SMUG meeting, July 20, 2021
Meeting notes by Kathleen Charters
Q&A
Topics based on questions
There are some parameters:
- The question should be something that can be answered in five minutes or less, and it should be relevant to Macs or iPhones or iPads, Apple TV, or something of that order. It should also be of general interest to the average Mac or iPhone, or iPad user.
- Bad: “Which is the best Star Wars film?” (Wars have been fought over that question)Good: “What Mac-based image rendering technology was used in Star Wars for special effects?” (Answer: RenderMan)
- Bad: “How long does it take for light from the Sun to reach Pluto?” (About 5 1/2 hours, but not Mac relevant)
- The question should not require the meeting host to vanish:
- Bad: “Can you demonstrate how to put a Mac in Target Disk Mode?” (Zoom crashes as host reboots computer)
- Bad: “Can you demonstrate CarPlay?” (Host leaves computer running but drives off somewhere)
Some suggestions offered so far:
- What are the Mac’s built-in networking tools? And what can you do with them?
- Are some of these networking tools available for iPads or iPhones?
- How can you see who sent an email message? (Essential for tracking down spammers)
- How do you tag files on the Mac? (And what are “tags?”)
- What third-party (i.e., non-Apple) diagnostic tools do you recommend?
Government spyware a problem? Government spyware is not focused on ordinary individuals
To monitor for risks – Fingbot, MESH network for the home, software to spy on own network to know what people using the network are at risk for; poor bandwidth so cut down on spam to increase what is available to use; invest in the investigation – learn to understand the inferences; you find things if you look and you do not find them if you do not look
Zoom preferences to set screen name, done in Zoom profile on desktop, iPad is different, when joining Zoom will let you change name to a screen name you want to use rather than the default of the device name
Example of people hacking the network could invite a vulnerability if using the default of first name for device name, or the name of the router, which tells hackers how to break into your network; do not use location equipment or name for a device that is identified for you
iPads, Macs, iPhones under attack from foreign governments, e.g., a person killed in Turkey, 50K devices infected with spyware, but they target high-profile people tracked by foreign governments; shared accounts are most vulnerable
IOS updates remove software like this; if you have a virus, ask for professional help before updating to avoid corrupting your device
Big Sur – see Apple menu, about this Mac; if on a very old Operating System, in danger of many risks, need to keep up with current software
iPhone 1-year-old SE has a battery health warning, maximum capacity 97%, not as robust as it once was; can get through the day on a single charge; iPhones use a smart battery, tries to maintain a profile based on how the lithium battery discharges, if the iPhone battery is confused can power down. Leave off for 5 seconds. Start up again; alternative is to “Reset” but goes back to where iPhone came out of the box and set it back up again; go to settings and shut down completely; things that screw up battery life: being away from a cell tower; can conserve batters if set to airport mode; use of GPS where there is no cell tower iPone may get hot from trying to do navigation without a cell tower in range; uses cell towers to triangulate location; inertial navigation not used by iPhone
How old is too old for a computer? If you can no longer do updates, it is too old; if you cannot run the current OS will not get security updates on the current Operating System minus 1; macOS 11 is current. Anything before MacOS 10.14 is too old
**Future topic – Monterey as a virtual machine on Parallels to demonstrate it; using lots of computer horsepower to do something
****Future topic – how to deal with spam in e-mail and malware****
**Future topic – things you can do with Siri; how to trigger video or take a photo using iPad without moving it – can use Apple Watch to do this; can turn on Apple TV but not change channels, can search for things
**Future topic – How to demonstrate Apple TV device, subscription? Need to do this in-person and not on Zoom
SMUG FaceBook page – need a volunteer to post things on it; consider Senior Center in Port Angeles – free space; Shipley Center in Sequim is used by former SMUG officers; 2-story building on east side of town for rent for meetings; St Lukes was expensive; do not have projection system; no current officer was involved in equipment give away; previous treasurer gave all SMUG money to Shipley Center; consider the old school house as a place to meet – check on Internet access, handicap accessible in downstairs, have a chair lift for upstairs access
People in Port Angeles want to host a meeting there; bandwidth is a limitation to broadcasting while holding a live meeting; Clallam County is back in the high zone for COVID-19, so the library will be cautious; county commissioners cite a high increase in tourism, which also brings in COVID-19
Treasury report: 1 dues paid, $1,478.46 balance in account, no expenses
Presentation
Removing incorrect e-mail addresses: demo: compose a message in a new window, 2 e-mail addresses come up, selects one and sends it, selects the other and sends a second message; in Apple Mail there is a window for previous recipients, can get rid of address select it and choose remove from the list; it will no longer auto-fill; Google Mail uses a browser, compose a message and get auto fill; go to contacts and can delete from there; hacks of email are on old email and old recipients; clean them up periodically
Search on Wireless Lavilear microphone iPhone; look for connector (e.g., lightning); read the ratings and find out what people looked at; be careful that reviews match the product being looked at; be wary of brand names and knockoffs
Effects of radiation on the body from the use of a cell phone? Lawyers’ example: static electricity. Ionizing radiation from the sun, not the same as radioactive, no evidence that it causes cancer, lithium battery poisoning is possible, and can get burned if the lithium battery gets hot; in general, not dangerous
First Internet access with Web TV; app sent to HQ; no privacy if you use one of those Apps on TV; security risk of Bitly – do not know where the other end
Mac Repairs – good resource not known for the local Sequim area since MacTraders left; not Best Buy; go to Apple store if machine under warranty; Port Townsend Computer – took care of malware issue 3 years ago, will do Mac repairs but not warranty work
Decentralized VPN – plugs into power and computer, VPN creates an encrypted tunnel from you to somewhere else, this device does not; WIFI extenders do not help; produced in China, used to collect data on users
MacWorld article on how to add more connectors – example of a hub with different ports for Mac mini, which is useful
M1 model Macs, Windows, a service (in Beta, may be a service)
Why is my computer so slow – pinwheel when overtax machine, old computer not enough memory or disk space outdated apps old OS; system preferences, see network MB vs. GB slows down computer; talks to Apple for e-mail, time to boot up dependent on speed of internet and cannot control; slow or unstable Internet connection; consider what you want connect
Alternative: When low on disk space, Daisy Disk produces a graph of space and how utilized
10 GB of space is the minimum – need to clean this up
Alternative: Disk Cartographer provides more technical detail
Grand Perspective – different-sized blocks show how space is used. Pruning is a way to speed up the machine
If you take up CPU time also increases
Window shop application, download a demo, and try it out
If you leave the desktop on all the time, reboot occasionally to give the operating system a fresh start
Mac mini with M1 is a speedster and doesn’t take up much space
A slow or unstable network slows the machine
Deleting a cache may help
A machine may have a failing hard drive; not worth repairing, so get a new machine
Safe boot option: hold down the shift key when rebooting. If faster after that may be software that makes it slower, rather than the machine
Costco in Sequim has a new M1 iMac on display
Costco machines are one size and cannot be customized after you buy the machine, so if not what you want, then go elsewhere; 16 GB recommended rather than 8 GB minimum due to future software demands – allows for longer life of the machine
M1 iPad is awesome
Western Digital software suite on the drive compromised by hackers; MyBook with Internet connection not secured, so vulnerable and hacked; if software comes with a drive, erase the drive and reformat it, then it will be safe; if you replace the drive, copy the data to a new drive; Time Machine – start a new backup
Clean up software for the machine gets rid of its cache, not cache you create; DNS cache is a list of all addresses you looked at over some time, which will age out quickly; a script to clean up what the computer uses for housekeeping to user-generated URLs