How to: Top 10, best free ways to secure your Mac
When it comes to security on the Mac, most of the people giving advice want to sell you something. Well, unclench for a few minutes to read this quick, painless and absolutely free guide to making your Mac more secure right now.
1. Disable “Open ’safe’ files after downloading:” When this feature is turned on, you are open to driveby attacks
— Safari menu -> Preferences -> General -> Uncheck Open safe files
2. Disable automatic login: Who’s been using your Mac after you’ve gone home? Stop wondering and secure your Mac!
— System Prefs -> Accounts -> Login Options -> set Automatic login to “off”
3. Turn on the firewall: Sound preventative security step, ’nuff said.
— System Prefs -> Security -> Firewall -> click “Start”
4. Lock screen when you’re away: Ever wonder who’s been looking at or using your Mac when you’re away from your desk? Stop wondering and secure your when you’re away from your desk!
— System Prefs -> Security -> General -> tick “Require Password” immediately after … screensaver begins
Tip: Set a hot corner to start the screen saver
— System Prefs -> Exposé & Spaces -> Exposé -> select “Start Screen Saver”
5. Turn off wireless networking, unnecessary shares when you’re not using them
— System Prefs -> Network -> select AirPort -> click “Turn Airport off”
— System Prefs -> Sharing -> deselect any services you’re not using
Tip: Show AirPort status in the menu bar for quick n’ easy settings adjustments
— System Prefs -> Network -> select AirPort -> tick “Show AirPort status in menu bar”
6. Download and install Click To Flash for Safari: Turn off all of those ugly, disruptive (and potentially dangerous) Flash animations
7. Use antivirus software: There are no Mac viruses. There are a few trojan and drive by exploits. Be prepared
— I use and recommend ClamXav, an open source antivirus solution for the Mac, Linux and PC.
8. Use FileVault: Encrypt and protect (almost) everything!
— See also: wikipedia: FileVault
9. Securely empty trash
— Finder -> Finder menu item -> Secure Empty Trash
— See also How to: Create a keyboard shortcut
10. Securely erase empty disk space
— There’s an Apple knowledge base article for that!
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I mostly agree with these suggestions. I would caution against using FileVault unless you really need it. It does add some overhead which may be a problem, especially for older computers. Using FV will cause interference with capturing video via Firewire.
Personally, I find FileVault to be overkill. I don’t need everything to be secured, just some things. Instead I created a disk image and encrypt that. Inside this secure disk image I can store passwords and financial records and such.
Open “Disk Utility” (it’s in the utilities folder). Use File/new/blank disk image. Give this a name, location and size. Under encryption choose 128 or 256 bit encryption.
Similarly, I only use Secure Empty Trash on selected files. If you delete a movie and securely delete it that can take quite a while to accomplish.
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[...] How to: Top 10, best free ways to secure your Mac | FairerPlatform.com When it comes to security on the Mac, most of the people giving advice want to sell you something. Well, unclench for a few minutes to read this quick, painless and absolutely free guide to making your Mac more secure right now. (tags: mac security applications) [...]
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Good suggestions.
11. Install the periodic security updates from Apple.
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