What bittorrent clients are mac users using these days?

[The Groke]

I really should take some time to read up on maintainance measures I should be doing on my macs. I keep meaning to verify permissions and discs but keep forgetting.

OS X runs maintenance routines if left to it's own devices - including things like repairing permissions.

I leave my laptop on overnight usually in order to allow these scheduled things to run in their own time as they generally happen at odd times and/or when the machine is idling.

If you don't want to do this, then download Onyx (free) a very good little app which allows you to manually run the various clean up and maintenance tasks built into the Mac - all in one hit should you so desire.

Is Little Snitch worth it?

Little Snitch is ace - once installed it is amazing just how many apps and services make contact with the internet and how often they do so - usually for perfectly innocent reasons.

However, there is malware out there which may potentially mine data from your machine or "phone home" to someone with information you wouldn't want them to have.
Again on a Mac, this is currently not as likely to happen as on an unprotected PC, but still...

However, bear in mind that if you use *ahem* evaluation copies of software acquired online, these too can "phone home" to the vendors, potentially informing them as to your illicit use of their product.

Little Snitch lets you nix all of this very easily and only allow things you want through onto the web.

 

[The Groke]

oops - DP.

 

[The Groke]

i bought AppZapper .

I got Appzapper too as part of the Mac heist thing last year - great little tool.

As far as I can see, preference files etc left behind don't really cause any problems and they certainly don't take up significant space but still, I too like to clean them down if they are no longer relevant.

Incidentally - the year I did Mac heist, it was well worth it for AppZapper, Speed Download and PixelMator alone.

Not sure if there is much I want in there this year though, but if I didn't have World of Goo already...

 

[Crispy]

yep, me too (macheist)

 

[Orang Utan]

this is all a bit dizzying for me! I was happy with my Mac and now it appears there's loads of shit I need to install. I thought the point of a Mac was that you didn't need to do any of that shit.
I checked my firewall using the link that Swarfega posted and it says I have no open ports, which I assume is good news.

 

[The Groke]

this is all a bit dizzying for me! I was happy with my Mac and now it appears there's loads of shit I need to install. I thought the point of a Mac was that you didn't need to do any of that shit.
I checked my firewall using the link that Swarfega posted and it says I have no open ports, which I assume is good news.

I wouldn't get too fizzy about it.

It is still the case that a Mac out of the box with no additives is largely better protected than a Windows PC in the same condition against malware and forces of evil.

That said, I would certainly check your firewall settings on the Mac (I believe for some weird reason it is set to "off" by default) as mentioned above.

The fact that you "passed" the test above likely indicates that there is nothing glaringly wrong and you are not leaving your front door unlocked.

There are however those that would break in via the downstairs bathroom window and should that worry you, there are extra precautions you could take.

 

[Crispy]

You're fine Orang, don't worry

 

[The Groke]

Thanks for all your help swarf - been a very informative arfternoon.

np

If I'm running stealth mode how likely is it someone could be stealing my photos/uni essays/passwords etc from my comp?

As Cripsy said - not very.

That likelihood does increase significantly however if your airport wireless is not secured.
I would recommend WPA2 setting with a strong password required to connect.

 

[Orang Utan]

You will have to put your MB into a condom to be really sure...



As long as your copy of leopard is all up to date, you have your OSX firewall on (from the Security section of the Preferences pane - set it to "Allow specific services and applications and it should then prompt you to allow certain apps as and when they try to contact the net) and you have the FW on your router/Modem switched on, you should be Ok.

In my preferences, it's currently set to 'allow all incoming connections'. I can set it to either 'allow only essential services' or 'set access for specific services and applications' - should I choose the latter?

(sorry VP for derail)

 

[Vintage Paw]

np





As Cripsy said - not very.

That likelihood does increase significantly however if your airport wireless is not secured.
I would recommend WPA2 setting with a strong password required to connect.

Ah yes, I have a good WPA2 Personal password Thanks.

In my preferences, it's currently set to 'allow all incoming connections'. I can set it to either 'allow only essential services' or 'set access for specific services and applications' - should I choose the latter?

(sorry VP for derail)

I set it to the 3rd option - set access for specific services and apps. When something wants to connect to the internet it'll ask you, but it remembers the rules so you don't have to be asked each time. That way only what you want to come in comes in

Do you have stealth mode enabled? It's under 'advanced' on that menu. It's just a check box. It makes other computers not even realise your computer exists. I have all of that, and I'm still able to do things like use Transmission (which I'm liking very much this time, btw )

 

[Orang Utan]

Stealth mode? Never heard of it!
What's the benefit of it?

Re: set access for specific services - how do you know whether to accept a connection or not?

 

[Vintage Paw]

Stealth mode? Never heard of it!
What's the benefit of it?

Re: set access for specific services - how do you know whether to accept a connection or not?

Stealth mode benefit - people looking for computers to attack can't even see your computer. Think of a stealth bomber. It's like the paint wot stops it even showing up on the radar. If they don't know you're there they can't attack you Adds another layer between you and any nasty people. I'd say better safe than sorry, and it doesn't cost you anything or mean you can't do what you want online. You check the box and never have to think about it ever again.

Re: setting access - you'll know because the first time you load up Firefox, for example, it'll say something like 'Do you want to allow Firefox to accept incoming connections?' and you say 'yes please thank you kindly'. It'll only pop up with something when you open an app for the first time, so you'll know you can trust it. You won't need to do it again, because it'll remember you've allowed it in the past.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I got Appzapper too as part of the Mac heist thing last year - great little tool.

As far as I can see, preference files etc left behind don't really cause any problems and they certainly don't take up significant space but still, I too like to clean them down if they are no longer relevant.

Incidentally - the year I did Mac heist, it was well worth it for AppZapper, Speed Download and PixelMator alone.

Not sure if there is much I want in there this year though, but if I didn't have World of Goo already...

Acorn I think may be better than Pixelmator. Also Wiretap Studio is generally handy. Some of them are quite specialised but would be absolutely terrific for some people, like Espresso (which I would probably use if I didn't already have a BBEdit licence), Kinemac (which I might use) and BoinxTV (which I will never use but some people will). The Hit List is also shaping up to be a good bit of software.

Oh, and you get free Delicious Library and Multiwinia if you twitter about it. I think it's quite good this year.

 

[Orang Utan]

I use Safari!

who are all these people wanting to attack me? I preferred it when I was blithely ignorant.

I'm just worried it's gonna block all the downloading sites I use.

 

[Orang Utan]

Acorn I think may be better than Pixelmator. Also Wiretap Studio is generally handy. Some of them are quite specialised but would be absolutely terrific for some people, like Espresso (which I would probably use if I didn't already have a BBEdit licence), Kinemac (which I might use) and BoinxTV (which I will never use but some people will). The Hit List is also shaping up to be a good bit of software.

Oh, and you get free Delicious Library and Multiwinia if you twitter about it. I think it's quite good this year.

you're just making this up now, aren't you?

 

[FridgeMagnet]

you're just making this up now, aren't you?

I'm not. http://www.macheist.com/ - people wait for it each year, you can get shitloads of software for not much money at all.

Incidentally I don't run any security software or even have my firewall turned on. If I get hit it'll be by a zero-day exploit using a port that I need that I can't do anything about. Security is backups these days; hardware failure or corruption of data due to bugs is way more likely.

edit: I use Safari too

 

[Vintage Paw]

I use Safari!

who are all these people wanting to attack me? I preferred it when I was blithely ignorant.

I'm just worried it's gonna block all the downloading sites I use.

Heh, well, as swarf says, there is very little threat on a Mac as compared a Windows machine, so I really wouldn't worry about it. There are so few macs out there compared with MS PCs people just aren't focusing their attacks on them. Carry on being blithely ignorant, but check a couple of boxes as well, just in case

What dl sites do you use? I'm using Transmission now and quite happily dling stuff from Demonoid, Karagarga, What CD while having stealth mode enabled and having checked the 'set access for specific etc' options Go on, do it, and see that it makes no difference to your online experience.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Fridgey says clever things ^^^

 

[Orang Utan]

What dl sites do you use? I'm using Transmission now and quite happily dling stuff from Demonoid, Karagarga, What CD while having stealth mode enabled and having checked the 'set access for specific etc' options Go on, do it, and see that it makes no difference to your online experience.

for telly and some music, I use isohunt, but I uses a fucktonne of sites for music - divshare, zshare, megaupload, mediafire, friends' personal websites that they stick their podcasts and mixes on - countless sites.
And if you have stealth mode on, does this mean you're not uploading when you're downloading? Isn't that a bit tight?

 

[Vintage Paw]

for telly and some music, I use isohunt, but I uses a fucktonne of sites for music - divshare, zshare, megaupload, mediafire, friends' personal websites that they stick their podcasts and mixes on - countless sites.
And if you have stealth mode on, does this mean you're not uploading when you're downloading? Isn't that a bit tight?

No, it doesn't mean that. I'm uploading right now.

*hopes the internets police aren't reading*

All legal stuff of course.

 

[Crispy]

stealth mode keeps the stuff open that you want open. the difference is that the stuff that's closed isn't even reported back as closed. a hacker will go "dear computer, please tell me if this door is open" and instead of the answer "no, it's closed" which at least tells the hacker that the door exists, they get nothing at all.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

"Stealth mode" is far overrated though - I think, because of that website that gives you big flashing red alerts if you have a port open that it can find, whatever that's called, I remember looking at it when I was using Win98.

If there's a vulnerability around that could mean somebody could get you using a certain port, you have to lock down the vulnerable service - get it fixed, block the port entirely, or turn it off.

 

[Vintage Paw]

That may be the website swarf posted a while back on this thread. I used it and everything came up hunky dory.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

That may be the website swarf posted a while back on this thread. I used it and everything came up hunky dory.

Oh yeah, that's the one, "Shields UP!" (Steve Gibson is a somewhat "controversial" person in security circles.)

I FAILED by the way, in BIG RED LETTERS, because I have ssh up.

 

[The Groke]

You'll be fine OU.

Turn the firewall on as mentioned if you want an extra layer of security and make sure your home wireless is password protected.

Job done.

 

[The Groke]

Security is backups these days; hardware failure or corruption of data due to bugs is way more likely.

edit: I use Safari too

Good point that I forgot to make.

OU & VP - assuming you are both using Leopard, the best thing you can do to protect your stuff is to get yourself an external hard drive and turn Time Machine on.

 

[The Groke]

I'm not. http://www.macheist.com/ - people wait for it each year, you can get shitloads of software for not much money at all.

Ooh you bugger.

I didn't really need most of that stuff, BUT IT WAS JUST SUCH A GOOD DEAL.



Oh well - it is for charity I supposed and it will be nice to have World of Goo on my laptop.

 

[Structaural]

Huh - TBF I gave you my opinion/recommendation first.



I rarely use torrents these days anyway - too slow.

Most of my stuff comes from usenet. Ok, so I pay US$29 a month for my Newsgroup subscription, but it gives me unlimited downloads, I don't have to worry about ratios or uploading and even on my shitty 4Mb Dubai DSL I can get an 800Mb movie down in about 25 minutes.

Downloading Hi-Def BluRay rips and entire DVD box sets becomes far more feasible too when compared to using torrents.

^^this for me too, I get 1.5MB sec through Airport using SSL encryption (handy for those 9GB blurays). Though I use uTorrent for torrents.

Have you installed SABnzbd+ for OS X, Swarfega?

you should, if you haven't - just download and load the image, drag and drop the app, run app, it installs all the stuff, opens config and you control it in Safari, done.
It downloads in the background, unPARs, unRAR's, deletes old files. You can have it check Newzbin's bookmarks every 15 mins so that everything is downloaded when you get home. It also immediately checks download folder for NZBs. The only time it hasn't worked is when I've run out of disk space.

 

[Structaural]

I use Xtorrent, which seems to be something of a dirty word in he Mac community. Folks don't like the idea of paying $25 for a lifetime licence, and some users report having trouble with feedback from the developer.

For my $25 I've happily filled up a 160GB ipod and managed to torrent pretty much everything I was looking for. The user interface is simple and smooth, and it does the job for me.

The problem with Xtorrent is that it is basically tranmission with a different GUI and a search engine. And the developer is generally considered to be a wanker, which considering he's re-packaging open-source software, he is, let alone how he treats his customers...

 

[The Groke]

^^this for me too, I get 1.5MB sec through Airport using SSL encryption (handy for those 9GB blurays). Though I use uTorrent for torrents.

Have you installed SABnzbd+ for OS X, Swarfega?

Nope!

Will give it a go...I currently use Unison for my downloads combined with UnRarX to mange the rars 'n pars