:: TCMUG Newsletter Archive ::

Vol 5 Iss 2 February 2006
*February Meeting
*Web Site Links and News of Interest
*Shareware Spotlight - Browseback
*OS X Tip of the Month - Managing Apple Mail
*Tip of the Month - Guidelines on Constructing Passwords
*Mac Software Spotlight - Featured Freeware
*The MUG Center Store - Free Freight To Members
*TCMUG Membership Structure for 2006 - JOIN TODAY!

***TCMUG Computer Survey  - Tell Us A Little Bit More About Your Computer and Use?
We are looking for feedback from everyone at the TCMUG on what their computer is, their operating system and how they use their computer.
Click here to take survey - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=452191561840

========== FEBRUARY MEETING ==========
February meeting will be held on Saturday the 18th from 2:00PM to 4:00PM. We will be doing an Appleworks project on how to create scrapbook and photo album pages. We will also be reviewing the features and benefits of Apple's .Mac online services.
We will be meeting at the Tuscarawas Carroll Harrison Educational Service Center on East High Avenue in New Philadelphia.

========== WEB SITE LINKS AND NEWS OF INTEREST ==========
Will You Be Lost in Translation?
By the end of 2006, all new Macs will use Intel processors. Find out whether your favorite applications run on the new machines. In its quest for faster hardware, Apple has abandoned the PowerPC processor and embraced Intel's Core Duo chip. The first Intel-based Macs started shipping this month, and Apple promises that from now on, every new Mac will use only Intel chips. Faster hardware is good, but only if your software is compatible. To decipher whether your key applications are Intel-savvy, you need to understand two terms: Rosetta and Universal.
http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/23838.html?cprose=daily
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Review: iMac Core Duo
http://www.macworld.com/2006/01/reviews/intelimacs/index.php/?lsrc=mwweek-0206

What's an Intel chip doing in an iMac? Almost exactly the same things PowerPC chips do in older models--just faster on some tasks and, for now, slower on others. Anyone with a recently revved iMac won't have much reason to rush out and buy an iMac Core Duo--you won't find the computing experience all that different from newer models. But for other users getting by with older machines, there's no reason to hesitate: these Intel-based iMacs are already great computers, and they'll only get better.
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Macsimum News, Ken Ray, The Apple Groups Team And Laura Burstein Team Up For NEW Daily News Show Podcast
For the first time, three Apple - specific community news organizations have joined forces to create a team-approach resource for the latest news and information regarding Apple - dedicated news and information. Macsimum News, The Apple Groups Team (TAGteam) and Ken Ray of Mac OS Ken announce the creation of "MAC OS KEN: The Macsimum Podcast." The show will feature Ray's signature style of reporting along with special features by Laura Burstein and contributing news resources specific to the Apple/Macintosh computing community.
Link: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/2/prweb343713.htm
Subscriptions to "Mac OS Ken: The Macsimum Podcast," Macsimum News and The Apple Groups Team are all entirely free of charge, and access to their podcasts is available via all three organizations' web sites. The first show will debut on Thursday, February 9, 2006 and is available via the following outlets:
Apple iTunes Music Store
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=120867842&s=143441
Or direct download via:
http://libsyn.com/media/macosken/macosken060207.mp3
Or on PodcastAlley.com
http://podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=18835
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Are there any two companies cooler than Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL)? Sure. If you check out the Rule Breakers newsletter service, you can probably find some pretty amazing companies working on next-generation applications like robotics in the operating room, or making small things do big things in the booming field of nanotechnology. But when you get around to gargantuan-sized companies, it's hard to get any cooler than Google and Apple.
http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2006/commentary06011702.htm
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Independent game and software company, Midori, has announced the release of a new computer game called, "Smack Solitaire," Solitaire games developed for Mac OS X.
Smack Solitaire is a collection of 30 different types of Solitaire games.
http://www.midoritech.com/solitaire.html
http://www.midoritech.com/macgames.html
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Free Companion eBook for Early Adopters from Apress Books
Buy any of the titles during the first printing (about six months from publication) and you'll be eligible to receive a free (that's right, FREE) companion eBook! All of our eBooks come in fully searchable PDF form, and are sure to be your constant companion for quick code and topic searches.
Once you purchase your paper copy, getting the free companion eBook is simple:
http://www.apress.com/misc/promo.html
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User Group University at Macworld Expo San Francisco 2006 wouldn't be possible without the generous support of many sponsors. Please explore the web sites below to learn more about the valuable contributions these companies make to the Macintosh community. Be sure to thank these companies that helped user groups get together and spread the word.
http://homepage.mac.com/ugab/mwsf06sponsors.html
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Micromat Announces TechTool Protege
Micromat Inc., developer of Macintosh disk repair and maintenance technology, today announced TechTool Protege. TechTool Protege is a compact, bootable diagnostic and repair tool. It contains the full-featured Macintosh troubleshooting program TechTool Pro, Micromat's disk partitioning program DiskStudio, as well as several other utilities on a compact, one gigabyte FireWire flash drive. Its tiny size makes it easy to carry at all times so that one can test and repair Macintosh computers whenever the need arises. TechTool Protege is extremely durable since it is a solid state device. Unlike a hard drive, it has no moving parts and is not affected by being bumped or dropped. Unlike a CD, it contains ample space to install other programs, is durable, and extremely fast.
http://www.micromat.com/

========== SHAREWARE SPOTLIGHT - BROWSEBACK ==========
Browseback from Smile on My Mac
If you’ve ever wanted to find a Web page you previously viewed but did not bookmark, Browseback is a handy way to search your browser history. The program gives you thumbnails of every page you looked at and you can search your history with keywords, even if you saw the page weeks ago or it has already been updated.
Want to find a web page you know you saw but didn't bookmark? – browseback's intuitive visual interface lets you scan through thumbnails of every page you've visited!
Need to find all the web pages you've visited on a specific topic? – With browseback, you can search the content of your web history by keyword!
Found a web page that you want to share? – Emailing a PDF of a page is quick and easy with browseback!
Looking for an old news story that's been taken off the publisher's site? – browseback stores a PDF of every page you visit, at the time that it was visited. And the contents are searchable too!
System Requirements: Mac OS X version 10.4 or later. Broadband Internet connection recommended. http://www.smileonmymac.com/browseback/index.html

========== OS X TIP OF THE MONTH - MANAGING MAIL REPLIES ==========
Managing Mail Replies By Rob Griffiths

Here's a very simple (and very short) tip for all you Apple Mail users receiving this newsletter. I get a large volume of mail, but not all of it requires a reply. So when I'm reading my messages, I typically just use the preview pane to scan new messages. If a note requires a simple reply, I click the Reply button and compose the response.
For longer, more-involved e-mail messages, however, I like to open the original in its own window, so I can read it in more depth later on. Then, when I have time, I return to the opened window and click on Reply. The only problem is that when I do so, Mail takes over the existing message window and turns it into the reply window. This can be more than a little bit annoying, especially if you were going to copy and paste discrete sections of the original message into your reply. (Yes, you can select the text you wish to quote in the message before hitting Reply to have it automatically included in the reply, but I don't always remember to do that.) The same thing happens when you click on Reply All or Forward; Mail steals the window for your response.
Thankfully, the solution is easy if not obvious. Just hold down Option before clicking the Reply, Reply All, or Forward buttons, and Mail will open your reply in a new window, leaving the original message intact.

========== TIP OF THE MONTH - CONSTRUCTING PASSWORDS ==========
Guidelines on Constructing Passwords
Constructing a 'good' password is a very important part of ensuring data and network security. If a malicious user can get hold of or 'crack' your password they can access the system with your identity and with your access rights.
A 'good' password is one that is:
1) Difficult for malicious users to guess - easy passwords to guess include dictionary words, usernames and passwords that don't contain a mixture of character types.
2) Easy for you to remember - usually something you can relate to and remember that you don't need to write down.
Many people think of these as mutually exclusive, however passwords can be both complex and quite easy to remember. Below I will show some methods that you can use for constructing complex, easy to remember passwords.
Password Complexity
A password should, and can be forced to, meet certain complexity requirements to make it harder to crack. A password is complex if it has a mixture of character types. These character types include:
1) Special characters e.g. !@#$%^&*()? etc
2) lower-case characters e.g. abcde.....z
3) UPPERCASE characters e.g. ABCDE.....Z
4) Numerals e.g. 1234567890
The complexity of the password comes from its length, its difficulty to guess and the number of possible characters that a character could be derived from.
For example if you have a password of only lower case characters, each character can be one of 26 possible values. If you add uppercase characters it increases to 52 possible values for each character and if you add special characters you have even more possible values.
Below is a simple example of the theoretical number of attempts it would take to crack a 5 character password under the scenarios outlined above.
1) lower-case only - 11,881,376 attemps
2) uppercase and lower-case - 380,204,032 attempts
3) lower-case, uppercase and special characters (based on 25 special characters) - 2,706,784,157 attempts
Password Generation methods
Method 1 - Character Substitution
Character substitution is where you take a lower-case dictionary word and substitute in special characters, numbers and uppercase letters to make them more complex. Examples of common substitutions are:
1) $, S or 5 for s
2) 1, I or ! for i
3) @ or A for a
4) 7 or T for t
5) 3 or E for e
6) 9, G or 6 for g
7) 0 or O for o
8) 8 or B for b
Examples of words and associated passwords include:
1) monday - M0nD@y! (where 0 is a zero)
2) guidelines - Gu1D3l!ne5
3) important - 1mP0rt@N7?
Method 2 - Joining words with character substitution
This is where you make two separate words into one longer password. You will also need to do character substitution to ensure that the password meets complexity requirements.
Examples include::
internet explorer - 1nt3rN3TeXp70r3R
happy days - h@pPyD@Y$?
good boy - 60odB0y!
Method 3 - Substituting codes or words into other words
Under this method you substitute in patterns, codes or words into other words to make a stronger password. For example inserting numbers between the letters of the original word.
Examples include (original word - Pattern/Code/Word to insert - Password):
1) internet - numbers doubling eg 1,2,4,8,16 - I1n2T3e4R8n16E32t!
2) today - favorite color Orange - t0oRd@aNyGe
3) John - favorite footy team tigers - Jt0iHgN3r$
Method 4 - Creating a password from phrases with character substitution
Another common method for constructing passwords is to take letters from the words of phrases and do character substitution from there. Phrases can be any number of things, they can be statements, locations, lines from books or movies etc. This is best explained with examples.
(Format: Phrase - How to construct word - 'Word' Using Parts of phrase - final password with substitution)
1) To be or not to be that is the question - First letter from each word - Tbontbtitq - 7b0n7B7!7?
2) The next generation is you - First and last letter from each word - Tentgnisyu - 73n79N!$yU!
3) 45 main street - First 2 letters in word with a number between first letter of each word in capitals - Fo1Fi2Ma3St4 - Fo1F!2M@3St4
4) I drive a holden commodore now - First letter of each word with the characters of my number plate between (assume number plate is ABC 123) - iAdBaCh1c2n3 - !AdB@Ch1c2n3!
Of all these methods, method 3 and 4 are the best, there is nearly an endless amount of phrases or words you can use and an endless amount of different ways you can create passwords from those phrases or words.
Method 2 is more secure then method 1 as password crackers are becoming more aware of character substitution and include checks for common substitutions when they are trying to crack passwords (for example P@$$w0rd is a common character substitution password).
When determining your new password think of common words phrases you will remember, a method of selecting characters from those phrases, and then your method of character substitution. When it is time to change your password again you can keep the same methods for substitution and selecting characters (obviously do not tell them to anyone else) and just select a new word or phrase.

========== MAC SOFTWARE SPOTLIGHT - FEATURED FREEWARE ==========
Over the last several years, instant messaging has grown to become a great way to stay in touch with friends, relatives, and other acquaintances. Unfortunately, it is not likely that all your contacts use the same instant messaging software and trying to use several different instant messaging programs at once can be rather cumbersome.
Fortunately, there are now free instant messaging programs available that can connect to multiple instant messaging networks, simultaneously.
For Mac users, there is a similar program called Adium.
Adium X requires Mac OS X 10.2.7 ("Jaguar") or later; Mac OS X 10.4 ("Tiger") or Mac OS X 10.3.9 ("Panther") is recommended. Adium X 0.88 is a Universal application which runs natively on both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macintosh computers.
Adium is available at: http://www.adiumx.com/

========== MUG CENTER STORE ==========
Is there something the MUG store can do to help your group?
Just let us know. Our Tuscarawas County Mac Users Group gets 1 percent back on everything members purchase, so we encourage our members to buy from the MUG store where you can get everything from software to new computers for your club for FREE.
The MUG store has free freight to members, RAM rebates, aggressive pricing on new (and reconditioned) Macs and the largest selection of pre-owned Macs on the planet.
February 1, 2006 - April 30, 2006 - User ID: / Password: - See the TCMUG members web site
Place your orders at http://www.applemugstore.com

========== TCMUG MEMBERSHIP FOR 2006 - TIME TO JOIN! ==========
We are working very hard to make it another exciting year for all local Mac users. We currently have a small dues structure. Membership in the TCMUG will cost $20.00 annually for a regular membership and will include a monthly newsletter, a special "members only" section of the web site, monthly meetings, a lending library, discounts on software, hardware and books and much, much more! You can visit our web site to get all of the features and benefits at http://www.tcmug.org/aboutus.html
We are offering three membership levels for 2006. There will be a regular membership at $20 per year and we will have student membership (K-12 & College) at $15 per year and a senior citizen (60+ years old) at $15 per year. All levels of membership will enjoy the benefits of belonging to the TCMUG.
Please contact any of the officers if you would have any questions regarding membership and the associated dues. http://www.tcmug.org/contactus.html
We have an online membership form that you are able to download. You can download the form at: http://www.tcmug.org/tcmug_memberapp.pdf

========== SUBMITTING INFORMATION ==========
Have a software tidbit to share, a Mac related web site to suggest or a news piece to submit? Email me with all the information at kwarrene@mac.com
To unsubscribe from this newsletter: Reply to this email with the subject line of REMOVE.
Forward this message to all of your family, friends and associates so that they can join the TCMUG and receive the monthly newsletter. Get all of the details at http://www.tcmug.org/aboutus.html
If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to contact any of the officers at http://www.tcmug.org/contactus.html