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Safeguard your online Persona with Mozilla ID system

If you've ever struggled with remembering your Facebook password, or felt uncomfortable using your Google ID to log in to a non-Google Web site, Mozilla has a solution for you -- one it calls Persona.

This first beta of Persona, which used to be called Mozilla's BrowserID project, is designed to compete with Web site login systems like the ones offered by Twitter, Facebook, and Google. Whether this open source alternative can hold its own against those other login heavy-hitters, though, is another story.

Persona essentially aims to give you a cross-platform, cross-browser way to log into a … Read more

How to use TextWrangler as a remote file editor

If you regularly access remote servers using the secure shell (SSH) command in your Mac's Terminal, often you will do so to simply edit a configuration file or two. This is normally done using a Terminal-based text editor such as vi, nano, or emacs; however, even though these programs can be fairly powerful options, often they simply lack in both ease and capability when compared to GUI-based editors like the TextWrangler, a popular and free editor from BareBones software.

Unfortunately being a full GUI application, TextWrangler will not run in the Terminal so you cannot use a remote copy … Read more

Save remote server connections in the OS X Terminal

If you are familiar with the Unix command line, then the OS X Terminal is a great resource for accessing systems remotely. This can be done with several different protocols, including SSH and Telnet, FTP, and SFTP, as well as several others. Often people who use the Terminal for remote access will have several servers they regularly access, which makes typing the commands and URLs to establish the connection rather redundant.

To make this easier, you have several approaches you can take. The first is to set up a script or shell function that will store the connection information for … Read more

Mac Pro users experiencing random log-outs in Mountain Lion

A small number of Mac Pro owners who have upgraded to Mountain Lion are reporting an issue where the system seems to randomly log out, quitting all applications without any warnings and returning to the log-in screen.

While this may appear as if the system has restarted or even performed a standard log-out, the system is in fact experiencing a crash in a critical process called the Window Server that supports the current log-in session by managing the drawing and representation of windows on the screen. Crash logs that affected users have revealed show that the problem is rooted in … Read more

Hackers post 450K credentials pilfered from Yahoo

Yahoo has been the victim of a security breach that yielded hundreds of thousands of login credentials stored in plain text.

The hacked data, posted to the hacker site D33D Company, contained more than 453,000 login credentials and appears to have originated from the Web pioneer's network. The hackers, who said they used a union-based SQL injection technique to penetrate the Yahoo subdomain, intended the data dump to be a "wake-up call."

"We hope that the parties responsible for managing the security of this subdomain will take this as a wake-up call, and not as … Read more

Black screen bug masks OS X Lion log-in window

If you have upgraded your OS X Lion system to version 10.7.4, you may run into an issue where the log-in screen might appear black and not show the standard usernames and icons and the area to present your password. When this issue happens, if you move your mouse the system will reveal a small square of the log-in window underneath the mouse, and subsequent movement of this square will erase more of the black mask and further reveal the log-in window.

While perhaps confusing and odd for the user, this issue does not break the functionality of … Read more

Options for file sharing via SSH in OS X

Remote access to a computer system is a convenient option to have, as it can allow you to change settings, get to your files and folders, or otherwise use the system without needing to be immediately in front of it. Being a Unix-like system, Apple has included the popular SSH remote log-in service for administering the system via the command line. However, this service can be used for more than a text-based interface to running commands, and you can use it to create secured FTP connections and similarly mount remote folders on a local system using the SSH filesystem (SSHFS) … Read more

Ford France announces Keyfree Login password manager

One of my favorite convenience features for cars is smart keyless entry and start. This transponder-based system lets you unlock your doors by simply approaching the car, touching the door, and pushing the starter button -- no fumbling with the key fob required thanks to RFID technology.

Ford thinks that if this sort of walk up and unlock technology is good for your car, it should also be good for your laptop, which is why it's announced its Ford Keyfree Login software. After downloading and installing the Chrome extension onto a laptop or desktop computer that features Bluetooth connectivity, … Read more

How to bypass the Windows 8 log-in screen

Windows 8 runs a tight ship by throwing up a lock screen and a log-in screen before you can dive in. But you can easily bypass those screens so you don't have to type your password every time. Here's how:

From the Start screen, type netplwiz. The command for netplwiz, aka the User Accounts Control Panel, appears in the search results in the left pane. Click that command. In the User Accounts Control Panel, select the account you wish to use to log in automatically. Click off the check-box above the account that says "Users must enter … Read more