- Joined
- Jun 14, 2008
- Messages
- 100
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 16
- Location
- Wilmington, NC
- Your Mac's Specs
- iMac 21 Inch - 3.1 GHz I7 Quad Core - 16 GB RAM - 512 GB SSD, iPod Nano, iPad Air - 16GB Wifi Only
OK, I am the very, very low end on tech knowledge / ability. I have read all the post in this thread on "Security". Most of it (almost all of it) is over my head. So, here goes: I am running an iMac, late 2013, Intel i7 quad core, 16 gigs RAM,
& a 500 SDD that's only 1/4 full. OSX Yosemite, 10.10.5 - and everything is working fine. All the news about hackers holding companies and even individuals hostage until they pay to have their computer unlocked is un-nerving at the least.
Here's what I do: (I am retired and spend at least two hours daily on line): I send receive e-mail via g-mail, transact brokerage transactions and on-line banking stuff, visit photography web sites, Amazon, - all pretty much main stream sites.
After reading all the issues on VPNs and security on my iMac I clicked on: "System Preferences", "Security & Privacy", and then "Firewall". The Firewall was turned off - so I turned in on and then sent a test g-mail message and logged into one of the financial web sites and everything worked fine.
Oh yeah, I have the Apple Time Machine regularly backing up my whole hard drive. If, unlikely as it is, a hacker encrypted my computer hard drive would the copy of my hard drive on my Time Machine also be encrypted? I connect to the internet via an ATT phone line DSL. See, I really am lost in the computer world!
Thanks!
And, as a footnote: I would gladly pay the $6. to $8. a month the companies charge for their step-up (from their free version) for VPN service - but - do I really need that?
& a 500 SDD that's only 1/4 full. OSX Yosemite, 10.10.5 - and everything is working fine. All the news about hackers holding companies and even individuals hostage until they pay to have their computer unlocked is un-nerving at the least.
Here's what I do: (I am retired and spend at least two hours daily on line): I send receive e-mail via g-mail, transact brokerage transactions and on-line banking stuff, visit photography web sites, Amazon, - all pretty much main stream sites.
After reading all the issues on VPNs and security on my iMac I clicked on: "System Preferences", "Security & Privacy", and then "Firewall". The Firewall was turned off - so I turned in on and then sent a test g-mail message and logged into one of the financial web sites and everything worked fine.
Oh yeah, I have the Apple Time Machine regularly backing up my whole hard drive. If, unlikely as it is, a hacker encrypted my computer hard drive would the copy of my hard drive on my Time Machine also be encrypted? I connect to the internet via an ATT phone line DSL. See, I really am lost in the computer world!
Thanks!
And, as a footnote: I would gladly pay the $6. to $8. a month the companies charge for their step-up (from their free version) for VPN service - but - do I really need that?