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The wife and stepson both have windows 10 home that they have had since it came out, the wife knows nothing about maintaining a system and I do it for her. I pretty much have to do nothing. I have a mac that I have had several years and now I have a windows laptop with pro. I was running windows windows pro on the mac bootcamp for several years before that. I rate windows 10 on par with mac, even faster. The reason I went with the windows laptop was I can no longer see the 1500.00 more it would have cost me for a "comparable" MacBook pro with less ssd and memory.

So, does the system degrade, or would you mitigate attacks by adding a separate network appliance/firewall. Or would you airgap it when possible and just use iOS devices for the innerwebs?
 
it hurts me. update to High Sierra not possible. iMac 2011
You can update, as others have stated, however, you won’t be able to take advantage of Metal (no VR apps) and some continuity features. Check for software compatibility first, though. I may wait for .3 this time, like I used to.

The EFI updates aren't available as standalone updates; they're rolled into operating system updates now.
Yes, but, these people are likely using an older version of macOS, where it was separate.
For those interested in the EFI firmware, some standalone updaters are available:

https://support.apple.com/en-ph/HT201518
I was going to post this ^^, the newest of these are from 2015, I’m not sure if they began rolling EFI updates in ElCapitan or Sierra, so if running ElCapitan (10.11) or older, check this out.


This sounds like this company is self promoting itself. That being said, some production environments do not do regular updates, do not allow their employees to update, and the IT person may not be aware of security updates needed. When a set of software works they don’t want to take a chance of “breaking” it.
 
Good for you for not falling into the "need to upgrade hype." I genuinely mean that!

Thanks.

It’s been dropped, spilt on and overheated (left it running in a zipped up backpack) to the point it was almost too hot to touch the bottom and the fans were screaming! I left it open and running and threw it in the fridgerator till the fans finally slowed down

Though ugly now, with a cracked screen (my fault), cracked but usable Track Pad, sometimes working CD/DVD drive (SuperDrive?), loose audio port and swollen battery, its slow at times, but it still manages to do what occasionally I ask of it.
 
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So, does the system degrade, or would you mitigate attacks by adding a separate network appliance/firewall. Or would you airgap it when possible and just use iOS devices for the innerwebs?

It doesn’t degrade, any more than my mac. The mac is fast first installed but about once a year I do a fesh Install as it degrades. Windows I never did a fresh, on the wife and kids computers. I would say both osx and 10 about the same though.

Attacks? I run a free antivitus but I do not have a problem with adware. I have had computers since dos and have never had a virus.

I mostly use ios devices for games and when out and about. I go everywhere on either windows or osx. No problems at all.

My 15” windows laptop has 7th gen i7 and a 1tb ssd, boots up in a few seconds. I had 30 days to try it and firmly decided if I didn’t like it I would send it back snd save up the extra for a base 13” mac pro. I like it a lot, fast and powerful.

I still like the mac but its not my daily driver.

This will draw ire from fanbois but again I am loyal to no brand. Not trying to convince anyone of anything, just being honest and objective.

As a side note my 20 year old stepdaughter is still using a windows laptop I got in 08.

I really hate it but cook and co has left me behind. Fixed income and around 2500 to get even close to my under a 1000.00 laptop.
 
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Here's the official list from macOS High Sierra with the latest EFI firmware versions:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
efiver.py v1.0 Copyright (c) 2017 by Pike R. Alpha
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mac-F2268CC8 | iMac10,1 | IM101.88Z.00CF.B00.1708080133
Mac-F2268DAE | iMac11,1 | IM111.88Z.0037.B00.1708080241
Mac-F2238AC8 | iMac11,2 | IM112.88Z.005B.B00.1708080439
Mac-942B5BF58194151B | iMac12,1 | IM121.88Z.004D.B00.1708080012
Mac-00BE6ED71E35EB86 | iMac13,1 | IM131.88Z.010F.B00.1708080805
Mac-F22C8AC8 | MacBook6,1 | MB61.88Z.00CB.B00.1708080203
Mac-F22C89C8 | MacBook7,1 | MB71.88Z.003D.B00.1708080317
Mac-942452F5819B1C1B | MacBookAir3,1 | MBA31.88Z.0067.B00.1708080355
Mac-C08A6BB70A942AC2 | MacBookAir4,1 | MBA41.88Z.007B.B00.1708072159
Mac-66F35F19FE2A0D05 | MacBookAir5,1 | MBA51.88Z.00F4.B00.1708080803
Mac-C3EC7CD22292981F | MacBookPro10,1 | MBP101.88Z.00F2.B00.1708080809
Mac-AFD8A9D944EA4843 | MacBookPro10,2 | MBP102.88Z.010B.B00.1708080805
Mac-F22589C8 | MacBookPro6,1 | MBP61.88Z.005A.B00.1708072217
Mac-F222BEC8 | MacBookPro7,1 | MBP71.88Z.003D.B00.1708080058
Mac-94245B3640C91C81 | MacBookPro8,1 | MBP81.88Z.004D.B00.1708080655
Mac-4B7AC7E43945597E | MacBookPro9,1 | MBP91.88Z.00D7.B00.1708080744
Mac-F2208EC8 | Macmini4,1 | MM41.88Z.0045.B00.1708072325
Mac-8ED6AF5B48C039E1 | Macmini5,1 | MM51.88Z.007B.B00.1708080744
Mac-031AEE4D24BFF0B1 | Macmini6,1 | MM61.88Z.010B.B00.1708080649
Mac-F60DEB81FF30ACF6 | MacPro6,1 | MP61.88Z.0120.B00.1708080652
Mac-A369DDC4E67F1C45 | iMac16,1 | IM161.88Z.0212.B00.1708080033
Mac-FFE5EF870D7BA81A | iMac16,2 | IM162.88Z.0212.B00.1708080033
Mac-DB15BD556843C820 | iMac17,1 | IM171.88Z.0110.B00.1708080012
Mac-4B682C642B45593E | iMac18,1 | IM181.88Z.0151.B00.1708080034
Mac-BE088AF8C5EB4FA2 | iMac18,3 | IM183.88Z.0151.B00.1708080034
Mac-EE2EBD4B90B839A8 | MacBook10,1 | MB101.88Z.0154.B00.1708080122
Mac-BE0E8AC46FE800CC | MacBook8,1 | MB81.88Z.0168.B00.1708080033
Mac-9AE82516C7C6B903 | MacBook9,1 | MB91.88Z.0159.B00.1708080011
Mac-9F18E312C5C2BF0B | MacBookAir7,1 | MBA71.88Z.0171.B00.1708072210
Mac-06F11FD93F0323C5 | MacBookPro11,4 | MBP114.88Z.0177.B00.1708080033
Mac-E43C1C25D4880AD6 | MacBookPro12,1 | MBP121.88Z.0171.B00.1708080033
Mac-473D31EABEB93F9B | MacBookPro13,1 | MBP131.88Z.0212.B00.1708080127
Mac-66E35819EE2D0D05 | MacBookPro13,2 | MBP132.88Z.0233.B00.1708080034
Mac-A5C67F76ED83108C | MacBookPro13,3 | MBP133.88Z.0233.B00.1708080034
Mac-B4831CEBD52A0C4C | MacBookPro14,1 | MBP141.88Z.0167.B00.1708080034
Mac-CAD6701F7CEA0921 | MacBookPro14,2 | MBP142.88Z.0167.B00.1708080034
Mac-551B86E5744E2388 | MacBookPro14,3 | MBP143.88Z.0167.B00.1708080129
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyone who upgrades to High Sierra will automatically receive the latest firmware update!

See also: https://pikeralpha.wordpress.com/2017/09/27/new-handy-script-called-efiver-py/


I reviewed the Duo Labs Report: The Apple of Your EFI and table 10 on page 57 of the report shows the EFI firmware versions your Mac should get when and if you upgrade to Yosemite, El Capitan, and Sierra. Table 11 on page 58 of the report shows potentially vulnerable Mac models with low build numbers.

See also: https://duo.com/assets/ebooks/Duo-Labs-The-Apple-of-Your-EFI.pdf
 
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I think this story misses an important point. Apple is forcing people to use an incorrect EFI on purpose too. My Mac Pro would not be running Sierra if Apple hadn't cast aside a significant portion of its Mac Pro users with 4,1 firmware. Technically I would fall in this % since I'm not supposed to be running 5,1 firmware.
 
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Those are not (all) latest updates, my md 2012 MBP 13" is on a later and newer firmware. (MBP91.00D7.B00)

Not sure that page is up to date. My EFI Boot ROM version appears to be newer than what is listed there.

It's not meant to be the list of all firmware nor the latest. Those are the latest standalone updaters. Read the page carefully:

From the link said:
This article has been archived and is no longer updated by Apple.
 
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they just keep going and going....yeah I had a swollen battery once...and my hard drive was slowing down...but once I went to SSD IT SCREAMS again. I think the reason my 2008 MBP is no loner supported is because specs say I have an old rotating hard drive. It think they need to make allowances IF you have upgrades...I am sure it can handle it. Its faster in opening adobe products than my late 2015 5k 27" iMac here at work

I had an old rotating HDD in my MBP Mid-2010 13" , it worked just fine on Sierra/High Sierra. MBP 2008 does have an SSE4 CPU though. Take a look here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-10-12-sierra-unsupported-macs-thread.1977128/

Unibody MBP 2008 has 'No Issues' according to the page, older MBP 2008s require a new wifi card which is an easy fix(I've worked with Pre-Unibody MBPs, wifi card is easily accessible after removing top case.)

Good luck, I made my MBA 2009 have some more life doing this
 
I reviewed the Duo Labs Report: The Apple of Your EFI and table 10 on page 57 of the report shows the EFI firmware versions your Mac should get when and if you upgrade to Yosemite, El Capitan, and Sierra. Table 11 on page 58 of the report shows potentially vulnerable Mac models with low build numbers.

See also: https://duo.com/assets/ebooks/Duo-Labs-The-Apple-of-Your-EFI.pdf

Thanks for the link. Concerning to see that Macs that are ostensibly still being supported from an OS security POV are not receiving EFI patches. I hope Apple changes its stance on this.
 
I wonder what percentage of Windows computers have the latest BIOS/UEFI installed? My guess is a very low percentage. As you have to go to the support site for your motherboard or computer manufacturer and find the update. Rather than it just being presented to you. Isn't the update automatic on Macs. I'd think the majority of that 4.2% are Macs with automatic updates disabled and never run or the IT staff validates the updates before rolling them out and skips EFI updates.
 
Yeah, I have one too. I was worried when it said it needed to update the firmware before installing HS, but it worked. The first time it apparently failed, so I reinstalled the GT120 and it succeeded on the second attempt. Hopefully we can keep getting the updates, as there’s nothing wrong with the 4,1 after all these years!
What GPU did you have installed before putting back GT120? I have the upgrade GPU, not a 3rd party GPU so hopefully it'll work for me. I wonder how the HS installer knows you don't have the "correct" GPU?
 
efiver.py v1.2 also checks the EFI ROM version data and warns you when you're not running the latest firmware update!

Here's a snippet of the output:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
EFIver.py v1.2 Copyright (c) 2017 by Pike R. Alpha
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mac-F2268CC8 | iMac10,1 | IM101.88Z.00CF.B00.1708080133
.. / ..
Mac-4B682C642B45593E | iMac18,1 | IM181.88Z.0151.B00.1708080034
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Mac-BE088AF8C5EB4FA2 | iMac18,3 | IM183.88Z.0151.B00.1708080034 <
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mac-EE2EBD4B90B839A8 | MacBook10,1 | MB101.88Z.0154.B00.1708080122

../..

Mac-551B86E5744E2388 | MacBookPro14,3 | MBP143.88Z.0167.B00.1708080129
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> WARNING: Your EFI ROM IM183.88Z.0058.B00.1705091711 is not up-to-date!! <
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

See also: https://pikeralpha.wordpress.com/2017/09/30/efiver-py-v1-1-released/
 
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Well, technically they still can't, not in the way PCs do. But they're still a computer susceptible to hacking.

This discovery gives yet another good reason for always updating your Mac to the latest OS (if your hardware supports it, obviously). Sometimes Apple patches problems before we even know they exist.
Really? The initial OSX/MacOS releases were always full of bugs. I would say it's much safer stick to the latest Sierra than doing "beta testing" of the new HS :) And speed of hot fixes releases for their desktop OS has always been very bad. Sometimes you have to wait for a FP for a month(s) even if they have patches for individual bugs. They should completely revise patch releasing strategy. So updating to the latest "greatest" OS version won't highly likely make your Mac safer
 
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bet there is firmware that is locked out and never can get updated
but
apple would never do that
 
Everyone should at least turn on your firewall. It's the first thing I do after installing an OS. Risk reduction, etc. A firmware update is all fine and dandy, but if your firewall is down, or if your network is not secured, then there's-a-gonna-be-trouble.

"Firewall down?..."
 

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