password

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed from our readers. This week we have questions on the OS X keychain not saving passwords, internal speakers no longer working on a MacBook Pro, an external optical drive not reading some discs, and Apple's FaceTime application not running. We continually answer e-mail questions, and though we present a few here, we certainly welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your suggestions in the comments.

Question: OS X Keychain not saving passwords

MacFixIt reader "Raul" asks:

My OS X Keychain does … Read more

More people are trying to tap into unsecure but easily available Wi-Fi networks around them, according to the results of a poll from the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Conducted by Wakefield Research in conjunction with the Wi-Fi Alliance, the results out this week found that 32 percent of those polled admit to trying to hop onto an unsecure Wi-Fi network that wasn't theirs. Some say they've done it only once while others reveal they've done it many times. That percentage compares with the 18 percent who admitted to borrowing a Wi-Fi connection according to a December 2008 poll.

Though … Read more

Secure password managers store passwords, user names, logon details, and other personal information under the protection of a master password with strong encryption. Accommodating widely varying logon procedures and steps has been their weak spot, but we looked at a free password manager designed to automatically log on to a wide range of Web sites--even secure sites--as well as launch programs, e-mail accounts, and other tasks, via hotkeys or from an easily customizable folder view. It's called S10 Password Vault.

When we launched S10 Password Vault, it prompted us to create a master password--one as long as possible, with … Read more

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

The FCC is fighting challenges to new Net neutrality rules

Amazon.com may soon launch a Netflix competitor that will stream movies to Amazon Prime customers at no extra charge.

Amazon has experienced some sign-in flaws that expose accounts by logging into a variation of the correct password

New research shows that Android is the most popular mobile operating system in the world

New versions of Angry Birds will be based on the animated film "Rio" and on the holiday of love we know as Valentine's Day

The OS X keychain is a useful and secure way to save passwords, certificates, and other authentication information for applications, Web sites, and various other services. By default these are generally loaded into either the log-in keychain or the System kechain, depending on whether the service is user-oriented or a system setting such as Wi-Fi or VPN passwords.

Though the keychain is convenient, sometimes after extensive use it can become cluttered with numerous items. Generally this clutter does not harm anything, but sometimes it can result in odd problems such as the incorrect password being used for a service even … Read more

Cybercriminals buy and sell stolen information using a vast network of online stores, forums, and even social-networking accounts, according to a report released yesterday by PandaLabs.

Posing as a cybercriminal to gain access to this online black market, PandaLabs researchers uncovered a world where the bad guys work together to buy and sell stolen bank account information, credit card numbers, passwords, and other products. Much of this illegal enterprise is done through online stores and forums, but PandaLabs found criminals using Facebook and Twitter accounts to set up shop as well.

Though this black market is relatively open, the security … Read more

Managing the passwords for all the Web sites you use is a neverending challenge, but one tool that can help is RoboForm. Siber Systems recently upgraded its popular password manager to version 7 with a variety of new features and enhancements.

For those of you not familiar with the product, RoboForm lets you create, save, and use a different strong password for any Web site where you need to log in. Instead of you having to juggle dozens of different accounts, RoboForm does it for you, automatically filling in your username, password, and other details at each site.

The new … Read more

Mozilla has disabled 44,000 older user accounts for its Firefox add-ons site after a security researcher found part of a database of the account information on a publicly available server.

The file had passwords obscured with the now-obsolete MD5 hashing algorithm, which has been rendered cryptographically weak and which Mozilla scrapped for the more robust SHA-512 algorithm as of April 9, 2009. The older database didn't end up anywhere dangerous, Mozilla believes.

"We were able to account for every download of the database. This issue posed minimal risk to users, however, as a precaution we felt we … Read more

Binding to an Active Directory or Open Directory domain is done in many work environments to centralize computing usage policies and increase network security. One of the common policies that may be enforced by Active or Open Directory domains is that passwords will need to be changed every so often.

When this happens, the system will warn you in advance of when the password is going to expire, and in some cases you might be bugged continually if the password expiration warning is set at an interval that is close to the domain's requirement for password changes.

For instance, … Read more