Second Coming of Apple (MACS)

[DewDiligence]

Absolutely! I'm in no hurry to upgrade.

[Koog]

I would recommend holding off the upgrade to Big Sur. It is a huge update to allow running on the new Apple Arm-based CPU and I have found all kinds of problems reported (while searching for a solution to my issue). Some of the bugs are a heck of a lot worse than mine.

Give Apple some time to clean up Big Sur before you upgrade.

[DewDiligence]

Thanks. I'm still on High Sierra (10.13.6).

[Koog]

11.0.1

[DewDiligence]

What version of OS-X is Big Sur?

[Koog]

An old friend pointed me to this board.

Big Sur Bug and fix.

I spent a good part of the last two days with senior Apple tech support to fix a bug which happened with the download of OS Big Sur. I won't go through all the trouble shooting that we did but will list what broke and how it was fixed. This is being sent to the Apple Big Sur software team and I imagine it will be fixed in a future update. In the meantime here's what to do if it happens to you.

How it broke: (1) After downloading Big Sur, Safari broke. It would open and just hang. I could not access any URL. (2) When I clicked on App Store, all I got was a white window. (3) I could not log into my Apple account.

Fix: Click on System Preferences. Double click on Network. Click on Advanced (lower right corner). Click on the Proxies tab. There should be no check marks on any of the protocols. Big Sur somehow checked "Auto Proxy Discovery". If you uncheck that box, your problem should be fixed.

Hope this helps anyone who stumbles into this bug.

[DewDiligence]

Problem fixed, thanks to help from ‘anesthesia doc’ on the Computer Learning board (https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=158130570 ).

[DewDiligence]

Debugging help wanted…

I just bought an SSD backup drive for my Mac called the Lacie Mobile SSD. I have a Mac Pro built in 2013 running High Sierra 10.13.6.

The installation instructions for the SSD says that the drive must be formatted in “HFS+” in order to be used with the Time Machine app. I don’t know what that means, and Time Machine won’t function with the new drive. Moreover, I now can’t even get my Mac Pro to recognize the SSD at all, even when I disconnect it and plug it back in. (The drive does not have an on/off switch—it uses power from the PC.)

The same SSD works fine on a brand new Macbook Pro running Catalina version 10.15.6.

Any suggestions?

[janice shell]

Hmmmm....

[DewDiligence]

Future Macs will run on same—(non-Intel)—CPU as iPhones, but Apple’s software support for existing (Intel-based) Macs will continue for “several years” (whatever that means):

https://www.wsj.com/articles/apples-new-macs-how-theyll-work-after-ditching-intel-chips-11592862690

[janice shell]

OUCH!!

[DewDiligence]

Apple's new—(US-built)—Mac Pro will cost a pretty penny:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/apples-domestic-bliss-11574344864

[DewDiligence]

Apple will once again assemble the MacPro in US (Austin, TX): #msg-151303977.

[DewDiligence]

How can I ensure that my browser shows all chased links as chased (i.e. changing the link’s color)? I’m using Firefox 61.0 (64-bit) on OS X 10.13.5 (High Sierra).

I usually see chased links correctly, but some websites don’t cooperate. For instance, https://globenewswire.com/Search/NewsSearch?industry=Health%20Care does not show chased links since the site was recently reformatted.

Is there anything I can do differently on my end to fix this? TIA

[mouton29]

Yes. I’m not convinced removal will always be possible or easy, on the Windows side I’ve had an infection that took many hours of downloading and fiddling to remove. And then there’s the risk of ransomware, although multiple backups to external hard drives (as I do plus Carbonite on our PC) should allow recovery from that. And even if it were possible to recover, how often will you run scans?

FWIW, on both Windows and Mac, I run as a user without admin privilege.

[DewDiligence]

Do you subscribe for the benefit of preventing malware rather than eliminating it after the fact?

After the bad experience I had in allowing Windows anti-virus software to gain too much control over my PC, I've been hesitant to install a similar kind of program on the Mac.

[mouton29]

I do.

[DewDiligence]

Do you use the paid version?

[janice shell]

lol, there's one I encountered recently. I'd gone to a site I've used in the past; it's innocuous enough, for resizing photos. I didn't actually want to use it. I wanted to show it to someone else.

The site is infected. I somehow clicked on the wrong thing and picked up a virus called "Pensirot". (Yes, I know what it sounds like.) Suddenly it'd taken control of Safari and dumped a fair amount of stuff on my computer, including an icon that popped up in my Applications.

Fortunately, it's not as malicious as many computer viruses. Evidently its purpose is to push ads and the like on you. I found a forum that explained how to get rid of it. Evidently it's one of the very few viruses designed principally to infect Macs. It took me about an hour and a half to get rid of, but at least I DID get rid of it.

For awhile, I was thinking I might be in for a few hours on the phone with Apple tech support the next day.

So be careful.

[mouton29]

I do. I formerly used Kaspersky but decided not to trust them. Can’t say that I’ve ever had any product find anything on my Mac, in contrast to what various products find on our PC.

[janice shell]

I've never used either...

[DewDiligence]

Installed Malwarebytes (free version) today. Does anyone here subsribe to the premium version?

[janice shell]

I just got notice of a "Supplemental Update", and did it right away. It didn't take too long...

[janice shell]

Mine either...

[DewDiligence]

It isn't in my Software Update list.

[janice shell]

Thanks. I'll be on the lookout for the new update. I really hate doing them...

[mouton29]

There's another system update, just available today or yesterday -- a "supplement" to 10.13.2. After you install it, if you click on the apple and check system report/system, the system version shown should be


macOS 10.13.2 (17C205)

At least, that's what mine shows and I am running on a late 2014 27 inch Retina 5K iMac.

On a different subject, one can use an iMac as a monitor by putting it into "target display" mode. Unfortunately, you cannot do this with a 27 inch Retina imac. I have no real reason to buy the new iMac pro but I would be tempted if I could use my current iMac as a second monitor, but you can't. There no real reason for this so far as I can tell as the iMac pro can support TWO 5k external monitors, and I see a fair amount of whining about it.

[janice shell]

Thanks once again...

[janice shell]

Thanks. I did a security update--Apple sent it out as "urgent"--about a month ago. But I didn't hear about the problem with the Intel chips till much more recently...

[mouton29]

Yes, it does. Not entirely comforting, it fixes “most” of the issues. The next update will fix more.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/18/01/03/apple-has-already-partially-implemented-fix-in-macos-for-kpti-intel-cpu-security-flaw

[DewDiligence]

So, does 10.13.2 include Apple's fix?

[mouton29]

Virtually all intel chips are affected. This Wikipedia article is consistent with other things I’ve read and heard.

“Specifically, processors with speculative execution designed in the architecture are affected by these vulnerabilities.[48] Intel and ARM processors are severely affected, while AMD processors are minimally affected.[49] Google has reported that any Intel processor since 1995 with out-of-order execution is potentially vulnerable to the Meltdown vulnerability (this excludes Itanium and pre-2013 Intel Atom CPUs).[50] Intel introduced speculative execution to their processors with Intel's P6 family microarchitecture with the Pentium”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meltdown_(security_vulnerability)

10.13.2 is the latest version of the Mac OS, but you can visit the App Store and click on updates to make sure. I believe they addressed this about a month ago. They also had some issues that took a couple updates to fix with their sign on security, at one point their update introduced a method of allowing log on at the root level with no password.

[janice shell]

Mine is "mid 2011"...

[DewDiligence]

Ok—I misread your post. My hardware is "late 2013" according to the About This Mac tab.

[janice shell]

That's what I meant. I though ONLY newer Intel chips were affected.

[DewDiligence]

Newer Intel chips are also affected—that much I'm sure of.

[janice shell]

It's something to do with Intel chips, isn't it? Maybe it only affects newer computers. Mine's old, from 2011.

[DewDiligence]

Apple has publicly stated that it has released patches for all of its devices that are affected by the Intel security bug. Since the Software Update feature on my Mac says my software is up to date, I don't know what else I'm supposed to do to incorporate the security patch.

[janice shell]

I don't know that it does. I downloaded High Sierra perhaps two months ago. Maybe it was longer; I no longer remember. But I do remember that since then, there's only been one security update, and that was well before I read about the new problem.

Like you, I have 10.13.2.

[DewDiligence]

I presume (but I'm not sure) that my upgrade includes Apple's patch for the Intel security bug.

[janice shell]

It made a positive difference for me, too. I did the Sierra download last summer, and then the High Sierra upgrade about a month ago.

Both were mildly traumatizing, because on my 2011 Mac, they took longer--much longer--than the progress bar suggested they would. And my machine emitted some alarming noises along the way. But I forced myself to resist the urge to press any keys, and in the end all was well.

[DewDiligence]

I upgraded to High Sierra (OS-X 10.13.2) from OS-X 10.10, and my Mac is now running faster and better. Only a few minor things required re-calibrating.

[DewDiligence]

Adobe announces 2020 end for Flash plug-in:

https://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2017/07/adobe-flash-update.html

Today, most browser vendors are integrating capabilities once provided by plugins directly into browsers… Given this progress, and in collaboration with several of our technology partners – including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla – Adobe is planning to end-of-life Flash. Specifically, we will stop updating and distributing the Flash Player at the end of 2020 and encourage content creators to migrate any existing Flash content to these new open formats.

p.s. When I used a Mac laptop, FLASH often caused my computer to overheat. This hasn’t been a problem on my MacPro desktop.

[walknmannv]

[DewDiligence]

“Ransomware” shows up on a few Macs:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/03/07/mac-ransomware-attack-exposes-vulnerability-apple-users/G8WFhNo4B95Oo9tK0fbA1J/story.html

For the first time, security experts say, a dangerous form of software called “ransomware” has successfully targeted a Mac operating system, piercing an image of safety that Apple customers had long enjoyed.

…The software, when installed on a victim’s computer, denies a user access to files unless a ransom is paid: about $400. It targets files that users would most likely find important: photos, videos, Excel spreadsheets, and Word documents.

[DewDiligence]

[Deleted]

[janice shell]

Oh lord. I'm several upgrades behind. I guess I'd better do something about that soon...

[DewDiligence]

Review of El Capitan OS-X (free) upgrade:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/os-x-el-capitan-review-a-free-tune-up-for-your-mac-1443538821

[DewDiligence]

Just installed a “4K” monitor from Dell, but the drivers on OS-X 10.9 didn’t work right. (Images on the rightmost edge of the screen were garbled.) So I upgraded to Yosemite, and that fixed the problem.

Images on the new monitor look great. Now I just have to hope Yosemite doesn't introduce any bugs!

[Doc Holliday]

Glad you got going. Once I couldn't pick up the streamer. Went to Scottrade to see what was going on. They said their system was running fine. They also said my computer was getting the info through port 3 or 4. I forgot which one. I think 4. Went back and checked it. The Norton Security I had was blocking all imput from that port and I couldn't get it to take the block off the port on my computer. I asked the guy at Norton if they could take the block off that port in my computer that there software put on it. The guy from Norton said, "Sure, we can take it off." I said, "Well, take it off." He said, "There is a fee for that. Send us $194." I told him he was nuts, and that it was their software that put the block on the port in the computer. He said if I wanted it off to send the money and they would download the program to take the block off. I told him forget it and took Norton out of my computer and put in something else.

If you ever take Norton out of your computer, go to the Norton site and run their "Norton Removal Tool." It's free. Norton is so ingrained into computers that that is the only thing that will get it all out right. It could take a while for the program to run because it has it all over the place. After that, if you see anything in your programs that says Norton, then delete it. They may leave an ad for Norton or stuff like that in.

I took Norton out of 2 computers. First one took their program 3 hours of running to get it out, 2nd computer (new) took it about 10 minutes to get it out.

Things can really be annoying when things aren't running right.