OnDeckTech May 05 Newsletter
In this issue: Tiger & Beware of Phishing
Tiger Tamed
RawwRR! With the new Macintosh operating system called Tiger, OSX version 10.4.0, due out at the end of the month, we’ve had many questions about when to order, and when (and even if) to upgrade. Tiger is $129 through retail channels, the same price as the last two major system upgrades from Apple (10.2 and 10.3), and is available to students and teachers for $69 (note the S/T price is not available through Retail stores, it must be ordered online).
What’s so great about Tiger? There’s lots to roar about. If you’ve got a G5, you should probably consider upgrading soon, as we expect there to be a performance boost associated with the system’s improved support for 64-bit hardware and applications. For those of you with G3 or G4 processors, such as any laptop Mac or eMac, you’ll have to make the decision based on the prospective benefits of some of the new features. Besides a snazzy new look, highlights include materially improved Mail, iCal and syncing applications, and an innovative interface for the visually impaired called VoiceOver.
Regardless of which Mac you have, we recommend waiting until Apple reaches 10.4.2 prior to upgrading from past versions, such as 10.2 or 10.3. This should be within a few months of the release of Tiger. Apple updates its operating system regularly based on plans including feedback from users, and provides these minor updates freely across the internet. Getting these updates reliably and quickly is a major reason to consider upgrading to DSL or cable, if you’re still using a modem, and we’ll take this opportunity to recommend you update your system now to the latest version (10.2.8 or 10.3.9). Update using “Software Update” from the Apple pull-down menu, or your System Preferences. Apple charges for major upgrades, as it did from 10.1 to 10.2, and 10.2 to 10.3, and now once again with Tiger, which provides hundreds of new features.
If you’re purchasing a new Mac prior to the release date of April 29, 2005, waiting just a couple weeks will save you $10 and having to wait to receive Tiger from Apple by mail. If you wait to make your purchase, and buy your Mac within even a couple months of the release date, don’t be surprised if Tiger comes in the box with your new system, but not actually installed. In this case, “Tiger in the box” means the DVDs for its installation. Apple expects you to perform the upgrade yourself in this case. And actually, this might be the best scenario, as you get Tiger free of extra charge, and can wait to install it until it’s been updated by Apple a few times, gets stable, lands on its feet.
For those of you upgrading your older Macs, be aware that Tiger’s minimum system requirements include 256MB RAM! RAM can be thought of as the short-term memory of your computer, and how many things it can think-about at once. The RAM requirement for Tiger is greater than for prior systems, which allowed for as little as 128MB of RAM. We have been recommending a minimum of 256MB for quite awhile now, and we’re happy Apple has finally agreed. If you’re running much more than Internet, Mail and Calendar programs, we recommend more RAM, starting with 512MB.
Beware of Phishing: And you thought it couldn’t get worse than SPAM?
What the heck is Phishing (pronounced “fishing”) and why are we mentioning it here? It is a form of computer attack, and we’re talking about it because it’s getting quite sophisticated and successful, your Macs are not immune, and we want to save you some serious heartache, keep you out of trouble. While Apple computers are still quite resistant to Viruses and Spyware, Phishing attacks do not depend on attacking your computers, they use “social engineering” to attack you.
Fooling you into providing access to your personal financial information, Phishing depends on e-mail to work. A Phisher sends out many unsolicited e-mails, making phishing a type of SPAM. The difference between SPAM and Phishing is that while SPAM is an attempt by a usually legitimate company to advertise a product, Phishing is entirely fraudulent. Phishing appears to be from a company you know and trust, usually requesting you visit their website and update personal financial information, with the malicious goal to later impersonate you and steal your money. It works because the links within the e-mails actually send you to the Phisher’s website, constructed to look like your trusted-company’s website.
We have received Phishing attacks that appear to be from E-bay, Paypal and Citibank, just to name a few. To be clear, these e-mails are entirely bogus and fraudulent. Legitimate companies will seldom, if ever, request this type of sensitive information from you by e-mail, or any other means. You should not respond to these e-mails. If you are ever in doubt about whether or not an e-mail you receive is a legitimate contact from a company you know, contact them directly for confirmation, by phone or through their website by entering the URL (their address) yourself.
If you believe you have fallen for a phishing attack, do not panic and do not feel bad, it happens to people who should know better all the time. Contact the company with whom you may have interacted, and verify it *was not* them. Then act quickly to change the passwords, and if necessary cancel the credit cards in question. We speak with people on almost every show that have fallen for these unscrupulous attacks, and we have to get the word out to prevent more victims, especially as the sophistication of Phishing attacks increases.
Need more info on anything? Have questions? Want to make a comment? Use some of the bibliographic links below, or contacts us directly at info@ondecktech.com , 888-236-6332, or chat with us through our website at http://www.ondecktech.com , or via iChat at ondecktech@mac.com
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Links:
Tiger press release: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/apr/12tiger.html
How RAM works: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ram.htm
Phishing definition: http://isp.webopedia.com/TERM/P/phishing.html
