Muskoka Mac User Group

There have been lots of ‘phising’ attempts wandering around. Here’s the first one I’ve seen in a while, it’s trying to get Royal Bank customers. Guess there’s enough of us Canadians around to make it worth their while.

Here’s a snapshot.

Note how the pop up window that appears when you hover your mouse over the link shows a different address than the one it says it is.

Click on this link and you end up at samarpanin . com not the Royal Bank.

Never click on a link that asks for your user name and password from an unsolicited email.

If in doubt call the institution in question.

Trust me, the Royal Bank will never ask you to do it like this.

Well, here we are – a new version of Wordpress!
Ya, ok, it doesn’t look much different. But underneath there’s lots of updates, and improved plug-ins to handle all the spam posts and comments we’ve gotten lately. Hopefully it’s all invisible to you our reader.
I should note that if you do make posts here (and more of you should!) that the upgrade brought some nice additions there too. For instance, inserting pictures and files is easier too.

Looks like I’ve got to update this forum to the latest version of Wordpress and add some more anti-spam features. We’re getting hit pretty hard over the last couple of days.
Until I get the forum updated, you will have to email me directly if you want to register, and all comments will require approval.
Sorry for any inconvienience.

Brian

Some days I have to wonder about Apple.

Quoting the 2006-003 security fix

*

LaunchServices

CVE-ID: CVE-2006-1447

Available for: Mac OS X v10.4.6, Mac OS X Server v10.4.6

Impact: Viewing a malicious web site may lead to arbitrary code execution

Description: Long file name extensions may prevent Download Validation from correctly determining the application with which an item may be opened. As a result, an attacker may be able to bypass Download Validation and cause Safari to automatically open unsafe content if the “Open `safe’ files after downloading” option is enabled and certain applications are not installed. This update addresses the issue through improved checking of the file name extension. This issue does not affect systems prior to Mac OS X v10.4.

Give Up On The Open Safe Files After Downloading Option Will Ya?

Any bets we see this item again this year?

Anyways – If you aren’t using a new Intel Mac then get this sucker installed. Intel Mac users with Adobe products installed might want to check out [this thread here](http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=477248&tstart=0) for some issues revolving around startup items crashing your Mac after the updates are applied.

[This is a really well done commentary on the current state of computer security](http://www.securityabsurdity.com/failure.php). It’s a bit alarmist I suppose, but the problems are real, and the attitude he’s railing against is the prevailing condition.

Oh, and don’t let the first paragraph turn you off too much. Heck, skip it entirely – it’s a better piece without it.

We Mac types tend to read these things and get smug ‘Oh, that’s not going to happen to my Mac’ but using a Mac is only part of the solution. [My security presentation](http://www.muskokamug.org/news/wp-content/Securitypresentation.pdf) was a start, let’s keep talking about this stuff….

The Muskoka Mac Users Group website enjoys some traffic, but it’s hardly challenging Amazon for popularity. Since our hosting provider [Dreamhost](http://www.dreamhost.com) has very generous bandwidth allowances even for their smaller clients, I thought it only made sense to put some of that spare bandwidth to good use.

[Vim](http://www.vim.org) is a text editing tool that’s been around since waaay waay back. It’s roots are in ‘vi’ the editor that comes with every version of Unix. It’s become one of the defacto standards for programmers and web masters. To quote their website :

Vim is a highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing. It is an improved version of the vi editor distributed with most UNIX systems. Vim is distributed free as charityware. If you find Vim a useful addition to your life please consider helping needy children in Uganda.

What’s that got to do with us Mac users? Well, it turns out the Mac version of Vim needed a new home for their website, and we had all this extra space…. Ya see where I’m going with this?

Welcome to the neighbourhood guys. Check out the site at [macvim.org](http://macvim.muskokamug.org).

[Here's a nifty find for you photo editing types](http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060504123458727).

It turns out there are hidden controls to adjust the amount of retouch and red eye effects. I’m not going to repeat the instructions here, just follow the link and read the hint.

May’s meeting has been cancelled. Please mark June 6th in your calendars and make sure to be theren for an end of year meeting that will be full of interesting stuff–a door prize, a short, entertaining program and then an end of the year–planning for next year kind of business meeting. Maybe we could even have refreshments! In the meatime, [check out the fun new Apple Ads](http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/).