Tip, Tricks and Articles for iPad, iPhone, Mac
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Many Mac users think that, by having a password protecting their access to their Mac, they are making their Mac's contents inaccessible to those who should not have access - for example, if the Mac is stolen.

The truth is that, for the majority of Macs, the password will not prevent such access.​ Your Mac is still vulnerable to unauthorised access if it falls into evil hands.

In my daily check of my Apple News app, where I have set up a 'topic' that provides me with daily 'computing and information technology news', I saw a concerning article about the release of over 700 million email addresses online.  

For some of these email addresses, passwords were also available - hacked from who knows where!

Here is the article for anyone wanting to read about this:

• 711 million email addresses ensnared in "largest" malware spambot    

Have you been 'pwned'

​As mentioned in the above article, it is possible to visit a website that tells you if your email address is available on any known list of 'hacked' email addresses - including this new massive list.

The website is haveibeenpwned.com.  Just enter your email address to see if it is on any list.  

I was surprised to find my own iTandCoffee email address was on this new list!  It was not on any list last time I checked, so this leaves me wondering which of the many online services I use has been 'hacked'.

So as a precaution, I have changed my password for the impacted email account, and for other key accounts that use the email address.  

​Now I need to see where else I have used this email address, and decide if password resets are needed!  Ow.  

At least I have a different password for every online account, which minimises any 'damage' if anyone does have more than the email address. And I have put all these different passwords into my 'password safe' on my iPhone. This means that I always have easy - and secure - access to my passwords whenever I need them, either from my iPhone or iPad.

(If you are an iTandCoffee Club member, you can watch the members-only video about how to set up a password safe on your iPhone/iPad. Here is the link to this video» 
If you are not yet a member, find out more about The iTandCoffee Club here »)

How to change your online passwords

If you need to change your password for your various online accounts, here are links to the relevant pages on some of the important ones:

• Google:  myaccount.google.com/security
• Hotmail/Live/Outlook.com: account.microsoft.com
• iCloud: appleid.apple.com
• Bigpond: See the details on this Telstra webpage.  Note that, if you change your main account's password, you may need to change some modem settings (if you have an ADSL internet connection).
• Paypal - See details on this Paypal help page
• ​eBay - reg.ebay.com.au/reg/ChangePwd

Need further advice or help?

​If you need advice on how to change any other online passwords, just leave a comment below.  Or if you would like assistance with making changes to your passwords, book a time with iTandCoffee.  Book online here or call 03 9886 0814 or 1300 885 420.

So many people I speak to tell me that they use the same password for more than one of their online accounts - their Mail, their iCloud/Apple ID, their PayPay, their eBay.  Or they use only a couple, or minor variations of the same password.

They tell me that this is the only way they can remember passwords.  In many cases, this password is also very simple and easy to guess.   

My advice is always to reconsider this approach, and to tighten up their security - advice that I know is rarely heeded.  It is all just too hard.

An article that I saw last week re-iterated the serious danger of using one password across all your online accounts.  It is worth reading, then considering whether it is time to get to work on updating those passwords.

Here is the article:

• ​This is what can happen if you use the same passwords over and over

Due to popular demand, we are going to re-run on a workshop that we have run previously on the topic of passwords.

At our next Free Friday for iTandCoffee Club members* on August 25th at 12pm, the topic will be 

This has been a common problem encountered by so many iTandCoffee clients.  In fact, we have already had seen two clients this week who have had the problem (and it's only Tuesday!).

Contact iTandCoffee on 1300 885 420 if you need help to solve this problem.

​If you are 'not so local' and are not yet a member, why not join The iTandCoffee Club to gain access to our huge library of great tips like this.​

Every week, there are new reports of major security breaches. Recently, there were reports that cloud storage company Dropbox was a victim of a major hack in which 68 million account email addresses and passwords were potentially compromised.

Here is an article about this breach from Macworld.

If you have a Dropbox account and have received the notification to change your password, I would strongly recommend that you act on this as soon as possible. 

If you have not yet set up something called 'two-step verification' on your Dropbox account, now is the time to do this as well.  

What is two step verification?

iTandCoffee regularly comes across clients who do not know the passcode for the Restrictions area of their (or their child's) iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.  

The consequence of this is that it is not possible to change any Restrictions already established, and it is not possible to easily 'reset' the device to its factory settings - for example, when passing on the device to someone else.

So, what do you do if an i-Device has an unknown Restrictions passcode?

iTandCoffee can assist with this.  We have a special tool that allows the Restrictions passcode to be retrieved.

If you would like iTandCoffee to determine the Restrictions passcode of a device that you own, please contact us on 1300 885 420 or email bookings@itandcoffee.com.au to arrange an appointment time.  (iTandCoffee is in Glen Iris, Melbourne.)

Have you ever thought about what would happen to all your 'digital assets' when you are no longer around?  

By this I mean access to content on your mobile devices and computer (which, I hope, are password protected), email and other online accounts, content stored in the cloud, and more.

Do those you love know your all your passwords?  (Mine certainly don't.)

If not, do you want those you leave behind to have access to these passwords and all the content that they protect when you die?

I know this is something that I considered when we re-did our wills last year.  In fact, I have left a list of my digital passwords with my solicitor, to be passed on to my family if 'kick the bucket'.

Here is an article that I saw in this week's Choice magazine on this very topic.  It is thought provoking, and well worth a read.

• Digital estate planning - CHOICE                                                                

​.

I had an email from a client this week that raised something that, I have to admit, I had not thought to cover when running recent 'Keeping kids safe on iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch' information sessions at schools.

This client asked me if I use my fingerprint to access a particular Password Keeper app on my iPhone.  She was concerned about whether she should do the same on her own device.

In her email, she said that her kids know her device passcode, and had even set up their own fingerprints on her device, so that they could easily unlock Mum's phone.

I know from my experiences with helping lots of mums and grandmums with their i-Devices that she is not alone in having kids that have guessed (or been given) the passcode for the parental device.  

But now, with the newer iPads and iPhones, there is the possibility that any child accessing your device could set themselves up with a fingerprint to access the device.  

Even if you decide to change your passcode to 'lock them out', the child would still be able to use their saved fingerprint to unlock the device.

Not sure I like that idea.  If I had kids accessing my device, I would be sure to remove any fingerprints that were not mine.  In fact, it would be a rule that, in using my device, they agree not to even try to save their own fingerprint to the device.

Does the fingerprint unlock more than just the iPad/iPhone?

Before the advent of fingerprint technology on i-Devices, a child who could unlock a parent's i-Device would then need to also know the separate passwords/passcodes that have been set up for any other password-protected apps and features on the device - for example, a Banking app, a Password Keeper app, iTunes downloads and more.

These days, however, it is possible to have your fingerprint unlock protected apps and approve iTunes downloads - a great help for those of us who hate entering different passwords in different places.  On my own iPhone and iPad, I have certainly enabled this fingerprint unlock feature on any applicable app, as well as for iTunes and App store purchases .

However, if my kids had my device's passcode, I would certainly not enable fingerprint access to any of these password-protected apps or to allow fingerprint approval of iTunes download.  

It's not that I don't trust them.  I would just rather protect sensitive information and only allow my bank accounts to being accessed by me.  And I don't want any accidental deletion of files and content that are important to me.

Do your kids know your device's passcode?  Do you allow fingerprint access to apps and approval of iTunes purchases on that device? 

​What advice would you give my client?                                                   

This article appeared recently in The Age, and talks about the issue of whether or not you should monitor what your child does, uses and says on their mobile device.  

​How far should you go in trying to keep your child 'safe' on these devices?  

• Should you stalk your child's smartphone?        

The guide can also be downloaded as a PDF from the iTandCoffee online store, at a cost of $9.90.