The two worst things in OS X EVER

solrac

solrac

Mac Ninja
1) Replace files
2) Installer CD

Ok, these are both really bad.
Number 1 was acceptable on the public beta, or even 10.0. But now with 10.1, they haven't even fixed it???
What if you have a folder with 3000 files, and 1000 of them were all updated on another mac. Then you drag these 1000 new files back into the folder on the original mac to replace them all. UUUUGGGHHHHH
Mac OS X 10.1 still forces you to hit replace for EACH file. There is no replace all button!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY?????????????????????? (Luckily, I've never needed to use it, just a theoritical situation, but I KNOW one day it will bite me in the ass........)

Number 2 is horrible.
No mac OS X in existence is a secure machine.
The Mac OS X installer CD allows you to reset the password on any Mac OS X box. After you reset the password, you can log in as the administrator. Then, you can enable the root password. Now you have root access. This is a security hole as far as I'm concerned. Sure, I can put my OS X installer CD in a safe, but ANYONE who has ANY installer CD can do this to my mac. I have a notebook so I can maybe get a lock for it? Or desktop systems can get a CD-ROM lock? That's still not secure though. Security is reliable on the software level, not locks on the hardware slots..........

I can go to ANY Mac OS X display at any computer store, use the installer CD, enable root access, then rm -rf *

oh well, any news on fixes for the above 2 MAJOR issues????
-solrac-
 
ad 1) Tell Apple. They do listen to user requests.
ad 2) One way to make your portable "secure" is to leave it on and run a screen saver. Make the screen saver request a password. Still, people could press the reset button and then boot from the CD. Other than that, there should be locks for portables. Ask at an Apple Store.
I know this isn't much. Hope you'll find a solution.
BTW, is there any system where you can prevent people from using an install CD ?
 
Originally posted by Bophasa
It is the way it should be! If they have access to your machine then they have access to root.
Click to expand...

I don't necessarily think that this is the way it should be. I understand it's the norm with *nix based systems, but it is a big security issue.
 
Give me keyboard access to a RedHat Linux machine, and I can change the password with a simple reboot and about 15 seconds (of course it will take longer to boot, but still).

It's called UNIX. :)

Just remember... any security on OS X is better than any security on OS 9. Oh wait, did such a word exist on OS 9?

Admin
 
If someone has access to your system they can do a lot,

I just think that apple should go beyind the original programing of *nix and provide a little more security :)

Just because it's been that way for a long long time and on many many unix platforms, it doesnt mean that it's the established norm and that apple should follow.


Admiral
 
A follow-up to the OpenFirmware password: if you really want to use it (even given the Apple non-support bit), look on the 10.1 CD under Applications/Utilities for the program "Open Firmware Password" for an alternative to booting into OF.
 
Originally posted by AdmiralAK
Just because it's been that way for a long long time and on many many unix platforms, it doesnt mean that it's the established norm and that apple should follow.
Click to expand...

I absolutely agree, Apple has always been an industry leader, not a follower, and this would give them a way to really show the business world why Macs are better: they need to show that they are not just trying to give the Mac OS experience all the advances of UNIX, but are going to continue with improvements and advancements. It's one thing to give us what everyone else already has (heck, we expect that), but it's a whole different thing to give us the best of it, along with stuff everyone else wishes they had! In short, if Apple provided better-than-norm security, people who use *nix would want to use Apple's *nix (Mac OS X obviously), and the world would be a slightly better place for it.:)
 
Two worst things? Make it three: iTunes 2.0.1.

This piece of she-it crashed my OS-X partition on my iMac Rev. A (3 partitions, 4 gb osx, 4 gb os9, 12 gb): booting (into OS-X) did not work anymore!

I consider not able to boot anymore from hd Apple latest safety "invention".

Fortunately after booting & reinstalling OS-X.1 from cd I seem to have lost no files or settings... yet...
 
Originally posted by testuser
1. Copying and replacing a large number of files

This can be done in the Terminal with the "cp" (copy) command. Use the -f flag to prevent asking about overrides, and the -R for recursive (directories and files within). For example:
cp -f /Volumes/myCD/folderWithNewStuff/* ~/Documents/folderWithOldStuff
Click to expand...

Note though that the 'cp' command won't be sure to copy all the bits of a 'Mac file' (on an HFS+ partition). I think there's another command that will.
 
Originally posted by mcasteel


Note though that the 'cp' command won't be sure to copy all the bits of a 'Mac file' (on an HFS+ partition). I think there's another command that will.
Click to expand...

If you have installed the Developer Tools, you should use /Developer/Tools/CpMac and /Developer/Tools/MvMac instead of the usual cp and mv. These two commands will correctly copy/move both the data and resource forks of the macintosh files on a HFS+ volume.
 
I have considered your observation of the apparent "security flaw" of putting in a bootable CD and restarting. After careful thought about taking my computer to school in our research lab for a few days (I trust NO ONE - back stabbing greedy grad students), I came up with the following possible remedy and I don't know if it works:

Aside from locking down the computer with a cable, it would seem workable to remove the power supply going to the CD-ROM and 100MB built-in ZIP disk. This way, no one can maliciously infect my mac, remove files from it assuming they were able to get into it, or restart with an installation CD. I haven't tried disconnecting the power to the CD-ROM or ZIP yet. I would expect the computer would just boot "assuming" those hardware devices were absent.

I think if you are that concerned about security, perhaps you should handcuff your laptop / weld your desktop to your belt. That way, you know it is always within eye sight and ear shot. REMEMBER, Apple is primarily a CONSUMER-oriented company. If you're that concerned about security, your computer should be locked in a vault and disconnected from all networks and phone lines.

Better leave that laptop at home, never know what might happen to it. Then again, that defeats the purpose of having a laptop, aside from just "wanting" one. Always back up EVERYTHING before leaving home/work. Look howmany laptops the FBI lost with sensitive material in them. Who the hell knows what happened to them.

chemistry_geek
 
Everybody who's got access to ur computer can also access ur files. No matter whether theres an open firmware password installed or not. He can just crack/open up ur mac, take out the hd and put it into another mac. There he can boot from cd and remove/change the root password. Otherwise he could also just boot into OS 9 and access all ur files (if the hd ain't ufs formatted). If it is ufs formatted, Im sure that there are some tools, maybe for Windoze PC, which can read ufs hd's under Win or MacOS 9....
 
Wringing your hands over something like "how can I keep someone out of my computer when they're RIGHT IN FRONT OF IT?!" is more an issue of trusting those with that kind of access.

If you're worried about privacy- cryptography is a better battlefront to war on. Also back up your data and make sure you aren't too lax about your network security.
 
Security is the reason we have all of our Linux and NT servers in a LOCKED room. I guess one could still break in with a sledge hammer or blow the doors off.
Open Firmware password protection is the best option to protect from booting from a CD or boot into OS 9.
 
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