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Beware Fake “Sextortion” Scams

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All those data breaches are coming back to haunt us. Once our phone numbers and addresses began to be leaked, it was only a matter of time before scammers would personalize their attacks to make them seem more real. The latest “sextortion” scams purport to have compromising video of you taken from your computer’s webcam, backing it up with your phone number and a Google Street View-like image that matches your leaked address. They make a lot of claims and dire-sounding threats, but talk is cheap, and there’s nothing behind them. Do not pay the scammers!

(Featured image by iStock.com/Thapana Onphalai)

Social Media: Scams are starting to incorporate personal information stolen in data breaches, so you may get “sextortion” threats that purport to know your phone number, address, and more.

Reveal Mac Window Proxy Icons Permanently with This Setting

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We’re big fans of the Mac’s window proxy icons, those little icons that appear in window title bars next to the filename. They’re not just cosmetic—you can use them just like the Finder icon for the open document. You can drag one to Mail to attach the document to a message, to a Web browser to upload it, or to any other location you can drag a document’s icon in the Finder. You can also drag a proxy icon for a folder from the title bar of its Finder window to Open and Save dialogs to navigate to the folder. In macOS 11 Big Sur, Apple hid the proxy icon until you moused over the filename, but starting in macOS 12 Monterey, the company provided an option to show them all the time. To enable it, select System Settings > Accessibility > Display > Show window title icons.

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

Social Media: People who like using the Mac’s window proxy icons (and if you don’t know about them, you should!) can make them visible at all times with an option deep within System Settings. Here’s how to find it and what you can do with proxy icons.

Apple ID Renamed to Apple Account in Latest Operating System Releases

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In macOS 15 Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and watchOS 11, Apple has officially renamed Apple ID to Apple Account. The new name is a slightly more sensible term because you can sign in to an Apple Account that holds your information, whereas an Apple ID was primarily an identifier—it’s an email address—that didn’t inherently imply that it stored data. The name change is mostly a distinction without a difference, but you should be aware of it when reading support documentation or tech articles. You’ll see the new term in System Settings on the Mac and Settings on the iPhone and iPad.

(Featured image based on an original by iStock.com/Armastas)

Social Media: Apple has renamed Apple ID to Apple Account everywhere as of macOS 15 Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and watchOS 11. Nothing has changed functionally, but keep it in mind when reading tech articles or support documentation.

Restrict Access to Sensitive Apps in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18

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Do you worry about family members with whom you’re otherwise happy to share your iPhone passcode reading your private diary in a journaling app? Or perhaps you want to keep your child out of apps where they could cause mischief. A new feature in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 lets you use Face ID or Touch ID to restrict access to specific apps, optionally hiding them in the process. Touch and hold the app’s icon on the Home Screen, and tap Require Face/Touch ID. When prompted, either tap Require Face/Touch ID to leave the app’s icon visible on the Home Screen but restrict access or tap Hide and Require Face/Touch ID to restrict access and hide the icon. Protected apps only open after you authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID; hidden apps can be accessed only from the Hidden folder in the App Library after authenticating. (To reach the App Library, swipe left repeatedly on your Home Screen, then scroll to the bottom to find the Hidden folder.)

(Featured image by iStock.com/SasinParaksa)

Social Media: Keep prying eyes—or mischievous children—out of sensitive or important apps by requiring Face ID or Touch ID access before the app opens. You can also hide such apps so they appear only after you authenticate.

Energy Saver Can Shut Down Your UPS-Equipped Mac in a Power Outage

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An uninterruptible power supply, or UPS, provides essential protection from power surges, spikes, brownouts, and outages. But if you’re not at your Mac when the power goes out, the UPS may run out of battery before you (or the power) return. Happily, if you connect your Mac to your UPS with a USB cable, macOS can detect the outage and shut your Mac down safely, regardless of what else is happening. Make sure open documents are saved whenever you step away from your Mac, or you could lose changes. In System Settings > Energy Saver > UPS Options, you can trigger the shutdown in three ways: after using the UPS battery for a specified amount of time, when the time remaining on the UPS battery hits a specific number, or when the UPS battery level drops below a particular percentage. There’s no harm in setting all three. Remember that it can take a minute or two for your Mac to shut down, so err on the short side for safety’s sake. Apple supports most UPS models from major manufacturers such as APC, CyberPower, and Tripp Lite.

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

Social Media: If you connect your Mac to your UPS with a USB cable, you can use Energy Saver to shut your Mac down automatically in the event of a power failure… before the UPS battery runs out.

Five Quick Tips to Ease iPhone and iPad Text Editing and Amaze Your Friends

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A friend recently expressed astonishment when she saw us using trackpad mode while editing text on an iPhone. (It works on the iPad, too!) So, even if you already know these tips, do your friends a favor and show them:

  • Tap once to position the insertion point at the start or end of a word.
  • Touch and hold to reveal the magnifier and move the insertion point within words ➊.
  • Touch and hold the Space bar to turn the entire keyboard into a virtual trackpad that lets you move the insertion point above ➋. On the iPad, you can also touch and hold with two fingers anywhere on the keyboard.
  • Double-tap to select a word; keep dragging to select more text, one word at a time ➌.
  • Triple-tap to select an entire paragraph.

(Featured image by Adam Engst with keys from MXW Photo)

Social Media: Editing text on an iPhone or iPad will never be as easy as on a Mac, but with these tips, you can quickly position the insertion point and select words and paragraphs using your finger.

Set macOS to Require a Password after Screen Saver Start or Display Sleep

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Although paying attention to online security is of primary importance, don’t forget local security. You don’t want to go out for lunch and let someone wandering by your office poke through your email, messages, photos, and private files. To ensure this doesn’t happen, set your Mac to start the screen saver or sleep the display after a few minutes (on a laptop, just close the lid), and then set “Require password after screen saver begins or display is turned off” to a short duration. We recommend 1 or 5 minutes, though you can adjust to balance inconvenience against security. To eliminate the fuss almost entirely, use Touch ID or an Apple Watch to unlock your Mac without having to type your password.

(Featured image based on an original by iStock.com/Armastas)

Social Media: Don’t forget about local security on your Mac. Make sure to require a password shortly after the screen saver starts or the display sleeps to prevent people from riffling through your email, photos, messages, and more.

No More Ransom Website Offers Ransomware Decryption Tools

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We’ve written in the past about how Apple-only companies can protect themselves from ransomware (strong security, isolated backups, monitoring software), but realistically, it’s primarily a threat to computers running Windows and Linux. If you, or anyone you know, is targeted by ransomware, look to the No More Ransom website, developed by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre and the Dutch police, for advice and tools. The advice boils down to: “Don’t pay the ransom because it proves to the criminals that ransomware works, and there’s no guarantee it will solve your problem.” On the tools side, the Crypto Sheriff helps identify the type of ransomware in play, and No More Ransom provides decryption tools for 180 different forms and variants of ransomware. There are no guarantees, but anyone who has fallen prey to ransomware should start with No More Ransom.

(Featured image based on original by iStock.com/Suebsiri)

Social Media: Ransomware primarily affects Windows and Linux computers, but if you, or anyone you know, falls prey to it, visit the No More Ransom website for advice and decryption tools.

What You Need to Know Before Switching to a New iPhone

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Are you planning to upgrade to a new iPhone 16? It’s exciting, we know, but it’s best to proceed deliberately when setting up your new iPhone to avoid causing yourself headaches. Follow these instructions when you’re ready to transfer your data—and, for many people, much of your digital life—to the new iPhone. Apple also has a series of videos you can watch.

  1. Update your old iPhone to the latest version of iOS. If you have an Apple Watch, update it to the latest version of watchOS. This process can take some time, so it may be best done overnight before you move data to your new iPhone.
  2. Make sure you know your Apple ID and password, and if you have an Apple Watch, its passcode. You will likely have to enter them at least once during this process.
  3. Back up your old iPhone to iCloud or your Mac. (If you back up to a Mac, be sure to encrypt the backup, or else it won’t include saved passwords, Wi-Fi settings, browsing history, Health data, and call history.) Or back up to both, for safety’s sake. We prefer iCloud backups because they’re easier and don’t introduce additional variables, like flaky USB cables. If you don’t usually back up to iCloud, Apple will give you temporary iCloud storage to make a backup when moving to a new iPhone. To initiate an iCloud backup, go to Settings > Your Name > iCloud > iCloud Backup and tap Back Up Now.
  4. If you have an Apple Watch, you don’t need to unpair it from your old iPhone at this point in the process. (Later, if the automatic transfer has not worked, you can unpair it manually and pair it again later. If you end up taking the manual route and have a cellular Apple Watch, you’ll be asked if you want to keep or remove your plan. If you’re keeping your Apple Watch to re-pair with your new iPhone, keep the plan.)
  5. You shouldn’t need to worry about transferring a SIM card. If you ordered your new iPhone through Apple and connected to your cellular carrier account during purchase, activating the new iPhone should cause it to take over your phone number. The same should be true if you’ve purchased directly through your carrier. Besides, it’s likely that iPhone 16 models sold in the US will rely on eSIM and lack SIM trays like the iPhone 15, so only non-US users might need to transfer the SIM card from the old iPhone to the new one. Even then, it’s better to contact your carrier and get them to activate the new SIM in the new iPhone because old SIMs don’t always support all current cellular features, such as full 5G support.
  6. Transfer your data, settings, apps, and purchased content in one of these three ways. None of them will be quick, despite the first one’s name, so initiate the transfer only when you have plenty of time:
    • Quick Start: With the Quick Start feature, content from your old iPhone copies directly from your old iPhone to your new one. We recommend this technique because it’s more likely to preserve app logins, something that’s less true when restoring from an iCloud backup. Put your iPhones next to each other (plugged into power), use the old iPhone to scan the animation on the new one, and then follow the rest of the steps.
    • iCloud: With this technique, the new iPhone will download your content from your old iPhone’s iCloud backup. Once you’ve joined a Wi-Fi network on the new iPhone and tapped the Restore from iCloud Backup button, you’ll have to select the correct backup—likely the most recent one you just made. Keep your new iPhone plugged into power the entire time to ensure that all your content syncs during this step.
    • Finder or iTunes: With this approach, you’ll restore your old iPhone’s content from a backup made to your Mac. Connect your new iPhone to your Mac using an appropriate cable, open a Finder window (or iTunes on an old Mac), select your device in the left-hand sidebar, click Restore Backup, and choose the appropriate backup—likely the most recent one.
  7. Perform post-transfer tasks. Ensure that you can make and receive a phone call. If necessary, pair your Apple Watch with the new iPhone. You’ll also need to pair your Bluetooth accessories—including AirPods—with your new iPhone. Plus, some app data needs to sync to your new iPhone, so open the Mail, Contacts, and Calendar apps and check if they have your data. It could take a few minutes for them to fill up. Apps may request notification permissions again, and you may need to download content and in-app purchases.
  8. If you use two-factor authentication with an app like 1Password, Authy, or Google Authenticator, ensure you can get your 2FA codes using your new iPhone. 1Password and Authy are good about providing access to 2FA codes from multiple devices—just log in to your account from each device—but Google Authenticator may require some additional setup since it didn’t initially offer any way to transfer codes to a new phone.
  9. Finally, if necessary, set up single sign-on for work or school. If your workplace or school uses a security system like Duo, you’ll likely want to activate your new iPhone and deactivate the old one. Using any device, navigate to a standard single sign-in login screen from your organization, look for a link for managing your logins, click that link, and follow the prompts.

Although Apple works hard to make the process of transferring from an old iPhone to a new one as painless as possible, some things may fail to transfer seamlessly. For that reason, we strongly recommend holding onto your old iPhone for a week or so to ensure the new one can do everything the old one could. During that time, put the new iPhone through its paces with an eye toward checking every app you need.

(Featured image by iStock.com/valiantsin suprunovich)

Social Media: It’s exciting to get a new iPhone, but take a few minutes to read our advice on what you need to do before—and after—transferring your data from your old iPhone.

Be Careful When Scanning Unknown QR Codes

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QR codes, those square, blocky codes you scan with your iPhone’s camera to load a Web page, have become ubiquitous. So much so that we seldom pause before scanning any QR code we see. But if you think about it, that’s the same as clicking random links in emails or texts, which is a terrible idea from a security perspective. “Quishing” (QR code phishing) isn’t commonplace yet, but some sources say there are thousands of cases per month. To avoid falling victim to a quishing scam, only scan QR codes from trusted sources, try to verify what a code will do once scanned, and evaluate the yellow URL preview Safari provides (when using other browsers, all you see is Open in Browser Name). Finally, always install iOS security updates promptly because they often address vulnerabilities that could be exploited with malicious data.

(Featured image based on an original by iStock.com/B4LLS)

Social Media: QR codes—those blocky squares you scan with your iPhone camera—are an easy way to open a Web page. Unfortunately, scammers also use them to trick people into visiting malicious websites, so read our tip about scanning these codes safely.