General Security Tips

—

by

Mike Moffit
in

This is an overview of some general security tips for Macs:

  • Occasionally check for updates by checking “Software Updates” under the Apple menu. Apple releases updates regularly. You should check this at least once a week if you don’t have Auto Updates enabled. Keeping your OS updated is the best way to protect against security vulnerabilities.
  • When you see an update “pop up” from Adobe or your web browser (both of these especially), install the updates as soon as possible, but go to their websites for the updates. It’s good practice to avoid clicking links for updates; it’s often a ruse to install third party software. When installing updates, always click the “Advanced” install (if available) so that you can see everything that’s scheduled to install and preferences being set (e.g. web toolbars, changing your default search engine and such).
  • Don’t use a general account with administrative privileges for everyday work. Keep one administrative account. If you need to install updates, it will ask you for an administrative password, which is extremely straightforward and easy to do. This reduces the likelihood of rogue programs running on your machine, which is unlikely in the first place, but another step for security. It also ensures that no other users accessing your computer can install anything they might be misguided about.
  • Avoid third party security solutions for anti-virus. Macs very, very rarely are susceptible to viruses and AV software from many vendors can cause more problems than it may ever solve.
  • Avoid third party tune-ups or cleaners advertised for free or pay (e.g. MacKeeper, TuneUpMyMac, etc.) Macs DO NOT NEED them and our customers frequently have problems created by them that require them to pay us to repair.
  • If you are running Windows on a Mac, either from BootCamp or Parallels (or other virtual machine software), yes, you should install anti-virus software on Windows. There are several commendable free versions — AVG Free and Avast are the two I recommend most to friends. Just like your Mac, update those regularly!