Since I carry my PowerBook just about everywhere I go, I am considering a
third-party tool (such as Knox from https://www.knoxformac.com/) or Apple's
own FileVault (http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/filevault/) to protect
personal files.

I got to thinking about this when I got very drunk one night in a bar and
left my machine behind, but the bar staff knew me and kept it for me. And a
co-worker had his laptop stolen off his shoulder while he was walking down a
sidewalk, like a purse snatching.

I almost never "sleep" the Mac ... I usually power off whenever I'm done
using it (and yes, I run cron scripts and all that myself). So that means if
anyone stole it, they would have to get through the initial name and
password. And given that I'm not doing work where international spies are
following me in old Sunbeam Bread trucks, the most likely thief is going to
use my Mac for himself, or sell it, and the next user will probably just
format it and start over.

Question 1: Just how much of a Unix power user do you have to be to get past
the log-in name and password?

Question 2: Has Apple's FileVault been known to fail or to corrupt data? And
since it works on the fly, does it slow things down?

In article <0001HW.BF4266C3000613CCF0335550@newsgroups.bellso uth.net>,
Tim Murray <no-spam@thankyou.com> wrote:

> Since I carry my PowerBook just about everywhere I go, I am considering a
> third-party tool (such as Knox from https://www.knoxformac.com/) or Apple's
> own FileVault (http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/filevault/) to protect
> personal files.
>
> I got to thinking about this when I got very drunk one night in a bar and
> left my machine behind, but the bar staff knew me and kept it for me. And a
> co-worker had his laptop stolen off his shoulder while he was walking down a
> sidewalk, like a purse snatching.
>
> I almost never "sleep" the Mac ... I usually power off whenever I'm done
> using it (and yes, I run cron scripts and all that myself). So that means if
> anyone stole it, they would have to get through the initial name and
> password. And given that I'm not doing work where international spies are
> following me in old Sunbeam Bread trucks, the most likely thief is going to
> use my Mac for himself, or sell it, and the next user will probably just
> format it and start over.
>
> Question 1: Just how much of a Unix power user do you have to be to get past
> the log-in name and password?

Not much. If you have control of the keyboard and the reset button, you
can bypass the basic unix security.

> Question 2: Has Apple's FileVault been known to fail or to corrupt data? And
> since it works on the fly, does it slow things down?

That I don't know.

==> IT'S NOT TO LATE TO START PAYING ATTENTION <==

In article <0001HW.BF4266C3000613CCF0335550@newsgroups.bellso uth.net>,
Tim Murray <no-spam@thankyou.com> wrote:

> Since I carry my PowerBook just about everywhere I go, I am considering a
> third-party tool (such as Knox from https://www.knoxformac.com/) or Apple's
> own FileVault (http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/filevault/) to protect
> personal files.
>
> I got to thinking about this when I got very drunk one night in a bar and
> left my machine behind, but the bar staff knew me and kept it for me. And a
> co-worker had his laptop stolen off his shoulder while he was walking down a
> sidewalk, like a purse snatching.
>
> I almost never "sleep" the Mac ... I usually power off whenever I'm done
> using it (and yes, I run cron scripts and all that myself). So that means if
> anyone stole it, they would have to get through the initial name and
> password. And given that I'm not doing work where international spies are
> following me in old Sunbeam Bread trucks, the most likely thief is going to
> use my Mac for himself, or sell it, and the next user will probably just
> format it and start over.
>
> Question 1: Just how much of a Unix power user do you have to be to get past
> the log-in name and password?

Not much. If you have control of the keyboard and the reset button, you
can bypass the basic unix security.

> Question 2: Has Apple's FileVault been known to fail or to corrupt data? And
> since it works on the fly, does it slow things down?

That I don't know.

==> IT'S NOT TO LATE TO START PAYING ATTENTION <==