MacBook® Portable Genius, 2nd Edition

Chapter 14. How Can I Protect My MacBook?

Your MacBook is valuable; protecting it is important, but this chapter is about protecting the data on your MacBook, which is even more valuable. If you've purchased music, movies, or other content from the iTunes Store, you've invested hard-earned dollars in that content. If you use iPhoto, you can't replace those photos stored there at any price. Then there's personal data such as financial information that you need to safeguard. For all these reasons, you should take precautions to secure your MacBook and its data.

Keeping Software Current

Preventing Internet Attacks

Protecting MacBook with General Security

Protecting Data with Time Machine

Protecting Data with Encryption

Protecting Information with Keychains

Keeping Software Current

There are two good reasons why you should keep the software that you use current. One is that software developers frequently develop revisions to improve the features of their applications and to remove bugs. The other, and the reason this topic is included in this chapter, is that many applications, and most definitely Mac OS X itself, have a large role in how secure your MacBook and its data are. The bad guys, people who develop viruses and attempt to hijack your computer or steal your data, are always working on new ways to penetrate your computer. Most software developers try to limit your exposure to attacks in ...