Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Easy Access To The Password of Mac 10.6 and 10.7

Passware, a company specializing in the recovery of encrypted data or circumvent passwords, advertises a security vulnerability in Mac OS X that Leo has not filled. This, says the president of Passware, you can recover the password of the user account of a machine. This extraction involves, however, having first physical access to the machine and then use the FireWire port and hoping that a basic control system is disabled. If the conditions are met, the application of Passware retrieves an image from memory and to find information. The operation would take only a few minutes, regardless of the complexity of the password and the activation state of FileVault. This is one of the new features Forensic Kit 11, the application Passware sells (just under $ 1000) for example to government authorities, private investigators and others who need access to machines locked. This tool is developed on Windows. This version also allows extracting the contents of the Keychain Access in Mac OS X. The multiple modes of access to the password limit the risks. Passware also states that its approach does not work if the user disables the one hand, the automatic opening of the account (the password is not stored in memory in this case) and also if switched off his machine rather than leaving it on standby. This vulnerability is also present in Snow Leopard, and having informed Passware says Apple. In a statement to Cult of Mac, the president of the company added that the security flaw has been fixed in Windows 7.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

How to solve problems with network drives in OS X Lion

Several of you complain in the forums of MacGeneration about the problems with network drives under OS X Lion. If you use a NAS to perform Time Machine backups, you may have noticed that Time Machine cannot use your network volume. In OS X Lion In fact, Time Machine is only compatible with the communication protocol Netatalk 2.0, that do not support all NAS. Drobo announced that the FS series would soon be updated to ensure its full compatibility with Lion and Time Machine. If you have a Synology NAS, perform the update of the latest DiskStation Manager 3.1, or go to DSM 3.2ß in case of problems. Check with the manufacturer of your equipment the arrival of a firmware update. If, however, this update should arrive soon, you can always re-access AFP, as Apple explains in a sheet.

Chrome Fits Gently The Problems In Leo Compatibility



Chrome users spent on Lion will have noticed that some of the new OS are poorly or not supported by the browser. The scroll bar does not take into account the settings of the OS for its display, full screen mode is not suitable (but also gestures are not supported). Chrome has a full screen, but it does not behave as standard. Several adaptations of the software are in progress, as reported by Sundar Pichai of Google to TechCrunch.

Chrome currently displays many of the new button switches to full screen. But in this state, the browser will not display the toolbar. It does not propose the button to leave the full screen; it must be done by the menu or keyboard shortcut. Then, in Mission Control Chrome full screen is displayed among the other applications in the upper area of the screen.

Regarding the lack of toolbar, one of the developers of Chrome reminded that this presentation is desired. Google wants to give up space on page and the bar is displayed at the approach of the mouse. We are then in what amounts to a format. And the idea of adding a preference to software sorrow too.

In contrast, Safari offers an in-between, this is to maximize its display, but without depriving the user of the button bar and its tabs. Initially, the developer engaged in the discussion Chrome has refused to return to this established principle. Through the exchanges, the position has evolved. The adoption of the full screen, it requires a little work because the button bar of Chrome does not use the standard resources of Mac OS X.

Google has initially removed the full screen button as it appeared in Lion does not lead to a standard behavior. What can the user aback? The withdrawal is effective now since the latest beta. The scroll bar also has it normally. Then the developers will seek to stick as close to full screen mode as Lion, and test the principle of a button bar that can be displayed in this presentation.

In parallel, a participant in the debate has compiled a version of Chromium start offering more standard behavior.

Another planned development, this time on the support of gestures to move between page views. In the final version of Leo, this movement is, by default, with two fingers instead of three (it's option adjustable in the preferences of Mac OS X). Chrome, however, does not understand the gesture with two fingers. We must therefore modify the basic settings of the OS if you use a Magic Trackpad. There is also a developer - who has in the meantime with Trackpad Magic - said to have addressed the problem.

App: CheckUp, monitor the health of your Mac

CheckUp is a utility to obtain information on your Mac and your system to display an activity monitor on the CPU utilization of your disks, network or memory.

This application, published by the company ADNX.com, has a graphical interface rather original and enjoyable. Once launched, CheckUp just put a window type drawer on the side of your screen. It provides access to various features of the software through the icons.

These icons allow you to display, respectively, from top to bottom:

General information on your Mac (serial number, OS, IP address, etc ...)
  • A monitoring of the occupation of processors in your machine
  • A monitoring of the filling ratio and the use of internal and external hard drives
  • Monitoring network, display speeds for sending and receiving data, and the various connections made by web applications launched
  • A list of the different processes running on your Mac
  • A summary of data (number of apps installed, many widget, fonts, etc ...)
  • A history of recent crash
It is possible to reduce the view of the drawer or to access the software through the preferences icons at the bottom of the drawer.

When clicking on an icon, a new drawer opens, displaying some of the information available. It is possible to enlarge the window again to get more information by clicking on the button at the top left of the drawer.

Example of top drawer and the window for more info Data for part:

CheckUp But not content to simply display information. Indeed, this app has a warning tool interesting. As soon as it detects a problem, the first tray icons are colored orange to alert you the trouble.

It is then enough to go to the appropriate window for the details of the error. Note that it is even possible to set some alerts: alert me from X files in the trash, if the computer does not have enough RAM, etc. ...

In summary:

Checkup, keeps an eye on the health of your Mac
Version 3 ~ 13 MB

7-day full demo, available for 29 euros on the publisher's website

Checkup Download for Mac OS x 10.6

App: AccessMenuBarApps, expands the menu bar

AccessMenuBarApps is a simple application that minimizes the items in the menu bar to allow access to all the icons of software present in this one. If you are fond of small and useful practical applications, you may have noticed an increasing number of apps just put their little icon in the menu bar of Mac OS X. If this provides quick access quite interesting, but with the proliferation of applications installed, this portion of the Finder quickly becomes cluttered..And for those who has a small screen, some icons are sometimes marked with the menus of the application first. AccessMenuBarApps every living thing has a solution to this problem, but ultimately quite convenient. Indeed, the application menu of the app is minimized, so that when we call it in the foreground, the menu bar is full of space, and therefore shows the icons may be hidden.



History of making its use a little more practice, the application can be called from a simple keyboard shortcut, Shift + Space by default, configured from the preferences of the software. At this same place, it is also possible to activate / deactivate the sound played for each call AccessMenuBarApps (recommended to avoid going crazy) or enable / disable the option to call the software to the forefront in "tapping" twice the cursor against the top of the screen.

In summary:

AccessMenuBarApps, uses a trick stupid but convenient to clutter the menu bar
Version 2.0 ~ 1.7 MB



Freeware
AccessMenuBarApps download for Mac OS X 10.6+