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FYI: 70 NASA Image galleries combined into single, searchable source
by Wayne Billing 21 Jun '15

21 Jun '15

…from: http://nasaimages.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/view/all?sort=who http://gizmodo.com/nasa-image-gallery-brings-all-your-favorite-space-photo-… NASA Image Gallery Brings All Your Favorite Space Photos Under One Roof<http://gizmodo.com/nasa-image-gallery-brings-all-your-favorite-space-photo-…> 6,255 2<http://gizmodo.com/nasa-image-gallery-brings-all-your-favorite-space-photo-…> Maddie Stone<http://kinja.com/maddiestone> Filed to: NASA IMAGES<http://gizmodo.com/tag/nasa-images> 6/21/15 3:00pm<http://gizmodo.com/nasa-image-gallery-brings-all-your-favorite-space-photo-…> <http://gizmodo.com/nasa-image-gallery-brings-all-your-favorite-space-photo-…> [NASA Image Gallery Brings All Your Favorite Space Photos Under One Roof] The NASA Images collection<http://nasaimages.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/view/all?sort=who>, built and unveiled last week by Luna Imaging, combines over 70 NASA Image galleries into a single, searchable source. These includes familiar collections such as NASA’s Image of the Day Gallery<http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/> and the Jet Propulsion Image Gallery<http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/>, but also plenty of obscure treasures. In total, the collection contains over 100 thousand photographs that range from historic documentation of the Apollo moon missions to the latest shots of distant quasars by the Hubble Space Telescope. […] ….complete HELP/UserGuide at: http://doc.lunaimaging.com/display/V71D/Browsing+and+Viewing+Media#Browsing…

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FYI: iMac (27-inch) 3TB Hard Drive Replacement Program
by Wayne Billing 19 Jun '15

19 Jun '15

…from: https://www.apple.com/support/imac-harddrive-3tb/ iMac (27-inch) 3TB Hard Drive Replacement Program Apple has determined that a very small number of 3TB hard drives used in 27-inch iMac systems, may fail under certain conditions. These systems were sold between December 2012 and September 2013. Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) will replace affected hard drives free of charge. Apple is contacting affected iMac owners who provided a valid email address during the product registration process to let them know about this program. If you have not been contacted, but think you have a 3TB hard drive, you can enter your serial number below to see if it's part of this program. Finding your iMac serial number is easy. See how.<https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201626> The serial number you entered is not eligible under this program because either: - It's not one of the serial numbers in the affected range OR - Our records show that your hard drive has already been replaced. If you paid for hard drive replacement, check with Apple to see if you are eligible for a refund. Replacement Process Apple recommends replacing affected hard drives as soon as possible. Please choose one of the options below: * Apple Retail Store - Set up an appointment with a Genius. * Apple Authorized Service Provider - Find one here<https://locate.apple.com/ca/en/>. * Apple Technical Support - Contact us for local service options. Before you go in for service, Apple strongly recommends backing up your data. Learn more about backup options<https://www.apple.com/ca/support/backup/>. Additional Information You will need to re-install your operating system, other applications and any backed up data after your hard drive is replaced. Please refer to About OS X Recovery<https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201314> for instructions. If you believe you have paid for a repair or replacement due to this issue, contact Apple regarding a refund. This worldwide Apple program does not extend the standard warranty coverage of the iMac. The program covers affected iMac models until December 19, 2015 or three years from its original date of sale, whichever provides longer coverage for you. Information as of 2015-06-19

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FYI: Twitter on iOS may "bump into" your data plan ceiling
by Wayne Billing 17 Jun '15

17 Jun '15

To prevent unwanted data usage, iOS does not autoplay video. Twitter on iOS has changed its default to autoplay all video and Vines and GIFs: …from: http://9to5mac.com/2015/06/16/twitter-ios-autoplay/ Twitter is adding autoplay to GIFs, Vines, and native videos on iOS Zac Hall June 16th, 2015 [Autoplay_videos_on_Twitter] Twitter is turning on automatic playback for certain types of media in your timeline through an update to its iOS app and its website, the social network announced<https://blog.twitter.com/2015/introducing-a-more-seamless-video-experience-…>. Starting today, users will notice that native videos, GIFs, and Vines all autoplay directly in the timeline when browsing Twitter without the need to tap or click to initiate playback. Sound playback for native videos and Vines will still require tapping or clicking to play to avoid hijacking the experience. Users can also initiate full playback by rotating the iPhone to landscape mode when viewing an autoplay video. Not everyone is a fan of autoplaying media, of course, so Twitter says it will provide users with an option to disable the new feature and use the previous click-to-play behavior. Data consumption is also a concern for users, of course, so Twitter promises a WiFi-only option is available. Twitter says it will actually be opting some users out of the new feature as well to avoid issues: “If you’re somewhere with high data rates or you have low bandwidth on your device, we’ll opt you out of autoplay to avoid unexpected charges or slow performance.” Twitter says the new feature is rolling out to its official iOS app<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/twitter/id333903271?mt=8&at=10laZc> and the web starting today with support in its Android app coming soon. No word on if third-party Twitter apps can or will want to support video autoplay, although GIF autoplay seems harmless and useful. the social network also recently said that it’s removing the 140 character limit on direct messages<http://9to5mac.com/2015/06/11/twitter-dm-limit-ceo-change/> sent between users soon.

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INTEREST: Google Improving Chrome for OS X Performance to Better Rival Safari
by Wayne Billing 13 Jun '15

13 Jun '15

…from: http://www.macrumors.com/2015/06/12/chrome-os-x-performance-improvements-sa… Google Improving Chrome for OS X Performance to Better Rival Safari Friday June 12, 2015 4:52 AM PDT by Joe Rossignol Google senior software engineer Peter Kasting this week announced<https://plus.google.com/+PeterKasting/posts/GpL63A1K2TF> that his team has been working to address Chrome for OS X battery hog complaints by improving the performance of the browser on Mac, especially in areas where Safari appears to do better (via iPhoneHacks<http://www.iphonehacks.com/2015/06/google-working-improvements-address-chro…>). Chrome for OS X has received multiple under the hood improvements that should result in faster performance and longer battery life while browsing. The browser, for example, now requires significantly less CPU usage when loading the Google search results page and various other websites. The other technical changes to Chrome for OS X are outlined as follows: "The team has been working on addressing this; here are some cases that have recently been improved on trunk: http://crbug.com/460102 Before: Renderers for background tabs had the same priority as for foreground tabs. Now: Renderers for background tabs get a lower priority, reducing idle wakeups on various perf test, in some cases by significant amounts (e.g. 50% on one test). http://crbug.com/485371 Before: On a Google search results page, using Safari's user agent to get the same content that Safari would, Chrome incurs ~390 wakes over 30s and 0.3% CPU usage vs. Safari’s 120 wakes over 30s and 0.1% CPU usage. Now: 66% reduction in both timer firings and CPU use. Chrome is now incurring ~120 wakes over 30s and 0.1% CPU use, on par with Safari. http://crbug.com/489936 Before: On capitalone.com, Chromium incurs ~1010 wakeups over 30s vs. Safari's ~490 wakes. Now: ~30% reduction in timer firings. Chrome is now incurring ~721 wakeups over 30s. http://crbug.com/493350 Before: On amazon.com, Chromium incurs 768 wakups over 30s and consumes ~0.7% CPU vs. Safari's 312 wakes over 30s and ~0.1% CPU. Now: ~59% reduction in timer firings and ~70% reduction in CPU use. Chrome is now incurring ~316 wakeups over 30s, and 0.2% CPU use, on par with Safari at 312 wakes, and 0.1% CPU use." Many of the changes will first appear in Chromium before going live on Chrome for OS X.

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Apple's WWDC Keynote: what hardware support new announcements
by Wayne Billing 08 Jun '15

08 Jun '15

This year’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) Keynote saw Apple emphasize “consolidation” around Continuity and related items more than “1001 new capabilities”. Make everything work better rather than make many new things. With that thought, however, there were three new OS announcements: OS X El Capitan, iOS9, and watchOS. The important point was that these new OS announcements all focus on extending the Apple ecosystem across all of it’s devices. Previous announcements have seen OS X start to gather the look and feel of iOS. Now iOS is starting to get some of the feel of OS X. watchOS is getting a bit of both. You can watch the entire keynote at: http://www.apple.com/live/2015-june-event/ ….but, probably the most important bit from WWDC so far is that Apple intends to ensure the widest array of hardware will run the new OS releases. Here’s the list …from: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/06/if-your-mac-or-ithing-runs-yosemite-or… If your Mac or iThing runs Yosemite or iOS 8, it can run El Capitan and iOS 9 Apple doesn't drop hardware for the first time in a long time. by Andrew Cunningham<http://arstechnica.com/author/andrew_cunningham/> - Jun 8, 2015 2:48pm CDT If your Mac can run Yosemite, it can run El Capitan. Here's some good news for just about everyone: For the first time in many years, neither iOS nor OS X drops any current hardware from the system requirements list. If your device can run OS X Yosemite (or Mavericks, or Mountain Lion), it can run OS X El Capitan. If it can run iOS 8, it can run iOS 9. For your convenience, here's the complete list of Macs supported, pulled from this developer support page<https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/mac/releasenotes/General/rn-…>: * iMac (Mid-2007 or later) * MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or later) * MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later), (15-inch, Mid/Late 2007 or later), (17-inch, Late 2007 or later) * MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later) * Mac Mini (Early 2009 or later) * Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later) * Xserve (Early 2009) And here's the support list for iOS 9: * iPhone 4S, 5, 5C, 5S, 6, and 6 Plus * iPad 2, third- and fourth-gen Retina iPads, iPad Air, iPad Air 2 * All iPad Mini models * Fifth-generation iPod Touch

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INTEREST: Windows 10 (mostly) Available on July 29 & Rumors point to different kind of launch for Windows 10
by Wayne Billing 01 Jun '15

01 Jun '15

<https://r4---sn-j5o5gpx-tfbe.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?initcwndbps=6207…>You can see Windows 10 features in action in the video about 1/2 way down the blog article below …..compare OS X Yosemite features demo can be found at (demo starts around 12 minutes but the interesting bits are around 24 minutes and on): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w87fOAG8fjk …from: http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/06/01/hello-world-windows-10-… Hello World: Windows 10 Available on July 29 June 1, 2015 by Terry Myerson<http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/author/terrymyerson/> // PC<http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/category/pc/>, Tablet<http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/category/tablet/> // 0 Comments<http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/06/01/hello-world-windows-10-…> * 129<http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/06/01/hello-world-windows-10-…> * 84<http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/06/01/hello-world-windows-10-…> * 1201<http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/06/01/hello-world-windows-10-…> Today, I’m excited to share the availability date for Windows 10. In fact, I thought I’d let Cortana, the world’s most personal digital assistant, share the news. You can ask Cortana for the answer, or if you don’t have a Windows phone or a PC running the Windows 10 Insider Preview handy….. Through the feedback and testing of over four million Windows Insiders, we’ve made great progress on Windows 10 and we’re nearly ready to deliver this free upgrade to all of our Windows customers*. Do Great Things with Windows 10 We designed Windows 10 to create a new generation of Windows for the 1.5 billion people using Windows today in 190 countries around the world. With Windows 10, we start delivering on our vision of more personal computing, defined by trust in how we protect and respect your personal information, mobility of the experience across your devices, and natural interactions with your Windows devices, including speech, touch, ink, and holograms. We designed Windows 10 to run our broadest device family ever, including Windows PCs, Windows tablets, Windows phones, Windows for the Internet of Things, Microsoft Surface Hub, Xbox One and Microsoft HoloLens—all working together to empower you to do great things. Familiar, yet better than ever, Windows 10 brings back the Start menu you know and love. Windows 10 is faster than ever before, with quick startup and resume. And Windows 10 provides the most secure platform ever, including Windows Defender for free anti-malware protection, and being the only platform with a commitment to deliver free ongoing security updates for the supported lifetime of the device. [….rest of article at link above….] * Initial release will be for PC and tablets. See Windows.com/windows10upgrade<http://www.windows.com/windows10upgrade> for availability and other details. ** Specific features may not be available in certain markets, some features require specified hardware, and Continuum for phone available on select premium models at launch. More details at Windows.com/windows10specs <http://www.windows.com/windows10specs%20> and xbox.com/windows-10<http://www.xbox.com/windows-10>. …from: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/05/rumors-point-to-diffe… Rumors point to different kind of launch for Windows 10 in July by Peter Bright<http://arstechnica.com/author/peter-bright/> - May 29, 2015 4:37pm CDT AMD's Lisa Su let slip in April that the Windows 10 release is scheduled for late July<http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/04/amd-claims-windows-10…>. The Verge is now reporting<http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/29/8685243/windows-10-july-launch-date> that Microsoft is still on track to hit a July date, according to sources "familiar with the matter." The Verge's sources give a little more structure to the timeline. They claim that Microsoft was originally considering announcing a July 29 launch date on April 29 at its Build conference, putting three months between the announcement and the launch. The company didn't go forward with the announcement for fear of not hitting the date. The report says that the company is aiming to finalize the Windows 10 code by the end of June. This point would traditionally be known as "release to manufacturing" (RTM), and historically there has been a gap of several months between RTM and actual end-user availability. This time was used by OEMs to prepare new machines and get them into sales channels in time for the official launch. That timeline is greatly condensed compared to the past, a reflection of the new approach to development and releasing that Microsoft has used with Windows 10. The Windows 10 release should be a usable operating system, but in some sense it isn't feature complete: we know that, for example, Microsoft is going to add extension support<http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/05/all-about-edge-extens…> to its new Edge browser, but the initial Windows 10 release won't include that support. It will be delivered in the coming months as Microsoft continues to update the operating system as part of its new "Windows as a service<http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/01/what-windows-as-a-ser…>" approach. This means that the stream of preview releases will continue even after launch. The previews aren't merely a feature of the beta period; instead, Microsoft will be offering early access to Windows 10 features on an ongoing basis. The "RTM" version is a point-in-time snapshot of Windows 10's development. It should be a stable, production-ready snapshot, but it's a snapshot all the same. The process that created it will continue. The new approach to releasing also means that users of the Insider Preview likely won't have to wait until the formal release date to get their hands on the RTM build. We'd expect that Microsoft will still have some kind of event or marketing blitz to mark the launch (and, with it, the availability of hardware with Windows 10 preinstalled), but Windows 10 should be in people's hands already.

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INTEREST: Researchers find Android factory reset faulty and reversible
by Wayne Billing 23 May '15

23 May '15

[complete research paper at: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/fr_most15.pdf]<http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/fr_most15.pdf%5D> …from: http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/22/android-factory-reset-flaw/ Researchers find Android factory reset faulty and reversible by Mariella Moon<http://www.engadget.com/about/editors/mariella-moon/> | @mariella_moon<http://twitter.com/mariella_moon> | May 22nd 2015 at 11:10 pm [cid:5E25E452-1ADD-4266-8E6F-1FA6D57AB041]<http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/22/android-factory-reset-flaw/> Android's factory reset <http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/29/google-wallet-factory-reset-problem/> function isn't as effective as we'd all like it to be, according to a team of Cambridge University researchers. The group estimates that as many as 500 to 630 million Android devices might not be capable of completely wiping the data saved in their internal disks and SD cards. They came to that conclusion after testing 21 devices<http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/fr_most15.pdf> running Android 2.3 to 4.3 from five different manufacturers that already went through factory reset. During their tests, they were able to recover at least part of the data stored in each sample device -- even if it was protected with full-disk encryption. The data they recovered includes contacts, images and videos, texts, emails and log-ins for third-party apps like Facebook and WhatsApp. They were also able to retrieve the master token needed to access all Google user data in 80 percent of the phones. There are many possible reasons for reset failure: according to the researchers, manufacturers sometimes don't load a phone's software with the drivers needed to completely wipe its internal disk or SD card add-on. Also, flash drives are notoriously difficult to erase. It's unclear at the moment if Google or any of the manufacturers whose phones were tested are doing anything about this issue. But if you really want to protect your info before tossing, selling or giving away an old phone, use the most complicated password you can whip up<http://www.engadget.com/discuss/do-you-use-a-password-manager-1q5j/>... or, you know, go to town on it with a hammer. Hide Comments 37Comments

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INTEREST: Apple Announces New Environmental Initiatives in China
by Wayne Billing 11 May '15

11 May '15

…from: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2015/05/11Apple-Announces-New-Environmental… Summary - BEIJING—May 11, 2015 - Apple starting multi-year effort to achieve net-zero impact by Apple Inc. on world’s supply of sustainable pulp, paper, wood products as well as to use 100% renewable energy in worldwide operations - working with World Wildlife Fund - working to bring renewable energy to manufacturing facilities in China after announcing solar project in Sichuan province which will generate more energy than needed for Apple’s Chinese 19 corporate offices and 22 retail stores - partnering with Leshan Electric, Sichuan Development Holding Co, Tianjin Tsinlien Investement Holding Co., Tianjin Zhonguan Semiconductor, and SunPower Corporation to construct two 20 Megawatt solar farms - solar projects designed to minimize ecological impact and protect the grasslands that support the yak population, which is also important to the local economy - Tim Cook, Apple CEO, “it’s important work that has to happen...It’s a responsibility we accept."

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FYI: MacKeeper (anti-virus) celebrates birthday under cloud of class action lawsuit
by Wayne Billing 05 May '15

05 May '15

…from: http://www.macworld.com/article/2919292/apple-security-program-mackeeper-ce… “Executive Summary” - MacKeeper makes “anti-virus” software which it advertises using 60 million ad impressions a month - a class-action suit - near $2M settlement - was brought against MacKeeper contending that MacKeeper software and advertising falsely flagged security and performance problems in order to coax consumers into buying the full version - AV Comparatives, an Austrian company that evaluates antivirus programs, recently tested MacKeeper on a fresh, fully installed and patched version of OS X Yosemite. MacKeeper marked the system as having “serious” problems stemming from more than 500 MB of “junk” files. - the free version fixed 85 files and indicated that a further 1,500 files could be fixed if the full version of MacKeeper was purchased - many of the tools in the MacKeeper bundle, which includes an antivirus (AV) scanner and 15 other utilities, are already in OS X or are available for free - MacWorld (and other Internet sites) have instructions on uninstalling MacKeeper (see link in article below) MacKeeper celebrates a difficult birthday under the cloud of a class action lawsuit [mackeeper 1] MacKeeper<http://mackeeper.com/>, a utility and security program for Apple computers, celebrated its fifth birthday in April. But its gift to U.S. consumers who bought the application may be a slice of a $2 million class-action settlement. Released in 2010, MacKeeper has been dogged by accusations that it exaggerates security threats in order to convince customers to buy. Its aggressive marketing has splashed MacKeeper pop-up ads all over the web. The program was originally created by a company called ZeoBIT<http://zeobit.com/> in Kiev, Ukraine. The country—full of young, smart programmers—has long been a hub for lower-cost software development and outsourcing. The class-action suit<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2071537-zeobit-class-action-complai…>, filed in May 2014 on behalf of Pennsylvania resident Holly Yencha, contends that MacKeeper falsely flagged security and performance problems in order to coax consumers into paying $39.95 for the full version. The suit sought $5 million in damages. It is close to being settled, according to recent documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Under the settlement terms<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2071538-zeobit-class-action-settlem…>, ZeoBIT would put $2 million into a fund for those who want a refund, but admit no fault, which is customary in such settlements. It has yet to be approved by a judge. MacKeeper was wildly lucrative for ZeoBIT. As many as 650,000 consumers bought it in the U.S., according to documents filed in the suit. At $39.95 per copy, ZeoBIT would have made $26 million in revenue in the U.S. alone. New owners. Same problems? In April 2013, ZeoBIT, which now lists its headquarters as Sunnyvale, California, sold MacKeeper to a company called Kromtech Alliance Corp. Kromtech was closely affiliated with ZeoBIT in Ukraine, and many employees of ZeoBIT transferred to the company, which lists its headquarters as Cologne, Germany. [mackeeper 2]<http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2015/05/mackeeper-2-100583591-ori…> MacKeeper evaluates a computer’s health as “serious” even if it is a freshly installed and patched version of OS X Yosemite. (Click to enlarge.) An effort has been under way by Kromtech to rehabilitate the image of MacKeeper to keep the franchise going. But concerns remain over how MacKeeper diagnoses a computer’s health. AV Comparatives<http://www.av-comparatives.org/>, an Austrian company that evaluates antivirus programs, recently tested the latest trial version of MacKeeper at the request of IDG News Service. It was installed on a fresh, fully patched version of OS X Yosemite, Apple’s latest operating system. In theory, the system should have had no problems. MacKeeper warned in red in several places with exclamation points that the computer’s condition was “serious” due to more than 500MB of “junk” files. After fixing 85 files for free, it warned more than 1,500 need cleaning—but only if the full version of the program was purchased. Those that supposedly need cleaning up included language files. [mackeeper 3]<http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2015/05/mackeeper-3-100583592-ori…> MacKeeper justifies its “serious” evaluation of a computer saying it is not in danger, but contends that junk files could eventually affect its performance. (Click to enlarge.) Jeremiah Fowler, MacKeeper’s U.S.-based spokesman, said that Kromtech has toned down its warnings, but defended the program’s evaluations. “Sure, it may not be this massive amount of data, but these are things that you’ll never use,” Fowler said. “You’ll probably never activate Chinese.” Fowler pointed out that there is a pop-up window with more information on one of the warning screens. That message justified the warnings and said MacKeeper found “a relatively large amount of unneeded files” that could eventually affect a computer’s performance or security. Ad behavior MacKeeper has also taken heat for aggressive and pervasive advertising. Fowler said the company buys upwards of 60 million ad impressions a month, making it one of the largest buyers of web traffic aimed at Mac users. MacKeeper has even posted a statement<http://mackeeper.com/why> on its website to answer why people see its ads so often. It has also had issues with some affiliate advertisers, who were attracted by the 50 percent commissions<https://affiliates.mackeeper.com/faq#What> Kromtech pays for sales of MacKeeper. Some affiliates have wrapped MacKeeper ads into advertising software programs, or adware. It’s a category of much-loathed tools that offer some functionality such as search but are primarily designed to deliver ads. Thomas Reed, who writes The Safe Mac<http://www.thesafemac.com/> blog, discovered the reach of MacKeeper affiliates. Reed developed a program called AdwareMedic<http://www.adwaremedic.com/index.php>, which removes adware from Macs. The program is free. Reed wrote<http://www.thesafemac.com/ongoing-mackeeper-fraud/> in November that he found an adware program called Downlite that, if installed on a Mac, would redirect someone to MacKeeper’s website site if they tried to download AdwareMedic. Kromtech has taken steps to reign in unethical affiliates, Fowler said. More than 80 percent of ZeoBIT’s affiliate agreements have since been suspended, and the company’s new compliance department closely vets new ones. Still, the bad practices of former affiliates caused damage to MacKeeper’s reputation, Fowler said. [mackeeper icon] MacKeeper wants to be a one-stop shop, but its subscription pricing includes many unnecessary utilities already included in OS X or easily found for free. These days, MacKeeper has gone to a subscription-based pricing model rather than a $39.95 one-off payment. It costs $7.95 a month in the U.S. for the premium, year-long plan. Its latest feature is offering phone support from Apple-certified technicians, which it calls Human Inside. On its website, MacKeeper assigns a value to each of its tools, contending the bundle would be worth $510 if bought individually. “Save up to 97 percent,” it says. But many of the tools in the software bundle, which includes an antivirus (AV) scanner and 15 other utilities, are already in OS X or available for free. For example, MacKeeper licenses technology in its AV scanner from Germany-based Avira, which offers its Mac security product<http://www.avira.com/en/free-antivirus-mac> for free. On its pricing page, MacKeeper estimates the value of an AV scanner at $79. Curiously, MacKeeper doesn’t offer updates or what’s called real-time protection—where files that are downloaded or opened are scanned for malware—unless the customer buys its “premium” version, according to Dennis Technology Labs<http://www.dennistechnologylabs.com/>, which also tested MacKeeper for IDG News Service. Avira’s free Mac AV product “includes updates and real-time protection,” the labs noted. Other MacKeeper tools already have an equivalent in OS X. MacKeeper’s file shredder tool, listed as a $10 value, replicates “secure empty trash,” built into OS X. The “default apps” tool is similar to Apple’s Finder. When asked about the duplication, Fowler contended that MacKeeper is designed to provide one interface for utilities for less technical people who aren’t familiar with Apple computers. For what it’s worth, Macworld has two how-tos on uninstalling MacKeeper<http://www.macworld.com/article/2861435/how-to-uninstall-mackeeper-from-you…> from your Mac and squashing its popups<http://www.macworld.com/article/2861868/how-to-remove-mackeeper-part-ii-the…> too. Kromtech continues to market the program aggressively and participated<http://www.macworld.com/article/2026792/expo-notes-mackeeper-takes-a-more-s…> at the Macworld conference last year and the Consumer Electronics Show in January in Las Vegas. Over five years, 20 million copies of MacKeeper have been sold, Kromtech claims. But ZeoBIT’s proposed settlement over MacKeeper doesn’t include Kromtech as a released party, which means it could be targeted by future lawsuits. Edelson PC, a technology focused law firm that filed the suit, said it could not comment.

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INTEREST/FYI: Suggestions on cleanly erasing your hard drive under OS X
by Wayne Billing 18 Apr '15

18 Apr '15

Securely and completely cleaning your hard drive on your computer has risen in importance as a data integrity concern to the university as more and more breaches elsewhere of confidentiality and security have been published. This concern has been heightened further now that Apple hardware repairs are leaving the U of Manitoba campuses. [NOTE: one proven method of securing the storage local to your computer is to ensure all your data and information are stored externally to the device. Whether it is on to a network server and even just locally attached external drives, this makes it easier to isolate your data and information if the computer itself needs to be taken away for disposal or repair. Keep in mind that even using an external location for your files could still mean that email passwords and the like are still stored with the SYSTEM on the local hard drive so you may wish to delete email account setups, browser history, and such before sending the computer away to ensure they cannot be accessed.] ….from: http://www.macworld.com/article/2906499/mac-911-how-to-erase-your-macs-hard… Mac 911: How to erase your Mac's hard drive the right way [disk utility hero] When you sell or donate a Mac or give it to a family member, it’s best to make a clean break: wipe the puppy clean, reinstall the latest version of OS X, and hand off a system that you’re not worried has remnants of yourself on it. But how can you be sure? Readers have written in with several related questions, so let’s talk this week about erasing a drive, how FileVault 2 encryption can play into it, and out-of-date Recovery Drive partitions. Erase and leave no trace Reader Jim Kay, who asked about migrating from one Mac to another a couple of weeks ago, had a second question as well that opens a delightful can of worms: Since I’m looking to resell my current Mac, how do I reinstall OS X, so as to wipe my hard drive and resell knowing the new buyer has a cleaned-up computer, and my files are nowhere to be found on it? Wiping or erasing a drive has a surprising number of definitions. In the olden days, in the long ago, we ran utility software that often came from third parties, which would simply delete the catalog and related records. Such an erase was, in practice, the best way to create a clean installation. But it doesn’t make all the files on the disk unrecoverable—it just makes them harder to retrieve. To get rid of old data in a thorough fashion, you need use a multi-pass approach, in which every bit of storage in the disk is overwritten with new data (often zeroes). That’s been built into Apple’s Disk Utility for years. When you select a volume in Disk Utility and then the Erase tab, you can click Security Options to pick how many times the drive is overwritten: once, three times, or seven times. Once is considered enough for regular purposes, while three and seven correspond to different U.S. government security guidelines. [mac 911 secure erase options 580] Securely erase your hard drive with Disk Utility. Before Lion, you had to boot from a CD or DVD system disk or a third-party utility, like Disk Warrior, or from an external drive with OS X installed. Then you’d run Disk Utility to erase your startup drive. But this has become easier since OS X Recovery<https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314> was added in Lion. Restart a Mac and hold down Command-R after the startup chime sounds, and the computer boots into the recovery mode. Select Disk Utility from the startup menu, and you can erase your startup drive securely. [mac 911 erase tab disk utility]<https://cms-images.idgesg.net/images/article/2015/04/mac-911-erase-tab-disk…> You'll save a little time if you do an erase without overwriting, then reinstall OS X, then Erase Free Space with an overwriting option. There’s a slightly different way to accomplish the same goal. First, erase a drive without the overwriting part, and reinstall OS X. After you boot, launch Disk Utility, select the startup volume, and click the Erase tab. Now use the Erase Free Space option, which also offers 1, 3, and 7 passes of erase, and only empties out unused parts of the disk. The advantage is that your computer remains available (though often slow) while this operation is underway. Along with both Secure Erase and the Erase Free Space options, which can take a very, very long time even for a single pass, you’ve got two other options, one of which you don’t need to enable. Even better with SSD and FileVault 2 If your Mac has an Apple-installed or third-party SSD, you can’t use Secure Erase, nor do you necessarily need it, as Apple explains in a support document<https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201949> (see the note at the end). SSD data can’t be trivially recovered because of how SSDs optimize storage to reduce wear and tear. This is by no means foolproof, and one should assume that there are forensic tools available that can reconstruct erased SSDs—some are for sale, but I haven’t tested their claims. Apple doesn’t provide in-depth details on why it made its statement about SSDs as it does for some security claims, and thus it’s impossible to confirm. However, there’s a simple way with both SSD and regular hard drives to perform a fantastically quick and reliable erasure: using FileVault 2. FileVault 2<http://www.macworld.com/article/2880039/how-to-encrypt-your-mac-with-fileva…>, the full-disk encryption (FDE) option that first appeared in OS X 10.7, keeps your startup drive encrypted at all times. Whenever you boot your Mac and log in to one of the accounts that’s authorized to boot with FileVault 2, OS X encrypts everything written to disk and decrypts everything read on the fly. [filevault]<https://cms-images.idgesg.net/images/article/2015/02/screen-shot-2015-02-04…> If you use FileVault, any data "left behind" on your erased hard drive will be totally unreadable by your Mac's next owner. With a FileVault-encrypted startup disk, you can restart into OS X Recovery and launch Disk Utility to erase the volume. However, before erasing, you need to select the disk and then choose File > Unlock “volume name”. Enter the password for any FileVault-enabled user account, and the disk is unlocked and can be erased. Erasing a FileVault-encrypted volume discards the key that’s associated with it, turning a disk into a nearly perfect cacophony of irrecoverable randomness. Without the key, which is uncrackable in any realistic period of time by any current technology, the erased data is as good as gone as if it had been written over millions of times. You can then install OS X on that partition, either from the recovery system or via an external drive<http://www.macworld.com/article/2690806/how-to-install-mac-os-x-yosemite.ht…>. A few other recovery and FileVault issues Reader Peter wondered how FileVault figures in to cloning a disk. Because FileVault encrypts an entire drive and only decrypts files when you’re logged in, it has no effect on how or whether you make a clone, use Migration Assistant, or copy files. However, if you’re planning on using FileVault on the new computer, I would heavily suggest enabling FileVault on the new machine before moving any files to it. This will speed up the operation by encrypting the new computer’s fewer files first. When FileVault has finished and your new Mac has rebooted and you’ve logged in, then start the migration process, and all new files are encrypted on the fly. Andrew Robertson writes that when he upgraded to Yosemite, his recovery drive remained out of date with 10.9 Mavericks. Then, when trying to set up FileVault and enable iCloud-based recovery of his key, he doesn’t see an option to do so when booting into OS X Recovery. Fortunately, there are answers for both: * You can reinstall 10.10 on the startup disk without damaging the rest of your setup, though make a backup first. This should upgrade the recovery partition. (Carbon Copy Cloner<https://bombich.com/kb/ccc4/frequently-asked-questions-about-cloning-apples…> can clone a recovery partition from one drive to another, but it can’t create one from an installer or from scratch.) * The reset password option isn’t available with FileVault 2, but you can store a copy of your recovery key with Apple. To recover a key<https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202274>, first start up OS X normally, and enter the wrong password three times. (This is also how to use iCloud password recovery on non-FileVault systems.) You’re then presented with the option to contact Apple, which requires speaking to a representative, and answering multiple questions exactly as you entered them when setting up the recovery option. If correct, Apple’s customer service gains access to the stored key, which they provide to you. Ask Mac 911 We’re always looking for problems to solve! Email us at mac911(a)macworld.com<mailto:mac911@macworld.com>, tweet them at me (if brief) @glennf<https://twitter.com/glennf>, or call 206-337-5833 and leave a voicemail message. (We’ll be experimenting with some audio in the future, and may put your question “on the air.”) Mac 911 can’t provide direct email responses or answers for every question. For that, turn to AppleCare, an Apple Store Genius Bar, or the Apple Support Communities<https://discussions.apple.com/welcome>.

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