How Secure Is Your Password?

I just read an interesting article from lifehacker.com that can be found here regarding the security of passwords. I know many of you have seen at least one of the crazy passwords that BestMacs has made for secure use, and many of you may have probably wondered why? Well, this article highlights the reasons why passwords like the ones we use are so secure.

One thing I wanted to highlight is a cool table on the site showing how long certain passwords would take to break by using a program that would try every possible combination of characters. The table breaks up the passwords into character length and whether or not the password uses all possible characters including capitol letters, symbols and numbers compared to just lowercase letters. The table is fully available from the link above however, I wanted to highlight some interesting things I found from the table. Namely, the difference in time between cracking a 7 character password that is only lowercase characters which is 2.23 hours, compared to one that is 7 characters but uses lots of characters which takes 2.21 years a difference of about 2 years, give or take 2 hours. Even more staggering is that when a password uses 9 characters and is composed of symbols, capitol letters and numbers it can take a computer 20 millennia to run through every combination until it finds the right one.

What is so interesting about the article is that it was written from the mindset of an unethical hacker, detailing exactly how he would attempt to find a users password and for each instance he also explains how the end user can safe guard against it. So if you wanted to know how to better protect yourself password wise or are just curious about all things technological, this article is one that would be good to check out with a lot of practical value.

10.6.3 Out Now

10.6.3 is now out for all of you Snow Leopard users out there. This update fixes a plethora of bugs, and weighs in at almost 800MB. I havent read about any problems with the update and am personally running it on my system. Hit the more link to get more specific info about what the update entails. Read the rest of this entry »

Team Changes

If you’re a big NFL fan like I am, you know that it’s free agency and teams are changing right now.  Well, it’s no different at BestMacs.

Last Friday was the Molly Morris Parker’s last day at BestMacs.  Molly joined us two years ago and went from a simple internship all the way to handling the management of scheduling and follow-up with clients.  Many of you were big fans of her “Weekly Word” series in this blog.  Ultimately, Molly needed more time for her increasing school load at KU and her blossoming business, The Paper Hat on Etsy.  We thank her for her good work and wish her well in her new business!

Friday was also the first day for our newest team member, Jamie Davis.  Jamie comes to us with just a ton of leadership experience and a decade of managing chaotic teams, not to mention her husband and two young daughters!  Every one of her references used the phrase “detail oriented.”  And in our first staff meeting, she was already evaluating our workflow, looking for improvements.  But above all else, her customer care skills are what you’ll notice in the coming days.  We’ll have a short bio on the website soon.

You may end up talking to Jamie on the phone as early as Monday morning, so, please say “hi” and welcome her to your BestMacs team.  You can also drop her an email to jamie@bestmacs.com.

This Week’s Word: Coverflow

Are you familiar with Coverflow? Coverflow is an interface for browsing the files on your computer, iPod and iPhone. It lets you preview the files before you open them and “flip” through them. This is really useful for photos or any other document where you just need to see it to decide if that is the document that you want to open.

To activate Coverflow, when you have the finder window open, click on the Coverflow icon on the upper left. Check out the attached screenshot with the icon circling to show you exactly what I am referring to.

Then you can just scroll through your documents to find what you need. If the window is too small, just pull the bar between the Coverflow images and your list of files down.

There is your super short weekly word! As always, please comment with any questions.

Quicken Refresh Not So Refreshing

Many of you will recall that the last version of Intuit’s personal financial software came out in 2007. So here we sit, 2010, and we finally have a new version of Quicken for Mac. But was it worth the wait?

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Think Big, Topeka!

Maybe you haven’t noticed this as much as I have being that I didn’t grow up here – or maybe you’re more cognizant of it, but Topeka has a bit of an image problem. I’m not saying it’s based in anything real, but remember “perception dictates reality.” For example, back in our retail days, I often chatted with Topeka clients who were very happy to drive to Lawrence to get their Mac serviced, citing that coming to Lawrence was a treat and that they would enjoy dining in downtown. A suggestion in the opposite direction for Lawrencians usually results in sneers or a snooty comment.

What’s so bad about Topeka? I know there’s some neighborhoods that are a little less than pleasant. Save for our friends at Wolfe’s, there’s not a lot to their downtown area. You know I get a thrill out of regularly sending checks to the State. (Just kidding, guys, please don’t audit me.) Is it that it reeks of politicians? It’s Phelps, isn’t it?

Well, here’s something to get excited about in Topeka. There’s a movement growing – and it’s already bigger than anything similar from any other community – that if they meet their goal, Topeka will likely experience a renaissance of new business, new jobs, new economic growth, and all of the great stuff that comes with it. Put all that together and suddenly Topeka’s image problem goes away.

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This Week’s Word: Screen Shot

Screen shots are a small, easy task to do when you are having a computer issue, but taking a screen shot can be huge when it comes to helping our technicians diagnose an issue. A screen shot is like a photograph of what is on your screen right now. If you are previously a Windows user, you may be familiar with screenshots by another name “Print Screen.”
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This Week’s Word: USB

USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. There’s a pretty good chance that you are using a USB port on your computer right now. That’s because USB ports are used for printers, keyboards, mice, external hard drives, cameras and many other devices. The USB ports on your computer are small and rectangular. They are also typically marked with the symbol at the left.

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Macworld 2010: Don’t Count It Out Yet

When Apple announced at last year’s Macworld Expo that they would not be present at MWSF 2010, the reaction was grim. Many of us remember what happened when IDG (the producers of the show) and Apple squabbled over the summertime East coast show. Apple wanted it in NYC, IDG wanted it in Boston. The show proceeded in Boston, without Apple’s presence. And within 2 years it was gone.

It was only logical to assume that San Francisco’s Macworld Expo would suffer the same fate.

I was not on the East Coast when those Macworld Expos devolved into what one pundit called “glorified user group meetings.” Thus I have no idea if MWSF is heading down that same path. Here’s what I do know:

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This Week’s Word: Keychain Access

Last week, I gave you some tips on coming up with great passwords and this week, I am going to tell you how to save those passwords. A great way to save the passwords is an application called “Keychain Access.”

The good thing about Keychain Access is that your computer is already using it. Your computer securely saves passwords in the Keychain automatically. If you access an application which Keychain Access has a password saved for, it will ask you if it can use that password. You have the option to Allow it once, Always Allow it, or Deny it.

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