I had the Yahoo issue, but glad I can have my preferred home page and Google as my search engine."
If anonymity is important to you as you browse the web, you might take a look at the Brave Browser. Info here. And here is another article with a more complete description of the browser.
Although the Brave Browser has been available for about three years, I haven't tried it yet. It has about 3 million users at this time, and expects to have 5 million by years' end. It is said to load web pages twice as fast as Chrome and Firefox, because it's downloading less web content.
To financially reward the advertisers it offers, it has what it calls "Basic Attention Tokens", or BATs. Not sure I understand all I know about this. If you do decide to try the Brave Browser, let me know what you think.
Jim Hamm
Don't like Google tracking everything you do when doing a web search? Do you use an Apple device? Here is an article describing how to enable DuckDuckGo as the default search engine on your device.
In a separate article I read that DuckDuckGo does use the Google search engine for web searches -- based on a contract they have with Google -- but hides your identity. Thus, you get the power of Google but still maintain your privacy. I also include the full link below to the article.
Jim Hamm
If you get an email from ANY company that is sent to “undisclosed recipients” with a dire message to login to fix your account, TRASH it or put it in JUNK immediately. This is a phishing attempt to capture your login information.
So please look at who the message is sent to before taking any action, and even then it is best to NOT click on a link in a message that supposedly takes you to a login page on your account.
It is best to use your browser to go to your account and login that way. Then, if that company has a special message for you, you will find it there.
John R Carter, Sr.
Before clicking an unknown URL, you can do a check for a virus by copying and pasting the link into one or both of the checkers below. This may not be foolproof, but certainly something worth trying before clicking an unknown URL or link.
Jim Hamm
Apple's latest OS --Catalina -- is available for a beta download, should you have an interest:
And here is one review of the features in Catalina:
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3404329/a-first-look-at-macos-catalina-public-beta-available-now.html
And this article describes how 'Find My' Mac works:
This looks to be quite an OS.
Jim Hamm
ESET offers a free offline scan of your computer for viruses and malware. It is currently doing a scan of my computer as I type this. If you'd like to try it, you can download the scan module here. You answer a few questions about the scan, then click start. You can continue to use your computer while it completes the scan, and it works on a PC or Mac.
It has currently scanned 130,000 files on my computer -- and is about half done -- and hasn't found anything yet -- and hopefully it won't. Of course ESET offers a paid version, which they hope you will eventually buy, but you don't have to in order to get the scan. Here is an article describing other virus scanning programs you might consider trying.
If you're running Windows 10 on a PC, here is an article you might read using Windows Defender offline to do a virus scan. I have not tried this one yet, but plan to read more about it.
Jim Hamm
I just read a couple of articles regarding computers that I found interesting, and am sending them to you for your possible interest. The first article talks about the decline in demand for HDD's, which isn't surprising given the better performance from SSD's. What I found interesting was the direct comparison between an HDD and an SSD. What a difference. The price for an SSD has been steadily dropping and will, I assume, soon replace the HDD altogether.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-08/global-hard-disk-drive-demand-free-fall
The following article shows the decline in computer and tablet shipments after a peak about six years ago. This puts pressure on computer manufacturers as demand for their product declines. The same phenomenon --saturation-- has affected mobile phones as well. Apple has recognized this and is stressing their "service" sales, such as music, 'cloud' storage, etc.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/272595/global-shipments-forecast-for-tablets-laptops-and-desktop-pcs/
As with just about any product or industry, saturation or obsolescence eventually kills demand and manufacturers are left to scramble to find a product to start selling as a replacement. Such is life. Think about the guy building a carriage to be pulled by a horse, about 1905, when he heard this strange sound: putt, putt, followed by a cloud of exhaust. What could this be, he wonders?...🤔...A 'horseless' carriage?
Jim Hamm
If you have an iPad, is it outdated? This article explains all, and whether it's time to update, and why?.
Jim Hamm
If you really want to learn how to use LibreOffice Writer to effectively create books for publication - or just to learn how to effectively use styles, then the following free (download the PDF) article will really help out. (A printed version costs a little.)
http://designingwithlibreoffice.com/download-buy/
John R Carter, Sr.
Your iPhone can do what? Apple has developed a listing of the things your iPhone can do, including, of course, making a phone call.
If you have an interest in learning more about your iPhone, read the following article.
Jim Hamm
Here's an article with some tips for using your Mac that you might find helpful.
Apple Care support for your Apple devices and Apple software is free during their working hours. You do not need a valid AppleCare warranty for this service. The AppleCare warranty is for covering damage or loss of your device.
This free service is available for any device for up to seven (7) years from the date it is released.
The number to call is 800-692-7753
When you get connected, simply respond to the first automated question with “Technical support,” or “Billing,” or whatever main topic you need assistance with. Don’t bother going into any detail - that comes later when you start talking to a human.
The next automated voice will then ask you for the name (i.e., MacBook Pro) and serial number of the device you are working with, so have it ready.
If you need assistance after hours, you will need a valid AppleCare warranty for the device. Otherwise, you will be charged for that service.
John R Carter Sr
If you have an iOS device and a macOS device, you may have noticed that some content in Messages is not synced between these operating systems. The reason is that SMS messages are not synced. So if you get a message on your iPhone/iPad and not on your Mac it’s because it was sent as an SMS message.
Another thing that you may have noticed about macOS Mojave is that in the iCloud preferences you no longer see Messages as an app that you can select to sync with iCloud. Messages is synced in iCloud in Mojave by default. In iOS 12 and below, you will still see Messages as an app that you can select to sync in iCloud, and it should be selected.
Tidbits:
If you are texting with someone from your iOS device who doesn’t have an iOS device (i.e., Android), the text message will be displayed in green instead of blue, and that message is actually an SMS message and will not be synced with macOS.
Using Messages in macOS, you cannot send a text message to a phone number that is not a registered iOS device but you can send a text message to any email address.
John R Carter Sr
This is a great website to read just to know what could be wrong with Mojave after you have updated to it, and what you can do to fix what’s broken.
https://blog.macsales.com/46143-macos-101-what-mojave-broke-and-how-to-fix-it
Here are the things that are covered:
SMS Messages (to non-Apple devices) not delivered
Weird fonts
Bluetooth devices not connecting to your Mac
Freeze or slowdown at login
Apps no longer working
Apps and security changes in Mojave
32-bit apps and other non-working software
John R Carter Sr