Before we dive any further into getting your Mac ready for hacking, I wanted to continue on with the concept of encryption. In the last part, we talked about full disk encryption on your Mac, but now I want to quickly cover the encryption of disk images before we dive into man ...more
One thing that makes Apple great is the connectivity between its products. Many tasks you do on an iPhone can be switched over to a Mac or iPad quickly and easily. The Notes app is no exception to this advantage, but you need to make sure you're set up so that your notes sync ...more
The screenshot tool on your iPhone can come in handy in various ways, but it may be even more helpful than you realize. So if you thought you knew everything there was to know about your iPhone's screenshot tool, it's time to put your knowledge to the test. Many of these hidd ...more
Everyone raves about Gboard and SwiftKey, but the stock Samsung Keyboard on Galaxy devices is awesome in its own right. It's preloaded, so you don't have to do anything to get it, but at the same time, it's packed with features — even some you might not know about. CTRL+Z on ...more
What's the easiest way to keep track of your website passwords? Maybe in a password-protected document on your computer? Makes sense. But surprisingly, this is no easy task in Mac OS X. Snow Leopard does not have an easy one-click option for password protecting files and fold ...more
Apple released iOS 12.3, the latest version iOS 12 for iPhone, on May 13. Great features to know about include Apple TV Channels such as HBO and Showtime that you can subscribe to in the TV app, support for audio, image, and video streaming to AirPlay 2-enabled TVs, and the ab ...more
When you export an image from the Photos app in macOS, you may not be getting the whole deal. In the export menu, you need to select either JPEG, TIFF, or PNG, and if you don't make any adjustments to the quality settings, it'll likely be compressed. If you need the original f ...more
Group chats can get annoying real quick if the people in them are sending rapid-fire texts without hesitation, especially if none of them are any interest to you specifically. Luckily, it's easy to mute notifications for specific message threads. You can even leave a group cha ...more
Apps don't need to come bundled with an entire browser just to be able to display web pages — instead, they can call on the system WebView browser to render content for them. Android's default WebView renderer is Google software, which isn't quite as privacy-forward as some ot ...more
When Apple wanted to bring their Notification Center to Mac OS X, I loved the idea. But after using it since its integration in Mountain Lion, it's been more annoying and distracting than anything. More and more apps incorporate notifications, so I'm constantly getting sound a ...more
Whether you mean to or not, taking burst photos is super easy on the iPhone. In the Camera app, just compose your photo, tap-and-hold the shutter button, and watch the number of pics go up and up until you take your finger off the screen. However, finding that one special keep ...more
From time to time, you may need to locate the version and build number for a particular app on your iPhone or iPad, but it's not at all obvious where you can find the information. Well, there's more than one place to look on iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, but none are perfect solutions ...more
Continuity is a new feature for iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite which allows users to connect their Apple devices to their Mac in order to access applications, send text messages, receive phone calls, and more while seamlessly switching between devices. Inside Continuity exists a ...more
Although sleep mode and screen savers contribute to the security and energy preservation of my MacBook, it can become a nuisance when they initiate unwelcomely. Yes, I could just change these settings in System Preferences, but to do this every time I momentarily leave my Mac ...more
Nothing on the web is ever private. If you thought you can control your privacy, you were wrong. Websites may give you security options to better hide your information from the world, but ultimately your privacy resides in the hands of the website itself. We've seen how websit ...more
I'm lucky enough to have internet access on my laptop practically everywhere I go because of my mobile hotspot plan. All I have to do is enable the personal hotspot feature from my iPhone and I can surf the web on any Wi-Fi enabled device. But of course, there's a catch. I on ...more
Your iPhone and Mac can speak to each other in many ways, allowing you to start work on one device and seamlessly switch to the other, share clipboards between the two, and pick up phone calls and answer text messages on both. The compatibility is incredible, but there's even ...more
Relentless in its fury, the iOS text messaging exploit that exploded onto the scene late last week seems to do more damage than initially reported. Used to reboot devices and crash the Messages app, the string of text can also be used to crash third-party apps such as Instagr ...more
With the macOS stager created and the attacker's system hosting the Empire listener, the malicious AppleScript can be designed and disguised to appear as a legitimate PDF using a few Unicode and icon manipulation tricks. A real PDF is required for the attack to work. Files ov ...more
Have you ever heard someone else's iPhone ringing and thought it was yours? Of course you did. iPhone ringtones are iconic, but not varied. If you're using one of the more popular iOS sounds, you'll likely encounter it in the wild multiple times. Why bother, when you can creat ...more
Your iPhone has a powerful feature that can keep your secrets hidden from other people, and you'll never have to worry about sharing or showing someone something embarrassing or incriminating ever again. No matter who you are, you likely use your iPhone's Photos app a lot sin ...more
Compromised uTorrent clients can be abused to download a malicious torrent file. The malicious file is designed to embed a persistent backdoor and execute when Windows 10 reboots, granting the attacker remote access to the operating system at will. Torrent clients like uTorre ...more
Google switched to gestural navigation in Android 9, and in removing the back/home/recents buttons, they were able to greatly reduce the size of the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. However, there's still a white line, aka "The Pill," taking up space to show you whe ...more
If you just got an iPhone 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max, or 12 mini, and you've never owned an iPhone before, some of the most basic tasks can be baffling. Shutting it down, force-restarting it, quitting apps, and even viewing the percentage of battery remaining sound simple but aren ...more
Whenever a new version of a phone comes out, there's always that one cool feature you wish you had on yours. For me, that's Group Play. On the Samsung Galaxy S4, you can easily share music, games, photos, and files to multiple devices using Group Play. While my older Galaxy S ...more
As we all know, security is a big thing here in Null Byte. We've talked quite a bit about ways to encrypt traffic and become anonymous on the internet, some of which entail using proxies, VPNs, and SSH tunnels. We've also talked about preference using SSL pages in practice for ...more
In this tutorial, Brian from TruTricks shows us how to delete a cache in a Mac or any Apple computer. This should be performed at least once every week. First, go down to the menu bar and click on "finder". Click on "Macintosh HD", "Library" ant then "Cache". Now, right click ...more
Learn to add and manage bookmarks of your favorite web sites to the Safari web browser using your Mac.
There's a new trend on Instagram Stories: People are making viral AR filters where images of popular characters from TV shows, movies, and other mediums shuffle above your head until one sticks. The filters range from Disney and Pokémon characters to Harry Potter and Friends, ...more
The HoloToolkit offers a great many, simple ways to add what seems like extremely complex features of the HoloLens, but it can be a bit tricky if you're new to Windows Holographic. So this will be the first in an ongoing series designed to help new developers understand what e ...more
Spotlight, Apple's selection-based search system, received a major facelift on Mac OS X Yosemite. Packed with dozens of new features, such as a central search window and increased app suggestions, the reworked Spotlight was a breath of fresh air. While the Spotlight Search to ...more
If you're an AirPods owner, you know the sound — that decrescendo of little beeps and boops means imminent "death" for your wireless earbuds. Other than that infamous chime, however, it's not overly clear how to check your AirPods, AirPods Pro, or AirPods Max power levels. Tha ...more
Apple makes it easy to access your favorite and most recently used applications and documents in Mac OS X. You can simply add your favorite apps and folders to the dock, and you can always visit the Apple menu from the menu bar to see a list of your most recently used apps and ...more
Monitoring your Mac with widgets can be the first step in identifying bandwidth issues, but finding the root of the problem can be a completely different story. Usually you will have to open up Activity Monitor in Mac OS X to look for apps hogging your bandwidth, but with Load ...more
Have you ever been locked out of your iPhone? Maybe you forgot your passcode. Or perhaps someone with access changed the passcode as a prank. Your iPhone's display could have even been damaged and unresponsive. Whatever the reason, there's an easy way to get back access to you ...more
If you've been testing out the Mac OS X Yosemite preview, you already know that Mac OS X 10.10 has a ton of cool under-the-hood tweaks and optimizations. One of the most noticeable changes for me has to be the new flatter look and "Dark Mode," which changes most UI elements fr ...more
If you've ever wondered how to import your photos in Snapseed, then you've come to the right place. Snapseed is a wonderful photo-editing app and will provide you with many tools to take your photos to the next level. But you can't get to that next level if you don't know how ...more
You can check stock quotes, make quick calculations, see the weather forecast, get reminders, and view upcoming calendar events all from the Notification Center on your Mac. But if that's all your using it for, you're just barely scratching the surface. To get the most out of ...more
Whether you're new to Android or you just haven't kept up on the app scene lately, we hand-picked over one hundred essential apps that are all designed to improve your experience. From custom launchers and icon packs to weather apps and file explorers, there's something for ev ...more
Apple's hottest new FaceTime feature, SharePlay, comes packed with sharing options, and the biggest one lets you share your device's screen with the people you're FaceTiming. It didn't make it in time for the big iOS 15 release, but it did arrive in iOS 15.1, released Oct. 25, ...more
One of the best features of Android is the fact that it's open-source, giving developers the ability to use it on pretty much any device they can think of, like on a Windows PC using Andy. That's what drove the creators behind the Android-x86 project to port over the mobile OS ...more
Whether you want to edit photos, compress files, play games, or DJ your next party, there's a free Mac app that can help you out. But things can get annoying real fast if you download a lot of free apps from the Mac App Store, since you have to type in your Apple ID password e ...more
By default, whenever you plug your iPhone into your Mac computer, iPhoto automatically launches alongside iTunes. While this can be useful for those who like syncing their photos with iPhoto, it's annoying to those who don't. Even if you do sync with iPhoto, chances are you do ...more
For me, the idea of a smartphone with internet access was overkill for a cell phone. Wasn't that what my computer was for? Do I really need immediate access to the web? Must I update my Facebook every hour, from the palm of my hand? Do I need turn-by-turn directions from Googl ...more
Apple pushed out iOS 11.4 on May 29 to iPads and iPhones, which included the long-awaited Messages in iCloud feature. The company did not release macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 at the same time, limiting the usefulness of being able to sync messages in the cloud since 10.13.4 is no ...more
Is your Mac starting to feel messy and sluggish after using iOS 8 on your iPhone every day? Even with all of the iOS-friendly features built in to Mac OS X Yosemite, your Mac can still feel kind of "old" in comparison to an iOS device—but it doesn't have to. Using the tips and ...more
The internet is chock-full of fun and interesting content, but there's only so much time in the day for consuming it. That's when saving webpages for later comes in handy. If you don't want your bookmarks and favorites folders to clutter up fast, consider using the "Reading Li ...more
Like the majestic mountain structure it's named after, Apple's latest version of OS X, El Capitan, goes a little deeper to expand on the foundation laid by Yosemite. While the update may not be as monumental as some have hoped, it is an improvement and includes tons of useful ...more
In iOS 15, Apple unveiled a new feature called Focus, an extension of Do Not Disturb that lets you focus on the one thing that's important at any particular moment. It does so by minimizing distractions from your iPhone and other Apple devices, but there's a lot you should kno ...more
Managing files can be time consuming on your Mac, for the simple reason that keyboard shortcuts and right-clicks sometimes lack the effectiveness we need. But with a simple third-part app, you can expedite the process of sharing, moving, deleting, and overall managing files on ...more
Apple hasn't been the most avid supporter of widgets over the years. Yes, they added them to the Notification Center in Yosemite, but that requires a drawer to be opened and closed whenever you want to check them. In my search for a better solution, I came across Ubersicht by ...more
Quick Look, first introduced in 2007, is an instant preview feature on the Mac operating system that lets you view files and folders without opening them up. Just highlight a file, like a picture or text document, then press the spacebar on your keyboard to get a speedy previe ...more
There's a whole lot of brouhaha going on right now about the hidden plug-ins being installed unknowingly in the Mozilla Firefox web browser, with companies like Apple, Microsoft and even Google being named top offenders. Mozilla's own Asa Dotzler (pictured right) is fed up wi ...more
For most carriers, "unlimited" data plans aren't really unlimited, and they still cost more than data limited plans. So while subscribing to music streaming services and storing your own music library in the cloud may be more convenient, it may eat your data up like candy. To ...more
The newest version of macOS has arrived. While everyone's mind is being blown by Mojave's groundbreaking new Dark Mode, we'll be taking advantage of its insecure file permissions to establish a persistent backdoor with a self-destructing payload that leaves little evidence for ...more
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. You have a Google Nexus 7 tablet, but you really wanted an iPad. What do you do? Skin it to make it look like an iPad, of course! Today, I’ll show you how to transform your Nexus 7 into an iPad and trick your friends into t ...more
If you're marginally inclined towards computers, you've probably been approached at some point by a family member who wants you to "fix" their system during a visit home. With the holidays coming up, these opportunities (or ambushes) are even more likely. Even if nothing is w ...more
It can feel pretty chaotic when you have a lot of open windows on your Mac that are different sizes, but there's an easy way to organize the mess in just a few seconds. I regularly have a lot of windows open across my MacBook and external displays. Right now, I have 11 apps o ...more
If you‘re new to Mac, you may not realize that the Dock is not the only place you can access applications and folders. The menu bar of your desktop can also hold a dozen or more applications and plug-ins for easy access to lots of content on your computer. In this article, I ...more
Safari's massive upgrade in Apple's latest iPhone software update includes new features you won't find in any other web browsers on iOS, from better ways to stay organized to enhanced security and further privacy protections. Apple's latest Safari improvements make web browsi ...more