A few concerning Q's from new MBA user

[thewizzy]

1) I have a master password to login into my computer and verify installations and whatnot. Let's say I forget my MBA at a coffee shop and it was turned off, is there any way someone can break into it?

2) What's the deal with charging your battery? Is it okay to leave it plugged into the wall while you're on the computer?

3) How long at once can you actually be on the computer/have the computer on? What if you're up all night and day working on a project? Is there any harm in being on the computer for like 16-24 hrs straight?

4) What's the deal with how beautiful this computer feels? Ahhhhh. So nice and sleek. Makes me feel warm and slightly pretentious. I love my new buy

 

[ThomasBoss]

1- If they were dedicated yes, but most go and reformat the hard drive then sell them

2- You can but after it has reached 100% you should really unplug it, if you don't use the battery often it will...die lol

3- It will not harm your computer but it will harm your health

4- Yah lol

 

[iNeko]

1, As said, most thieves just wipe and sell.

2, I read somewhere that the Apple chargers are "smart" chargers now and let the battery drain a little every now and then when plugged in all the time (my MBP does this) But the safe bet is to charge it, use it on battery, then charge it again (unless you're doing heavy lifting)

3, You can be encoding HD video, pushing the processor to 90˚C+, for 24 hours. So if you can stay awake for 24 hours, I don't see why not! Mine is on all the time, sleeps when I do, no issues!

4, Oooh, I know the feeling. I even obsessively clean mine...

 

[theSeb]

1) I have a master password to login into my computer and verify installations and whatnot. Let's say I forget my MBA at a coffee shop and it was turned off, is there any way someone can break into it?

Yes and it's not that difficult at all to get your data. If you're very concerned, then read about FileVault, which is full disk encryption.

 

[CyrusKafaiWu]

For a macbook air owner, you can enable FileVault which will encrypt your data and make it hard for someone to get into your data.

Set up an firmware password so they can't install a new firmware while the SSD is in your macbook air (firmware password only prevents new firmwares on which its enabled on)

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1352
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3195869?start=0&tstart=0 (for lion os)

Now, you practically made your macbook clean and resell proof unless the possible of these cases below:

- Thief buys another Macbook Air takes your old macbook air ssd and puts it in a macbook air to erase the data.

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Hope this helps! Also, if you want to track it down you can use a software http://hiddenapp.com/ (i wish their a was a referral link) which probably be extremely likely to not be removed especially with all those added security options.

 

[ezramoore]

1) I have a master password to login into my computer and verify installations and whatnot. Let's say I forget my MBA at a coffee shop and it was turned off, is there any way someone can break into it?

The process of removing your administrator password takes a grand total of about 2 minutes. It is not complex. It is not difficult.

As others have said you can use filevault and a firmware password to gain some piece of mind regarding the physical security of your data (most attacks utilize social engineering anyway), but they will reduce your ability to recover data in a far more likely situation (the computer ages and fails).

I would recommend something like TrueCrypt which will allow you to create a safe repository for files you want the ultimate security for, and leave the remainder of your drive available for things you might like to get back if you experience a drive failure (photos, etc.).

 

[thewizzy]

Do you guys have encrypt your data?

 

[ezramoore]

I don't recommend it. More people do it than need it.