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Take Control of Passwords in Mac OS X
Create and manage strong passwords that keep your data safe without taxing your memory!
Suffering from password overload or anxiety? Set your mind at ease with friendly assistance from Mac expert Joe Kissell! You'll learn how to assess risk factors and devise a personal plan for generating different types of passwords, using Joe's special system for creating strong passwords that are easy to remember but virtually impossible to crack. The book also explains how to work with all the different passwords on your Mac (account login, master, root, firmware, email, AirPort, keychains), teaches you how to use Apple's Keychain Access password manager, provides pointers for using passwords on the Web, and includes tips for preventing password-related problems. For those who want to go beyond Keychain Access for features like higher security or PDA syncing, Joe describes likely options and provides money-saving coupons.
More Info
Contents & Intro
FAQ
"Take Control of Passwords in Mac OS X is outstanding. It's very thoughtful and well presented. I've spent more time than the average person thinking about this topic, and still I learned some things from your book." —James Tummins
Read this ebook to learn the answers to questions such as:
Can my Mac automatically log me in to Web sites?
What are good ways to generate new passwords?
How can I come up with strong but easily remembered passwords?
What are good techniques for tracking impossible-to-remember passwords?
How should I set up the passwords that control access to my Mac?
What are the best ways to use Apple's Keychain to manage passwords?
Save money with included coupons! Coupons at the end of the book give $10 off on the popular cross-platform password management utility Web Confidential, $5 off on 1Passwd (currently Joe's top pick for Mac password management), and $5 off any order from Small Dog Electronics.
Book Info
96 pages
Version 1.0
Released 30-Oct-06
2.0 MB download
ISBN: 1-933671-20-3
Free 22-page PDF sample with Table of Contents, Introduction, Quick Start, and section starts.
About the Author
Joe Kissell has written numerous books about the Macintosh, including many popular Take Control ebooks. He's also Senior Editor of TidBITS, contributes frequently to Macworld, and previously spent ten years in the Mac software industry.
If you're overwhelmed with too many passwords to remember or concerned that your passwords may not be safe, help is on the way. This book tells you everything you need to know about choosing, remembering, and managing passwords of all kinds. This book was written by Joe Kissell, edited by Caroline Rose, and published by TidBITS Electronic Publishing.
Introduction
I have a love-hate relationship with passwords. Well, mostly hate. I understand that passwords help keep my computer, my private data, and my money safe, but every time I'm asked to come up with yet another password (for a Web site, a Mac OS X user account, or any of a dozen other purposes), I grumble. It takes too much mental effort to produce and remember all those passwords.
If I were to take the easy way out—choose a simple, memorable password and use it everywhere—I'd worry that I'm putting my valuable information at risk. But I only have so much time and energy.
Meanwhile, Mac OS X requires passwords for a bewildering array of purposes: logging in, securing a computer's firmware, encrypting home folders, checking email, connecting to the .Mac service, and more. What are all those passwords for? Do I need to use them all? What sorts of passwords can I use in which places? Even computer geeks like me wonder about these things.
I decided to get to the bottom of this whole password business once and for all. This book is the result of my research and experiments. In it, I show you how to choose good passwords without overtaxing your brain. I explain when you need heavy-duty passwords and when you can get away with less secure ones. I cover all the kinds of passwords an average Mac OS X user will encounter, and describe how and when to use them. And I discuss a variety of tools you can use to simplify your interactions with passwords. In short, this book enables you to take control of your passwords once and for all!
To keep this book from being unreasonably long, I've made some assumptions. First, I'm writing for ordinary computer users, not technical wizards or security experts. If you're looking for detailed information on encryption algorithms or the like, this isn't the place. Along the same lines, I assume that you're not protecting state secrets or billion-dollar fortunes with your passwords. For that sort of security, you'll need more password mojo than I offer here. And finally, I only skim over certain topics related to passwords, such as user accounts, wireless networks, keychain synchronization, and file sharing. For more information on these topics, I refer you to other Take Control titles.
Quick Start
You can read this book in any order; I've included plenty of cross-references to help you find the information you need, no matter where you begin. However, I urge you to begin with Assess Your Password Needs, which puts everything else in this book in context, followed by Generate Good Passwords, which contains valuable background information that will help you understand everything else better. Beyond that, skip to whichever section addresses the issues you're most concerned about.
Find out what password tasks you most need to accomplish, and gauge the level of security you likely need, by reading Assess Your Password Needs.
Read Generate Good Passwords to learn the basics of password security, including the difference between passwords that truly protect something and those that merely identify you. Then discover how to create great passwords of your own.
In Understand Mac OS X's Passwords, find out how to choose and use all the major kinds of passwords in Mac OS X, including login, firmware, and email passwords.
Read Use Keychain Access to learn about a tool Apple includes with Mac OS X that lets you secure, repair, and optimize the keychains in which your passwords are stored.
For most people, the vast majority of passwords they encounter are on Web sites. Read Use Passwords on the Web to learn how to select, store, and use these passwords (and the user names that typically go with them).
If the password programs included with Mac OS X provide too little oomph, turn to more-capable utilities from other developers. See Use Third-Party Password Tools.
The best password in the world does you no good if a thief or hacker learns it. Read Keep Your Passwords Secure for tips on protecting your passwords from the bad guys.
Ask a Question
Feel free to ask us if you have a question about this book!
Joe Kissell has written numerous books about the Macintosh, including many popular Take Control ebooks. He's also Senior Editor of TidBITS, contributes frequently to Macworld, and previously spent ten years in the Mac software industry.