scott

Classic Mini Key Blanks

Nov 122011

I finally got around to having a duplicate set of keys made for the Mini last week. Apparently, there isn’t too much demand for these, as it took two trips to the locksmith shop, and both smiths, to find the right ones.

I’d tried to grab an extra set a while back while I was at the shop, but we couldn’t find the blanks. I was left thinking I’d have to order blanks online from the UK. I’d rather not – it takes a while, and shipping is pretty high for a few grams of metal.

Second time around, I asked offhandedly while I was in the shop setting up their new PC. This time, after lots of fiddling around, and a bit of browsing obscure Mini sites on my phone, we found them. Three new keys and a squirt of lock-barrel lube, and I’m good to go. (The PC is another story – looks like we need to downgrade the Operating System, as many locksmithing programs just don’t like Win7 65-bit).

Need keys? Stop in and Marty or Robert will get you going. They do lockouts and mobile service too.

A Quick Key Inc.
7540 NE Sandy Blvd
Portland OR 97213
503-257-1313

For reference, here are equivalent blanks – This was easy to find, once we had one correct blank to start with.

1991(or so) Mini Cooper.
Ignition key: Ilco NE48
Same groove pattern on both sides.
Nickel plated brass.
Can be cut using a standard key machine.
This blank is also equivalent to other manufacturers part numbers, including:
Curtis RV-1
Dominion NE48
ESP NE48
Ilco X170
Ilco EZ NE48
JMA NE-11
Original NE48F
Silca NE38
Taylor X170

Doors and Trunk: Ilco 62FS
Different groove pattern on both sides.
Nickel plated brass.
Can be cut using a standard key machine.
This blank is also equivalent to other manufacturers part numbers, including:
Curtis UN18
Dominion 62DR
ESP 62FS
Ilco 62FS
Jet UN18
JMA UN-1FS
Old Ilco EN2
Original FS
Silca UNI11A
Star UN3
Taylor S71B

Gas Cap: Ilco PN1
Haven’t found equivalents for this one yet.

Thoughts on Kids, Passwords, Rights and Responsibilities

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Sep 212011

AKA: Rights and responsibilities for kids with computers

Part II of “Childproofing your Mac”. These are more general thoughts, and apply to PCs as well.

To recap, last week, we setup separate accounts for everyone. Now the kids have their own accounts, and we’ve set up things so everyone has to enter a password to get back in (to keep them out of each others’ and our stuff).

But wait – that means my kids have their own stuff, and I can’t see it.

There is a wide spectrum of opinion on this issue, ranging from kids should have absolute privacy, to kids are kids, parents know best, and I’ll look at anything, any time.

Personally, I tend toward the middle here.

We started out with “ask before using the computer, period.” and “The computer lives in the living room / dining room”. So the kids are using the computers with permission in public space.

This has worked well. The girls, despite an occasional tendency to want to continue on with whatever game they’re playing, have not abused the privilege.

Starting sometime last year, I relaxed my rule. As they began using the computer for schoolwork and personal research more often, I acquired a second Mac, and expanded their privileges and responsibilities.

If they had homework or research (crafts, cooking, hobby) or were emailing friends and family, they could use the spare Mac without asking. Its a laptop, so they were allowed to take the laptop to any available seating area in public space – living room, dining room, landing, etc.

We still required permission to a) use the computer for games, or b) remove the computer to a private space.

Will we? Depends. There are two schools of thought in the house currently – one is “not unless behavior or demeanor indicates more than the usual teen/preteen issues” and the other is “that’s the duty of a parent of a teen.” I suspect we’ll be somewhere in the middle. Perhaps an occasional check, but no daily/weekly/all-the-time checks. On occasion,we’ll have a short dialog something like this:

"What are you doing?"

"email."

"Really, what about?"

"I'm emailing my friend/teacher/grandparent about  our project / homework / birthday gifts".

"All right".

I’ll be wanting a closer look if that last answer becomes “nothing” or “Roowr! None of your business!!!”

I’m voting for extending reasonable amounts of trust and privileges to my teens, until and unless they abuse that trust. Then we reign them in.

Keeping the computing happening in public space, and encouraging ongoing dialog about their usage seems to be working well so far.

Do I need to know their passwords? Not really, in my case. However, I do. Being the admin user of the computers, I could change their passwords at need and login, but that’s a bit of a pain. Also, if they know that I know, I think that instills a small sense of “better not go there…”.

I do think parents should know their kids’ email login and password, and should be ‘friends’ on social networks. While this may not always be necessary, it does help instill a sense of responsibility in what one posts online, or at least a tendency to think first, before clicking “post”.

We’ve chosen a middle ground for our kids. Some kids have full contol of their own computers (and sometimes the parental computers too – really, don’t do this.) and some are severely restricted. Some of those in either set should really be in the other. In some cases, when inappropriate computer use impacts grades, home life, or behavior, parents do need to step in and set hard limits, up to and including taking away the gadgets for a time.

Need help setting things up, or even deciding how strict to be? Give me a call.

I can help with the former, and advise (but not decide for you) for the latter.

A S A P Mac & PC Services

503 255-2419 / 503 683-2727

Child-proofing your Mac - Part One

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Sep 142011

Many of us are finding that our computers are not our own. Whether it’s our partners, our kids, or household visitors, the “can I use your computer” question is becoming more frequent.

Whether you are sharing your baby with your babies, or your kids have their own Mac, there are a few simple steps you can take to keep your Mac safe and keep your family safer online.

First steps – each user gets their own space.

Picture this scenario – you loan out your laptop for a quick bit of homework. When it comes back, the window you had open in Word contains your third-grader’s book report on “How to Eat Fried Worms“. The fiscal-year summary you’ve been slaving over for the boss? History. All those icons that cluttered the desktop? History. Tax return you were working on (one of those icons)? History.

If you setup everyone with their own desktop, they leave your stuff alone, you leave theirs alone, everyone gets along.

This is *very* easy to setup, especially if you do so early on.

Step 1: Setup the accounts

A. Open System Preferences (from the dock, in Applications, or under the Apple menu top left of the screen). Click on “Accounts” or “Users” or “Users & Groups” (varies, based on which version of Mac OS X you are using.

If it says at the bottom “click here to make changes”, do so, and enter your password. This is the one you enter when you install programs, do updates, or when you first set up your Mac.

B. Add a user.

Click the plus sign (lower left portion of the window), and enter a name for the new user account and give it a password. (Note: Do *not* check the “allow user to administer this computer” button). Click “Ok” or “Create User” to save your work.

Don’t get too creative here – each person’s actual name is fine. If you’re setting up to share this with your kids, have them help you pick a password. It should be something they can remember, and you should write it down (see “Should I Know my Kid’s Password”). For younger kids, even “cat” is fine. Just the fact that there is a password helps keep everyone segregated. Not only do you not want the kids logged in to your account and messing up your files, you don’t want your spouse inadvertently saving files on the kids’ desktops and then being unable to find them later.

C. Add more users.

Repeat the above for each additional user. I also like to add one for “everyone else” to use, for when Uncle Marty comes over.

2. Make it work automagically

Now we set things up to keep everyone from inadvertently logging in as someone else.

If you haven’t yet created additional users on your Mac prior to this, it will likely be set to log in automatically. Under the list of users in System Preferencs->Accounts, click on “Login Options”, and set “Automatic Login” to “Off”.

Last, set it so you can ‘sleep’ the Mac, or walk away and have it lock the screen after a short while. Still in System Preferences, click on “Show All”, then on “Security”.

Set “Require password after sleep or screen saver” to “Immediately” or at least a short interval.

Then, set the machine to lock after inactivity. You can do this either in ScreenSaver or in Energy Saver section of System Preferences. Set the “display sleep” in Energy Saver, or the “Start Screen Saver” in Screen Saver preferences to a small number – just a few minutes, usually.

Stay tuned for “Thoughts on Kids: Passwords, Rights and Responsibilities”!

Uh-oh - I signed up for what?

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Jun 152011

This Sunday, I’ll be running around on the mountain, attempting to cover six miles of mud, rocks, and trail on the slopes of Mt. Hood. The Mt Hood Scramble starts at 10am this Sunday.

Six miles of mud and trail. Should be fun!

MacDefender and MacProtect - They Don't.

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May 182011

Lately, I’ve been seeing pop-up ads for MacDefender and MacProtect. Then a few days ago, I had my first “help!” call.

MacDefender and MacProtect are the Mac versions of the (*@#&$ that Windows users have been dealing with for years – scare-ware that tries to convince you that your Mac is infected, even though it isn’t.
These are both ads for malware. If you click on them, they will download an installer. If you ‘Quit’ the installer, you’ll be fine. You can stop here.

If you click through all the pages of the installer, including entering your admin password, you’ll now have a new program which will incessantly tell you that you are infected by 87 gazillion viruses, spyware, and all sorts of evil bits. It’s lying. It will also cause Safari to open up various porn sites just to help convince you.

To remove it is fairly simple – 4 steps.

1. Kill it – Open Activity Viewer – it’s in the /Applications/Utilities folder in your Macintosh HD. To get to it, click on an empty spot on your desktop, or on the Finder icon (Happy Mac face) on the Dock, and then in the menubar, click on Go, then click on Utilities. Then double-click on Activity Viewer in the window that opens up.
Find the macdefender or macprotect process in the list. Click on the “quit process” button. When it asks if you are sure, click on “force quit”.

2. Trash it – Open the Applications folder in the Finder. Find MacDefender /MacProtector and throw it away. Empty the trash.

3. Remove the login item. Open System Preferences from the Apple Menu. Click “Accounts” or “Users & Groups” depending on your system version. Click “Login items”. Find the MacDefender or MacProtect item in the list, click it once, and click the minus sign right below the list. Don’t just check or uncheck the box – that only hides it.

4. Set Safari to not open these files in the future. Open Safari, click on Preferences in the Safari menu, click on General, then uncheck the box at the bottom that says “open safe files after downloading”.

That’s it.

One last thing – to prevent this in the future, watch what you click. If you see an Installer window, don’t proceed with the installation unless you know and trust what you’re installing.

Quick solution for notebook spill - rollup keyboard

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Jan 192011

I just had a friend buy a new laptop for his daughter. Not even a month later, she spilled bubble bath in the thing. Seems ok, except the keyboard.

Rather than spend the billable-time cleaning the keyboard (which may not work) or $150 to replace the keyboard, we’re trying an end run – an external keyboard.

Since this is a laptop, and meant to be porable, hauling around a full-size keyboard isn’t the best solution.

We’re trying a somewhat more portable keyboard – a roll-up keyboard.

Missing (but not really missing) EXE files

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Nov 212010

Some of the “fake antivirus” trojans that seem to be popping up everywhere you turn break things, even after they’ve been removed. Some of them cause an inability to launch programs – any program you try to open, causes a “can’t locate such-and-such file”.

Some fixes that may help:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/itprovistaapps/thread/a8e61d1d-e1d7-421e-94de-7d0efc49aa82

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistarepair/thread/a7bb0940-703c-424e-824c-85d5bd83d1e9

http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/105/1/File-association-fixes-for-Windows-Vista.html

ID Theft? 3 Clicks and a Coffee away from your Facebook account

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Nov 092010

More Identity Theft?

There is a new, easy way to access other people’s accounts going around. This came out in late October, and users of some websites are still at risk – including Facebook.

Here is the email I received this morning:

There is a new tool that allows anyone to easily hack into your Web accounts (e.g. Facebook) when you use an open Wi-Fi network, such as at Starbucks or an airport. It is called FireSheep. FireSheep is effective when you use your Mac, your iPhone, your iPad, or your iPod Touch: (or PC, Windows, any computer).

There are two ways to deal with this. The first is to use a VPN (virtual private network). The second is to use a free Firefox add-on called BlackSheep. Here are two articles that will give you details on doing both:

http://mashable.com/tag/firesheep/

Here is a screenshot of what I saw when I tried it – Note that I was able to access the facebook accounts I saw here simply by doubleclicking on them –

There is a third way – don’t use unsecured (i.e. no password) wireless networks to access FaceBook and other social networking sites. If your wireless network is open, put a password on it. If your local coffee shop has wireless, ask them to password-protect it. It’s quick, it’s relatively easy to do. Users only have to enter the password once, the computer usually remembers it for you.

This is actually a problem that has existed for a long time, but now it’s been made super easy to take advantage of.

This is the new tool and explanation thereof:

http://codebutler.com/firesheep

I just tested it, and was able to see Facebook and WordPress connections, and even masquerade as the people whose logins I was able to see. (Yes, I did ask permission first).

While this issue has been around for a good long while, until now, it hasn’t been this easy. The only technical knowledge required is the ability to install a Firefox plugin. Once that’s done, you’re 3 clicks and a coffee away from someone else’s Facebook.

In a nutshell, it works like this:

Mr. BadMan installs a bit of software.
He then goes out for coffee, anywhere with an open wireless network.
He opens Firefox and clicks “start capturing”.
His computer watches the wireless traffic, looking for cookies that are going back and forth to Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and some other social sites.
He gets a list of people who are online.

He then can doubleclick on any of them to login AS THEM. He can then post messages, change their profile information, change their passwords, or anything else he wants.

There are a couple of solutions to this:
a) If you are using unsecured (no password) wireless, you can install your own Firefox addon (HTTPS Everywhere). This requires that you a) install it, and b) use Firefox, not Safari, Internet Explorer, Chrome, or other browsers.

b) Social media sites can change their servers to send all traffic through encrypted connections. Google and Yahoo have apparently done this – Facebook is still vulnerable to this attack. This is the reqson most banking sites are not vulnerable to this attack – they use secure web pages for everything after sign-in – not just the sign-in itself.

c) Coffeeshop owners and anyone else who provides free wireless can add a password to their wireless networks. It’s quick, it’s easy, and covers everybody in one fell swoop.

The wireless password can be freely provided to customers, even written on a sign or menu board. In general, once they’ve entered it once, they don’t have to again until they come in with a new computer. Now all wireless traffic is encrypted, thus preventing this attack from working.

I’ve secured one Portland coffee-shop /non-profit space today, and another one is a go for tomorrow. Ideally, ANY open wireless network needs to be encrypted.

New Facebook Trojan affects Macs too

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Oct 272010

http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=1509

http://www.securemac.com/boonana-bulletin.php

I’ve not seen this myself, but I am seeing multiple reports of it (each quoting the other. So far, I don’t see independent confirmation) , so here’s the summary -
A new risk surfaced yesterday. It’ a Trojan, meaning it appears to be something other than what it is. I do not yet know what it specifically does, but it is said to affect system files on Windows AND Mac machines.

It appears as a Facebook message or an apparently-from-Facebook email, asking “Is this you in the video?” .As usual, such items are usually either attempts at spreading malware, or attempts to ‘phish’ for ID information.

What is unusual is that this is said to be cross-platform, affecting both Macs and PCs.

As usual, watch what you click on. This is one of those common-sense propositions – if you get one of these, delete it. 99 percent of us aren’t likely to be randomly showing up in someone else’s video anyway, so again, no reason to click on the link.

Edit -
CNET has posted an article as well. Ther article points out that as with other Mac Trojans, even if you click on the link, you still have to provide your admin password to install the Trojan. If you don’t do that (hit cancel instead) you’re not infected.

New Macbook Air - First impressions

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Oct 202010

Apple demo’ed the new MacBook Air at its press event today, along with iLife 11 and a preview of Mac OS X 10.7, “Lion”.

The nwe MBA is still a wedge shape, 13.3″ screen, but the sole storage option is now flash. No more hard drives. Flash storage and memory chips are mounted directly on the logic board, precluding DIY (or any post-purchase, for that matter) upgrades. The MBA starts at 128MB storage, upgradeable at purchase to 256MB. Memory is 2GB. Screen resolution is upgraded – more pixels than the current 15″ MacBook Pro.

That said, it’s less than 3 pounds, and super fast.

And… It comes with a baby brother. There is now an 11.6 inch version, with the same specs, upgradeable to 128MB of storage, also with a higher resolution screen (1368×768). For comparison, the current 13″ MacBook Pro is 1280×800.

As with the previous MacBook Air, there is no built-in optical drive. Ports appear to be limited to power, USB (x2?), headphone.

That is, I think, about as close as we’ll come to a netbook from Apple. Drool.

The 11.6″ model starts at 999. The high-end 13.3″ model tops out at 1599. Pretty aggressive pricing from Apple.

Combine that with OSX Lion’s App Store and Mission Control (Dock + Expose + Space) and Launchpad (OS 9′s Launcher meets the iPad) and it’s looking like the best of both worlds.

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