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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Mac OSX Leopard - I'd wait before upgrading


Toys For Boys

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For all those Mac Fans out there if you haven't rushed out and upgraded already then I would wait for a while. I upgraded my Mac Book Pro and it's been a pain in the arse ever since. If you have an Airport Extreme to connect to the web then it keeps losing the connection when the Mac goes to sleep, can't find the airport and generally makes access very difficult. Reinstalled all the software and the latest update and still no joy. Tried most of the blog solutions and will spend tomorrow downgrading to 10.4.

Be warned :angry:

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Pete, have installed the update and still no joy - works fine on the G5 iMac desktop but the Mac Book Pro is a real problem. Looking at the Mac forums seems to be a common issue so guess Apple will launch a patch soon. Use the laptop a lot for work so it's a pain - only fix seems to be to never put it to sleep or close the lid!

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In some ways yes, in others no. The latest big cat flavour of OS X unleashed last month was quickly poked and prodded by security experts keen to explore any weakness they could find (since the heaadline "weakness in OSX!" is a surefire reader magnet).

Unsurprisingly, people like to give a good kicking to the current big thing. ;)

They found lots: first, the firewall is turned off by default (as it has been on previous versions), and when turned on will still allow all connections - about as useful as a chocolate fireguard.

That is a bit odd...but then most people are running routers with inbuilt firewalls any aren't they? I've not used a firewall on my OS since modem dialups.

Next, notes Heise Security, it doesn't distinguish between trusted networks and potentially dodgy ones - unlike (gasp!) Windows Vista (tinyurl.com/39bjq5).

Fair point

Then, you can only deny connections by application, not by service or by port - which you could in Tiger and which you really ought to be able to do.

That's odd to remove a feature isn't it? It's basically firewall settings again.

Nor can you block outbound services - and it's those that are usually a problem with exploits. The review identifies other issues to do with Apple not using the most up-to-date versions of various protocols. The gist is clear: security wonks aren't happy.

It does ask you when ever an application is going to run for the first time if you're happy for it to run though.

Next is the new Back To My Mac service, which lets .Mac subscribers access their Macs via .Mac from any other machine running Leopard. One click connects directly to it, without any other password. So someone who gets your .Mac account login gets your machine too, for free. "Do not go back to my Mac," warn the Open Door team (tinyurl.com/yo39gk).

Same as Remote Desktop then. If someone gets your U/P then they're into your PC. I never allow remote control services like this open to the world, they need allowing to fixed IPs only really.

 

At the end of the day people are always going to try and pi$$ on Apples parade. No OS is infallible and there is always going to be a balance between usability and security.

 

For instance, Vistas security features are always flashing stuff on screen. Most users just get used to clicking on "allow" they don't even bother to read them after a while and allow anything.

 

I don't expect it'll be long before these things are addressed.

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UPDATE - Have rebuilt the entire network, reset all the airports and started from scratch - seems 'touch wood' that it may have solved the issue. I'm impressed with Time Machine as a 'lazy man's' alternative to remembering to back up. Stacks is messy but you can choose to view as a grid which is easier on the eye and saves filling up the desktop. Without doubt the coolest part is 'cover flow' search of documents and files.

Well heres hoping that there are no more issues.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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