A little story about how we played a bit with the two new PowerBooks from afar using only a TiBook and a D-Link Bluetooth adapter.
A little story about how we played a bit with the two new PowerBooks from afar using only a TiBook and a D-Link Bluetooth adapter.
Mac OS X is installed with the Firewall on and all sharing turned off by default. In this mode your Mac is safe from a hacker or nosey person. Turn them on and you will become quite vulnerable to having your files copied or files dropped onto your HDD.
I am not going to review how to use Bluetooth here, just issue a warning that you need to be careful less you make yourself vulnerable to everyone in the coffee shop or wherever.
After poking about a few minutes we were able to transfer files from any of the three Macs to any other, just as if File Sharing were on over Ethernet, only slower.
So, don’t turn on Bluetooth and turn off the Firewall and turn on File Sharing and think you are safe. You aren’t. Learn what steps you have to take to be safe and secure and practice safe Bluetoothing.
It may sound obvious but I too have War-toothed in the occasional coffee shop, train station and computer lab only to be stunned at how many people had wide open PowerBooks and phones. To be safe ensure that all sharing is turned off (System Preferences > Sharing > Services), Bluetooth is turned off (System Preferences > Bluetooth > Settings) and that OS X’s built-in Firewall is turned on (System Preferences > Sharing > Firewall) at all times.
