ByMike Moffit

Summer’s peak is upon us, and as tradition dictates, our air conditioning is struggling to keep up! As many of you know, Macs are safer in cold climates than hot, so I’d like to remind you all that leaving your Mac in the car in July is never a good idea!

I had a customer recently ask me for scanner recommendation, and it reminded me of all the types of artists and professionals that rely on quality scanning tools. For me, scanning is a huge part of daily life. I use an Epson V800 for the specific purpose of converting film negatives into digital image files. Yes, that is right, film is still very much alive! While the industry has downsized, you still see a passionate and stable community of those who prefer the film look and process. As an inspiring contrast to my work here at Small Dog, I find my Hasselblad’s 100% mechanical operation fascinating and reliable. While road tripping across Ireland, that camera survived the cold and misty climate without any shutter lag or loss in optical excellence. The image you take home is unlike anything else, and with the right scanner, that can translate those negatives to something far superior to a digital camera in a similar price range. In a future article, I plan to compare scanners that range from basic document scanners, to flatbed scanners like mine. A past customer of mine requested a lesson in film scanning, and I was happy to host it here at the store. In fact, here at Small Dog, we do not restrict ourselves to Mac based topics. For example, if you want to learn about producing music in Ablelton, give James a call! We have all sorts of skills here that we’re happy to share with our community.

We’re staying busy in the South Burlington store this summer, but our techs are keeping up with the demand for Apple warranty service. Did you know that our average repair turnaround is currently 2.04 days? We generally quote about 3 business days from check in to check out, considering parts often need to be ordered, but our Adware removal service and iOS restore service are same day turnaround. 

If you’re in the neighborhood, make sure to stop by and see us! Hope everyone is having an awesome summer, and enjoy this edition of Tech Tails!

Patrick McCormack
patrickm@smalldog.com

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  • Time Machine, More Than Just A Backup

    With Apple’s Time Machine utility, backing up data is as easy as flipping a switch. When configured properly, Time Machine will perform automatic backups of a Mac to storage devices such as connected external hard drives or networked Apple Time Capsules and macOS servers. These backups can be extremely valuable in the event that a Mac’s internal hard drive fails. However, the Time Machine utility provides some great additional features other than just preventing data loss. The Time Machine utility also provides the ability to view and restore the contents of a Mac’s filesystem through Apple’s familiar Finder file management interface just as it was hours, days, weeks and months into the past.

    By entering Time Machine through the Time Machine menu, one is able to navigate through snapshots of their Mac’s files with the timeline bar. While in Time Machine, specific files can be viewed and restored to the way they were at specific times in the past. This feature is particularly valuable for understanding how a specific file, or a Mac’s entire filesystem, has changed over time. For example, if one wanted to know how exactly they filled up their internal hard drive so fast and are now running out of storage space, the answer could be found with Time Machine by navigating the past of their Mac’s filesystem and viewing the files being added through time.

    Time machine can also be utilized to restore specific files to the way that they were at precise times in the past that have since been edited. This could be extremely useful for the writer, musician, or filmmaker that wants to restore their project’s draft to an earlier working version. Because Time Machine is an automatic backup application that runs in the background, it is hard to know when it is operating correctly and backing up your data. By frequently using these additional features one can quickly verify if Time Machine is working correctly and better understand the evolution of their Mac’s filesystem as time progresses. 

  • Identify Malware

    I’m pretty sure everyone has dealt with malware at some point in their lives, especially given the prominence of desktop and laptops that people are using more and more.

    As a tech person, malware is like my arch-nemesis. I know its weakness, but it never seems to go away! So today I’m going to go over a few common malwares on Mac that people may not know are actually bad for their computer or just plain unnecessary!

    1. MacKeeper

    MacKeeper is the #1 unnecessary program. MacKeeper and is essentially a placebo! It pretends to be helping your computer out by “scanning” it and telling you if you have “threats” but most of the time the “threats” are just normal files! MacKeeper seems to have a pretty convincing setup that can lure unsuspecting consumers into a false sense of security and make it seem like downloading the software is a benefit, when in reality it’s superfluous! MacKeeper is typically downloaded from pop-ups on various websites found on the web. MacKeeper is a very invasive malware, meaning it can mess with your entire operating system on a deep level.

    2. Mac Defender

    Mac Defender is probably one of the worst malwares. It constantly pops up telling you that you have “threats” and telling you to delete files when actually, your computer is fine…except you have this malware called Mac Defender! This one is actually a phishing scam. This software is not as much of a threat thanks to security updates from Apple, however I have still seen it on customer’s computers. It comes from a legitimate website advertisement that redirects people to Mac Defender, saying their computer is “infected”, and offers itself as a “solution” when in actuality it is the root of the problem! The goal of this malware was to steal people’s credit card information, which can be used for fraud! Not fun at all, to say the least.

    3. Dok

    Dok is a rather new piece of malware. This malware was extremely scary until Apple managed to block it out. One of the reasons people purchase Macs is because they tend to get viruses a lot less than Windows computers. This is a perfectly legitimate claim because Macs have built-in security measures not only in the software that is used to develop the operating system (macOS) but also has security features built in from Apple! So don’t worry, your Mac is double wrapped! However this particular piece of software was a direct result of hackers. The hackers in question managed to gain access to a legitimate Apple developer’s account and have this particular piece of software authenticated by Apple! Essentially this software was allowed by Apple to be installed on people’s computers, and the way it was spreading was through an email phishing campaign, pretending to be Apple and attempting to steal the victim’s information. Don’t be scared though, Apple has since fixed that and revoked the software’s authentication so it is blocked by Apple’s built-in security measures as of a few months ago!

    Thank you for reading!