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Learn what's private online (not much)—and what to do about it! Version 5.0, updated May 28, 2024 Nearly everything you do say or do online can be recorded and scrutinized by advertisers, data brokers, and a long list of other people and organizations—often without your knowledge or consent. When your personal data falls into the wrong hands, you risk theft, embarrassment, and worse. But you can take steps to greatly improve your online privacy without sacrificing all your convenience. Nowadays, online privacy is extremely hard to come by. Corporations, governments, and scammers alike go out of their way to gather up massive amounts of your personal data. The situation feels bleak, but you have more control than you may realize. In this book, Joe Kissell helps you to develop a sensible, customized online privacy strategy. No matter what devices or operating systems you use, you’ll find practical advice that ordinary people need to handle common privacy needs. The massively revised fifth edition of Take Control of Your Online Privacy is packed with information that helps you get a handle on current topics in online privacy, including data breaches, hardware bugs, quantum computing, two-factor authentication, how ads can track you, and much more. You’ll receive savvy advice about topics such as these: Why worry? Find out who wants your private data, why they want it, and what that means to you. Determine your personal risk level, learn which privacy factors are most important to you, what you can and can't control, and what extra steps you can take if you're at a high risk of being personally targeted. Hear some good news (five steps you could take that would massively increase your online privacy)…and some bad news (why some of those steps may be difficult or infeasible). Remove personal information from Google and data brokers, though the process comes with limitations and gotchas. Discover Apple-Specific Privacy Features for users of Macs, iPhones, and iPads. Manage your internet connection: Secure your Wi-Fi network and keep your data from leaking out. Find advice on why and when to use a VPN or a network-connected privacy appliance, plus why you should be skeptical of VPN reviews. Browse and search the web: Avoid bogus websites, control your cookies and history, block ads, browse and search anonymously, and find out who is tracking you. Send and receive email: Find out how your email could be intercepted, learn techniques for encrypting email when necessary, get tips for sending email anonymously, and know when email is not the best way to communicate. Watch your social media: Understand the risks of sharing personal information online (especially on Facebook!), tweak your settings, and consider common-sense precautions. Talk and chat online: Consider to what extent any phone call, text message, or online chat is private, and find tips for enhancing privacy when using these channels. Protect your smart devices: Address privacy issues with "Internet of Things" devices like smart TVs, smart speakers, and home automation gear. Think mobile: Ponder topics like supercookies, location reporting, photo storage, spear phishing, and more as you decide how to handle privacy for a mobile phone or tablet. Help your children: As a parent, you may want to take extra steps to protect your children's privacy. Find a few key tips to keep in mind.
Preserve your data for posterity! Version 2.0.1, updated February 2, 2024 How do you want to be remembered? A will takes care of your physical possessions, but what about your digital life—photos, email, files, online accounts, and so on? If you want to pass your electronic ephemera on as part of your digital legacy, turn to tech expert Joe Kissell for advice on dealing with large quantities of data, file formats, media types, the need for a “digital executor,” and more.n We all have digital data that's important to us now, but a lot of it could also be important to our children, friends, and relatives long after we're gone. But you have to take concrete steps now to make sure that data is preserved in the right way and handled according to your wishes. It’s not all about posterity either, since following Joe’s advice will also help loved ones access your key accounts and important info if you’re temporarily incapacitated, which can happen at any time. The book will help you with these essential tasks: • Identify your key digital assets: online accounts, photos, audio files, videos, passwords, documents, email, and more. • Plan for each type of digital asset based on your priorities for today, for shortly after you are no longer around, and for posterity. Joe explains the ideal file formats to use, how to deal with social media sites, the best ways to digitize paper documents and photos, and strategies for sharing passwords with family members, among much else. • Communicate your wishes in a “digital will” and designate someone to be its “digital executor.” The book includes a template document that you can develop into a personalized digital will. • Preserve your data for the future. You’ll consider types of archival storage media, cloud-based storage services, backups, and what instructions to provide about maintaining your data as file formats and storage media types evolve. Whether you just want to ensure that your heirs get copies of your favorite family photos and a few key documents or you want to catalog and preserve tens of thousands of digital items, this book helps you make smart decisions about your digital legacy. Questions answered include: • What strategies can I use for sorting and preserving email and instant messages? • How can I ensure that my email account(s) will be available to those wrapping up my estate? • What if I have digital data that should be destroyed when I die? • What should I do with my huge photo collection (both digital and paper)? • How should I pass on control of my Apple, Google, and Microsoft accounts? • How can I make my passwords and passkeys available to those who will need them—but keep them private for now? • What should I think about when handing down purchased audio and video files? • What should happen to my Facebook account when I’m no longer around? • What choices are available for keeping my digital archive available and backed up? • How long should I expect archival media to last? • Should I write an autobituary? • Are online digital legacy services any good? • How will organizing all this stuff benefit me while I’m alive?
Overcome password frustration with Joe Kissell's expert advice! Version 4.1.1, updated March 21, 2024 Password overload has driven many of us to take dangerous shortcuts. If you think ZombieCat12 is a secure password, that you can safely reuse a password, or that no one would try to steal your password, think again! Overcome password frustration with expert advice from Joe Kissell! Passwords have become a truly maddening aspect of modern life, but with this book, you can discover how the experts handle all manner of password situations, including multi-factor authentication that can protect you even if your password is hacked or stolen. The book explains what makes a password secure and helps you create a strategy that includes using a password manager, working with oddball security questions like "What is your pet’s favorite movie?", and making sure your passwords are always available when needed. Joe helps you choose a password manager (or switch to a better one) in a chapter that discusses desirable features and describes nine different apps, with a focus on those that work in macOS, iOS, Windows, and Android. The book also looks at how you can audit your passwords to keep them in tip-top shape, use two-step verification and two-factor authentication, and deal with situations where a password manager can’t help. New in the Fourth Edition is complete coverage of passkeys, which offer a way to log in without passwords and are rapidly gaining popularity—but also come with a new set of challenges and complications. The book also now says more about passcodes for mobile devices. An appendix shows you how to help a friend or relative set up a reasonable password strategy if they're unable or unwilling to follow the recommended security steps, and an extended explanation of password entropy is provided for those who want to consider the math behind passwords. This book shows you exactly why: • 9-character passwords with upper- and lowercase letters, digits, and punctuation are not strong enough. • You cannot turn a so-so password into a great one by tacking a punctuation character and number on the end. • It is not safe to use the same password everywhere, even if it’s a great password. • A password is not immune to automated cracking because there’s a delay between login attempts. • Even if you’re an ordinary person without valuable data, your account may still be hacked, causing you problems. • You cannot manually devise “random” passwords that will defeat potential attackers. • Just because a password doesn’t appear in a dictionary, that does not necessarily mean that it’s adequate. • It is not a smart idea to change your passwords every month. • Truthfully answering security questions like “What is your mother’s maiden name?” does not keep your data more secure. • Adding a character to a 10-character password does not make it 10% stronger. • Easy-to-remember passwords like “correct horse battery staple” will not solve all your password problems. • All password managers are not pretty much the same. • Passkeys are beginning to make inroads, and may one day replace most—but not all!—of your passwords. • Your passwords will not be safest if you never write them down and keep them only in your head. But don’t worry, the book also teaches you a straightforward strategy for handling your passwords that will keep your data safe without driving you batty.
Keep your Mac, iPhone, and iPad safe! Version 1.0, published September 30, 2024 Secure your Mac, iPhone, or iPad against attacks from the internet, physical intrusion, and more with the greatest of ease. Glenn Fleishman guides you through protecting yourself from phishing, email, and other exploits, as well as network-based invasive behavior. Learn about built-in privacy settings, the Secure Enclave, FileVault, hardware encryption keys, sandboxing, privacy settings, Advanced Data Protection, Lockdown Mode, resetting your password when all hope seems lost, and much more.n The digital world is riddled with danger, even as Apple has done a fairly remarkable job at keeping our Macs, iPhones, and iPads safe. But the best security strategy is staying abreast of past risks and anticipating future ones. This book gives you all the insight and directions you need to ensure your Apple devices and their data are safe. You’ll learn about the enhanced Advanced Data Protection option for iCloud services, allowing you to keep all your private data inaccessible not just to thieves and unwarranted government intrusion, but even to Apple! Also get the rundown on Lockdown Mode to deter direct network and phishing attacks, passkeys and hardware secure keys for the highest level of security for Apple Account and website logins, and Mac-specific features such as encrypted startup volumes and FileVault’s login protection process. Security and privacy are tightly related, and this book helps you understand how macOS, iOS, and iPadOS have increasingly compartmentalized and protected your personal data, and how to allow only the apps you want to access specific folders, your contacts, and other information. Here’s what this book has to offer: • Master the privacy settings on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad • Calculate your level of risk and your tolerance for it • Use Apple’s Stolen Device Protection feature for iPhone that deflects thieves who extract your passcode through coercion or misdirection. • Learn why you’re asked to give permission for apps to access folders and personal data on your Mac • Moderate access to your audio, video, screen actions, and other hardware inputs and outputs • Get to know the increasing layers of system security deployed over the past few years • Prepare against a failure or error that might lock you out of your device • Share files and folders securely over a network and through cloud services • Upgrade your iCloud data protection to use end-to-end encryption • Control other low-level security options to reduce the risk of someone gaining physical access to your Mac—or override them to install system extensions • Understand FileVault encryption and protection for Mac, and avoid getting locked out • Investigate the security of a virtual private network (VPN) to see whether you should use one • Learn how the Secure Enclave in Macs with a T2 chip or M-series Apple silicon affords hardware-level protections • Dig into ransomware, the biggest potential threat to Mac users (though rare in practice) • Discover recent security and privacy technologies, such as Lockdown Mode and passkeys
Set up a rock-solid backup strategy so that you can restore quickly and completely, no matter what catastrophe arises. Version 4.4.1, updated March 27, 2023 This book helps you design a sensible backup strategy, choose and configure the best backup hardware and software for your needs, and understand how to make your backups as painless as possible. Creating and maintaining a solid backup plan is essential to anyone who uses a Mac, in order to prevent the loss of important data if disaster strikes—whether through hardware or software failure, theft, human error, or other mishap. In Take Control of Backing Up Your Mac, Fourth Edition, tech expert Joe Kissell explains how to design a sensible backup strategy, choose and configure the best backup hardware and software for your needs, and understand how to make your backups as painless as possible. His advice is equally useful to those who have never had a backup system and those whose backup systems are in need of an update. The fourth edition, a major rewrite, fully delves into the new challenges presented by Ventura, Monterey, Big Sur, M-series Macs, and the ever-changing landscape of Mac backup hardware, software, and cloud services. It features entirely rethought advice about bootable (and non-bootable) duplicates, backup media, and disk formats, as well as changes in Time Machine and the weird world of APFS snapshots. This book covers macOS 10.14 Mojave through macOS 13 Ventura. Using this book, you’ll learn how to: • Design (or update) the ideal backup system: If you’re starting from scratch, you’ll find all the information necessary to assemble a reliable and easy-to-use backup system. If you’re updating an existing system, you’ll learn about what’s new in hardware, software, and online services that might affect the way you back up your Mac in the future. • Choose backup software: Apple’s Time Machine is both free and easy to use, but it’s not the best choice for everyone, and even if you do use Time Machine, you’ll certainly want to supplement it with other tools. You’ll learn about key features to look for in a backup app and find tips on using several popular tools. You’ll also discover the pros and cons of cloud backup services, and get help choosing the right one. (An online appendix covers dozens of apps and services.) • Shop for hardware: Depending on your needs and goals, you may need one or more external SSDs or hard drives, but the range of options (sizes, interfaces, speeds, and more) can be bewildering. Joe helps you find the best backup hardware, whether it’s individual SSDs or hard drives, RAIDs, NAS devices, or other options. • Make and maintain backups: Once you’ve selected hardware and software, you’ll need to know how to make your first backup, set up your backups to run unattended, and test them regularly to make sure they’re working as they should. This includes both versioned backups (which contain old file versions and deleted files) and—for some users—bootable or non-bootable (data-only) clones. And, you’ll learn about strategies for keeping extra backups offsite. • Operate Time Machine: If you choose Time Machine for versioned backups, you’ll learn how to back up and restore individual files, app-specific data (such as contacts), and even an entire disk. You’ll also discover why and how to encrypt Time Machine backups, how APFS snapshots work (inside and outside Time Machine), and what to do if Time Machine misbehaves. • Deal with unusual backup needs: If you deal with exceptionally large files (such as audio and video files), spend a lot of time on the road away from your usual backup hardware, run Windows on your Mac, or rely on cloud services to store essential data, you’ll want to take extra (or different) steps to make sure everything is safely backed up. • Manage your media: What happens when a backup drive fills up, or becomes so old that you worry about its future reliability? What if you want to archive older files for posterity, but not necessarily maintain them as part of your daily backups? Joe explains how to deal with media management tasks such as these. • Recover lost data: Backing up data can be easy, but restoring it is often more challenging. When you discover that data is missing—whether due to a disk error, theft, or a simple mistake—you need to know the exact steps needed to recover it and get back to work as soon as possible.
Work faster, increase your efficiency, and have more fun with automation! Version 5.0, updated January 29, 2024 Ever wondered if automation could make your life easier? In Take Control of Automating Your Mac, Fifth Edition, Mac expert Joe Kissell shows you how to save time and aggravation by using numerous built-in macOS tools, as well as helpful third-party apps, to automate routine tasks and procedures.n Looking for ways to work smarter and faster with your Mac? In this updated and expanded fifth edition of his popular guide to Mac automation, Joe Kissell shows how anyone, at any level of experience, can save time and effort, and avoid unnecessary errors, by using automation techniques that range from the simplest keyboard shortcut to the most complicated script. In this book, Joe teaches you how to automate routine tasks in a wide variety of ways. You can begin by making the most of productivity features such as Siri, Spotlight (for launching apps), and text replacement—and then move on to the more sophisticated automation tools built into macOS, such as Shortcuts, Automator, AppleScript, services, and shell scripts. In addition, Joe gives extensive information about third-party automation apps that can make a huge difference to your work efficiency, such as Keyboard Maestro, TextExpander, OmniGraffle, and many more. As an extra bonus, the book includes coupons for discounts on seven automation apps! Whether you’re new to automation, you just need a refresher, or you’re experienced with automation but want to go deeper, this book can teach you the skills you need to automate with ease. Take back your time, work more efficiently, and have more fun with your Mac, with Take Control of Automating Your Mac, Fifth Edition! With this book, you’ll learn how to: • Get started with the built-in macOS automation tools, including Shortcuts, Automator, AppleScript, and shell scripts • Take full advantage of input devices to save clicks and keystrokes • Customize toolbars and your Touch Bar to put hard-to-find controls at your fingertips • Use your voice to control your Mac with Siri and Voice Control/Dictation Commands • Automate text expansion for faster, more consistent typing • Control the Finder with a launcher and by organizing files with Hazel • Supercharge your clipboard to remember and reformat previous copies • Write macros in Microsoft Office and Nisus Writer Pro • Create rules to file email automatically in Apple Mail and Outlook • Log in to websites faster with a password manager • Automate cloud services with IFTTT and Zapier • Set up automatic backup and syncing • Run tasks automatically with Login Items, Calendar events, or launchd • Use Omni Automation for JavaScript-based automation tasks • Control nearly anything on your Mac with Keyboard Maestro
Meet the latest version of macOS Version 1.2, released March 20, 2024 macOS 14 Sonoma makes your Mac more secure and easier to use, with a wide array of new and improved features. Learn how to upgrade your Mac from an earlier version of macOS, find your way around Sonoma, use new features, and discover extensive changes to built-in apps such as Safari and Messages. Sonoma is Apple's latest effort to make Macs even more powerful and easier to use, and Joe Kissell is back with a complete guide to the upgrade process, as well as an in-depth look at what's new. People participating in video calls or sharing their screens via FaceTime, Zoom, and similar apps have some helpful new tools at their disposal. Widgets can now live on your desktop. Messages adds usability features, Safari offers greater privacy and flexibility, and Notes includes hyperlinks and better PDF support. Take Control of Sonoma walks you through all these changes and many more. This book teaches you things like: • How to tell whether your Mac is compatible with Sonoma • Steps you should take before upgrading • How to perform an in-place upgrade—or do a clean install and migrate your old data from a backup • What's new in the System Settings app • Using new Safari 17 features, such as profiles that separate your Safari data into multiple contexts, turning any website into a standalone app, sharing passwords and passkeys securely, and browsing the web with greater privacy • How to put widgets on your desktop • Navigating long, multi-person Messages conversations more easily, using filters to narrow down searches, sharing your location (or requesting someone else’s) within Messages, and more easily working with stickers • Creating categories in Reminders to organize your lists, and getting alerts before a scheduled task is supposed to occur • Viewing complete PDFs within Notes and easily creating link that take you from one note to another • Improving your privacy and security by securely sharing passwords and passkeys and using information from your keychain in apps besides Safari • Small but interesting changes throughout macOS, such as accessibility improvements, a less-annoying Autocorrect feature (plus inline typing predictions), AutoFill for PDFs, and new capabilities for AirPods, dictation, screen savers, wallpaper, your lock screen, and screen sharing (among other features) • Improvements to bundled apps, including FaceTime, Find My, Home, Mail, Music, Photos, and Siri
Get up to speed quickly with macOS 15! Version 1.1, published September 16, 2024 macOS 15 Sequoia is one of Apple's most ambitious updates in years. Along with the usual range of new features, it introduces Apple Intelligence, which will permeate many parts of the system and fundamentally change the sorts of things you can do with your Mac and how you do them. This book is your complete guide to what's new in Sequoia—and what Apple has planned for future updates, too. Sequoia is an unusual release in that the first version (15.0) has only a fraction of its promised features. Version 15.1, which appears to be on track to ship not long thereafter, will bring with it the first tranche of Apple Intelligence capabilities, and even more will roll out over the coming months. Joe Kissell tells you everything you need to know, including a thorough walk-through of the upgrade process. You'll learn about new window tiling features, iPhone mirroring, videoconferencing tools, the much-discussed Passwords app, how Siri is becoming more powerful, new ways of formatting messages in the Messages app, additional features in Notes, and much more. This book teaches you things like: • How to tell whether your Mac is compatible with Sequoia • Steps you should take before upgrading • How to perform an in-place upgrade—or do a clean install and migrate your old data from a backup • What's new in the System Settings app • Using new Safari 18 features, such as page highlights, a redesigned Reader view, a tool to remove distracting page elements, and a new video viewer • What Apple Intelligence can do in macOS 15.1 (including Siri changes, writing tools, and image generation) and what's coming later (for example, ChatGPT features) • The many ways you can now tile your windows, and how to turn off the annoying bits • What the new Passwords app can and can't do (and why it probably won't replace your current password manager) • Using the new iPhone Mirroring app to interact with your iPhone right on your Mac's screen • How to enhance video calls (using apps like FaceTime, Zoom, or Slack) with background replacement and better screen sharing controls • Ways to format text and add animations in Messages, plus smart replies, scheduled replies, and emoji or sticker tapbacks • New ways to use Notes, including new text formatting options, transcription of live audio, collapsible sections, and text highlighting • How to use Math Notes for calculations without a calculator or spreadsheet (and not just in the Notes app) • Small but interesting changes throughout macOS, such as accessibility improvements and new capabilities for AirPods • Improvements to bundled apps, including Calculator, Calendar, Freeform, Home, Mail, Maps, Photos, and Weather Joe plans to update this book several times in the coming months to reflect the ongoing changes in Sequoia.
Manage your information with the powerful tools in DEVONthink 3 Version 1.15, updated December 29, 2023 This book teaches you the basics of DEVONthink 3 and DEVONthink To Go for iOS/iPadOS. You’ll learn how to find your way around, get information into and out of DEVONthink, and make the most of the app's key features.n With the information-management app DEVONthink 3, you no longer have to swim in a sea of web bookmarks, email receipts, RSS feeds, scanned memos, and downloaded bank statements. DEVONthink stores your digital documents and clippings, helps you scan and store paper documents, and serves as home base for organizing and viewing all your information. But mastering all that power can take effort, and this book—created in partnership with DEVONtechnologies—has the real-world advice you need to understand how DEVONthink can bring order to your information. You’ll also learn how to extend your DEVONthink experience beyond your main Mac with detailed coverage of the many ways you can sync DEVONthink databases to other Macs and to iOS/iPadOS devices using the DEVONthink To Go app. After covering essential DEVONthink vocabulary and concepts, including the completely reworked user interface of DEVONthink 3, Joe helps you start using DEVONthink effectively. You'll learn how to: • Decide how many databases you need and set them up • Determine whether to input or index data • Configure where incoming data will go • Import data from many different apps • Import data from a scanner, including OCR options • Use grouping and tagging to organize data • Add and work with DEVONthink 3's expanded metadata capabilities • Use simple (and sophisticated) techniques for searching • Create smart groups that automatically gather newly imported data • Use smart rules and AppleScript to automate countless activities within DEVONthink • Create documents in plain text, HTML, Markdown, and more • Edit documents in DEVONthink (or externally) • Find the best way to sync DEVONthink data with other devices • Work with reminders, smart templates, and other sophisticated tools • Convert documents between formats • Effectively use the DEVONthink To Go iOS/iPadOS app • Share DEVONthink documents with other people • Export documents from DEVONthink • Back up and maintain healthy databases Questions answered in the book include: • What is DEVONthink good for, and what should be left to other apps? • What kinds of data can I import? (Short answer: Nearly everything!) • How can I display my data in a way that works well for me? • When I import documents from different sources, where do they end up, and why? • Is it better to sort imported documents right away, or leave them for later? • Should I group my data, tag it, or both? • What are duplicates and replicants, and how can I tell them apart? • Which types of data can be created or edited within DEVONthink? • How do I make my DEVONthink database accessible via the web using DEVONthink Server? • How do I move documents out of DEVONthink using the Share feature? • How do I use DEVONthink To Go on my iOS/iPadOS device? Plus, we now plan to update this free book approximately four times per year for the foreseeable future to cover ongoing changes in DEVONthink and add new tips and advice!
Learn how to prepare a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with a maximum of enjoyment and a minimum of stress, snafus, and sleeplessness! Version 2.0, updated October 22, 2023 Joe Kissell trades his trackpad for a whisk and brings his knack for breaking complex topics into simple steps to the task of preparing a full-bore Thanksgiving dinner. With Joe's help and extensively tested recipes, cooking a complete Thanksgiving feast can be both delicious and stress-free! If you'd like your Thanksgiving preparations to go smoothly (and who wouldn't?), turn to experienced tech writer and foodie Joe Kissell for help. At least half the battle is a good plan, and Joe provides you with a customizable plan that gets you organized, helps you figure out what you need to buy, and prevents last-minute problems. Once the planning and shopping are done, follow Joe's detailed, tested recipes for Thanksgiving dinner: roast turkey with gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry relish, candied sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Read this ebook to learn the answers to questions such as: • What type of turkey should I buy? • Is there a fast way to make cranberry relish? • What's the secret to making perfect gravy? • How do you deal with a raw turkey, and which end is the neck? • See the FAQ tab above for more questions and some answers.