Here are some settings you may want to check out if you are concerned about security on your Mac. Not all of these are necessary, but you may want to consider them.
Comments: 15 Responses to “10 Mac Settings To Make Your Mac More Secure”
Dr James Hatfield
4 years ago
I am 75 years old and I have needed this topic for a long time.
You are such a knowledgeable person for the Mac.
I so appreciate your video's
I will definitely be using the Firewall (I never knew this before)
Thank you
Russ Tolman
4 years ago
when Filevault is enabled it always shows every user and only requires a password. Is there any way to just show the boxes; user name an password.
I am on Mojave. sorry I for got to mention. Name and user name appears when I have logged out. It does not appear when I start up from a complete shutdown. Is that because I am on Mojave and not on Big Sur. I have external drives with Big Sur on them I use for testing. I will try those and see how that works. Thanks for all your time and help.
Russ Tolman
4 years ago
Just verified that from a shutdown in both Big Sur and Mojave user name and password do not appear. The User appears and only a password is required when Filevault is enabled; either from an Internal or external drive. I must be doing something wrong. Any ideas? thanks again.
Russ: I'm not sure I fully understand what you want here. Just play around with that one setting, it is the only you can can change, and set it to be the best way for you.
Hrz
4 years ago
Hi,
I really appreciate your video’s.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, really helpful.
Hrz
Hubert
4 years ago
Hi Gary. Re encryption. Files on my Macbook/Big Sur not encrypted. Neither on my external backup drive. Am considering to start backup afresh and encrypt. Will this be a problem (if HD on MacBook not encrypted) if I should have to use the Time Machine restore function? Kind regards Gary
Robert: Of course. It will work the same, as long as you don't lose the password.
Dave Hall
4 years ago
If your computer crashes big time and you have to start again on a other machine or new hard-drive, motherboard,etc, will encrypting your Time Machine back up lock you out of using your Backup to recover?
Dave: Not if you know the password you used to encrypt it.
Tom
3 years ago
Hi Gary. My issue is with enabling automatic software updates on my iMac. Enabling this feature has resulted in the massive destruction of my files in the Notes, Music and Photos Apps. I have lost thousands of photos because I had automatic software updates enabled. This has happened multiple times when Apple upgrades its whole operating system but not when Apple provides security updates. It's for that reason I have been reluctant to upgrade to Big Sur. Any comments or suggestions to help?
Tom: First, automatic updates will not do "whole operating system" updates, like going from Catalina to Big Sur, for instance. You always have to trigger those yourself. These would be updates like going from 11.1 to 11.2 or updating Safari or other apps, and security updates too.
As for why you have lost data when doing major updates in the past, I have no idea. That has certainly never happened to me and I haven't heard of it happening to others, at least not unless there has been another reason from the issue, like the user deciding to "wipe" the drive to do the update, or having physical hard drive issues.
I am 75 years old and I have needed this topic for a long time.
You are such a knowledgeable person for the Mac.
I so appreciate your video's
I will definitely be using the Firewall (I never knew this before)
Thank you
when Filevault is enabled it always shows every user and only requires a password. Is there any way to just show the boxes; user name an password.
thanks.
Russ: System Preferences, Users & Groups, Login Options, "Display login window as."
I am on Mojave. sorry I for got to mention. Name and user name appears when I have logged out. It does not appear when I start up from a complete shutdown. Is that because I am on Mojave and not on Big Sur. I have external drives with Big Sur on them I use for testing. I will try those and see how that works. Thanks for all your time and help.
Just verified that from a shutdown in both Big Sur and Mojave user name and password do not appear. The User appears and only a password is required when Filevault is enabled; either from an Internal or external drive. I must be doing something wrong. Any ideas? thanks again.
Russ: I'm not sure I fully understand what you want here. Just play around with that one setting, it is the only you can can change, and set it to be the best way for you.
Hi,
I really appreciate your video’s.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, really helpful.
Hrz
Hi Gary. Re encryption. Files on my Macbook/Big Sur not encrypted. Neither on my external backup drive. Am considering to start backup afresh and encrypt. Will this be a problem (if HD on MacBook not encrypted) if I should have to use the Time Machine restore function? Kind regards Gary
Hubert: As long as you don't forget the password to the Time Machine backup, it will work just like before.
Hi Gary!
If I choose to encrypt my TM backup, will I still be able to retrieve a deleted file or folder from there?
Thanks in advance!
Robert
Robert: Of course. It will work the same, as long as you don't lose the password.
If your computer crashes big time and you have to start again on a other machine or new hard-drive, motherboard,etc, will encrypting your Time Machine back up lock you out of using your Backup to recover?
Dave: Not if you know the password you used to encrypt it.
Hi Gary. My issue is with enabling automatic software updates on my iMac. Enabling this feature has resulted in the massive destruction of my files in the Notes, Music and Photos Apps. I have lost thousands of photos because I had automatic software updates enabled. This has happened multiple times when Apple upgrades its whole operating system but not when Apple provides security updates. It's for that reason I have been reluctant to upgrade to Big Sur. Any comments or suggestions to help?
Tom: First, automatic updates will not do "whole operating system" updates, like going from Catalina to Big Sur, for instance. You always have to trigger those yourself. These would be updates like going from 11.1 to 11.2 or updating Safari or other apps, and security updates too.
As for why you have lost data when doing major updates in the past, I have no idea. That has certainly never happened to me and I haven't heard of it happening to others, at least not unless there has been another reason from the issue, like the user deciding to "wipe" the drive to do the update, or having physical hard drive issues.