Protect Your Mac: A Common Sense Approach
Earlier this year I made the switch from a Windows XP based computer to an Apple iMac. I have a lot of personal financial data on my computer that I want to keep private. In addition I have a lot of music, photo and video files that I certainly do not want to lose. Coming from a Windows environment, data security and protection were ingrained in my basic computer routines; but, I found that a lot of Mac fans just didn't seem to worry about it. I think that's a mistake.
There are two basic threats to the data on your Mac, attack from virus or malware and loss due to a hard disk failure. Many Mac experts point out that most virus and malware is directed at Windows based computers for one simple reason, there are more of them. While you can take some comfort in that fact if you are a Mac owner, given the growth in Mac computers, you can't trust that there will never be malware designed to attack Macs. And, as for hard disk failures, they can and do happen to any computer.
You can protect your Mac from both of these threats. Some protection is free. The amount you decide to fund beyond the free protection depends on how much you value your data, how much you can afford to spend, and the price you place on your peace of mind. From free to the most expensive, protection can be added in stages and is not as costly as you might think.
Let's start with the free protection measures you can take against online threats. First, included with the Mac operating system Leopard 10.5 is a firewall. To turn it on select System Preferences - Security then select firewall. You will see 3 choices. Selecting the third option, Set access for specific services and applications, offers a good compromise between protection and convenience. Another effective free step you can take is to not take action. That is, don't open any e-mail, and particularly e-mail attachments, from sources you do not know to be legitimate and safe. Along the same line be careful where you go on the internet. Don't click on those too good to be true offer links; you could be inviting trouble. Same with porn links; just buy a magazine or something if you really want to go there.
OK, free is good; but, for a small investment you can do more. Start with an antivirus program. There are quite a few out there that will work on a Mac and different computer magazines often review them and rate their effectiveness. When I made my choice I selected Virus Barrier X.5 (http://www.intego.com/virusbarrier/). At $69.95 I thought the price was reasonable for the first year and it was designed for the Mac, not adapted from Windows to a Mac. I have been using it for 6 months now and, as claimed, I have not seen any impact on the speed of my computer nor have I found the program to be intrusive.
Finally, to protect my sensitive financial data from prying eyes no matter how they might gain access to my computer (think thief or lost laptop, etc.) I have added a data encryption program. The one I chose, Knox (http://www.knoxformac.com/), operates like a lot of encryption programs. It sets up a virtual disk on your Mac hard drive where you can store the files you want to protect. You then assign a password and close the virtual disk. Once closed the files are encrypted and can only be accessed by first opening the virtual disk using your password. The encryption is serious and is not likely to be broken without your password; so, don't make the password too easy and don't forget it. I bought the program for $39.95 and felt that the money was well spent.
Once you have protected your data from all types of intruders it's time to think about the more likely problem you could face; i.e., a failed hard drive. It happens and when it does it can be disastrous. Without frequent backups you may lose everything on your hard drive and, in this case, there are no free solutions.
First, to protect your data you must have a place to back it up. The most convenient location is an external hard drive and you want convenience or you are less likely to actually do the backups. For reasons I will explain later I wanted a large external hard drive with a firewire 800 connection. Based on the recommendations of a software vendor that I use for backups I selected a 1 Terabyte external disk made by LaCie (http://www.lacie.com/us/index.htm) for $199.95. I wanted the large size to provide storage for videos in addition to backups. You can get by with a smaller drive if you don't need the extra storage space, say a 300 - 500 GB model. Also, there are far more models available that connect via USB only; but, I needed a firewire connection to make the drive bootable. My particular drive has performed flawlessly and it does everything I need it to do.
Once you have the external drive you need to consider backup software that will make the chore less onerous. If you are operating with Mac's Leopard 10.5 operating system you have a great program included, Time Machine. Time Machine will automatically backup the files you select to your external drive on a regular interval (mine is set to backup changes every hour). If you need to recover a file you can go back in time over hours or days to find the version of the file you want to recover. If you need to recover all of your selected files, as in a complete hard drive failure, you will first have to replace the hard drive, reinstall the operating system and other programs, and then recover the data files. Unless...
Here is where the firewire connection on the external hard drive comes in to play. With the right software you can make a copy (clone) of your entire hard drive that can be used to boot and operate your Mac in the case of an internal Mac hard drive failure. You can then continue to operate from the clone while you wait to install your replacement hard drive and restore the new hard drive from the copy. The firewire connection is required to make the external drive bootable; i.e., to allow it to start and run your Mac. The software I use for this application is SuperDuper! (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/); no really, that's the name. I purchased it for $27.95 and I use it to make weekly clones of my hard disk. I can rely on Time Machine to update any important files that have been changed between the weekly SuperDuper! clones.
With all of that protection you would think that I'd be happy. But, wait. I am one of those few unfortunate people who actually lost my computer and all associated hardware in a house fire (while I was away on vacation no less). So, I know that in the unlikely event my house should suffer some catastrophic disaster which I hopefully survive, I will want my data back! The only solution is to protect copies of your data in some other location and, again, it must be convenient or you probably won't maintain the copies. Enter services like Mozy (http://mozy.com/home) that back up your data via the internet on a regular basis to their location using encrypted files. I picked Mozy after experiencing insurmountable problems with a competing service. I protect about 135 GB of data with Mozy and automatically backup changes on a daily basis. It has worked well and I recently upgraded my subscription to a 2 year subscription for $103.95.
So, as you can see from all the above, you can take advantage of some free basic protection for your Mac. Or you can invest around $300-$400 for a much higher level of protection. What should you do? As I said in the beginning, The amount you decide to fund beyond the free protection depends on how much you value your data, how much you can afford to spend, and the price you place on your peace of mind. Personally, I'm sleeping like a baby and loving my Mac.