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Slides from the “OS X Security – Defense in Depth” Session at JAMF Nation...
For those who wanted a copy of my security talk at JAMF Nation User Conference 2015, here are links to the slides in PDF and Keynote format. PDF – http://tinyurl.com/JNUC2015SecurityPDF Keynote –...
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Taking screenshots of the login window on OS X El Capitan
@clburlison has discovered that you can take screenshots of the OS X login window on OS X El Capitan using OS X’s keyboard shortcuts for making screenshots. You can take screenshots at the loginwindow...
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create_vmware_osx_install_dmg script updated with El Capitan support
I’ve updated the create_vmware_osx_install_dmg.sh script that I had previously posted about here. The script now includes support for El Capitan, so the script can now be run on 10.7 – 10.11 to create...
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Oracle’s Java 8 Update 65 – The return of the Java install application
For the past couple of releases, Oracle has used a standard installer package to install Java 8. With the release of Java 8 Update 65 though, Oracle returned to using an application to install Java....
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Oracle’s Java 8 Update 66
Following closely on the heels of Oracle’s release of Java 8 Update 65, Oracle has released Java 8 Update 66. This update is also using Oracle’s install application. What’s the difference between...
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Automating the setup of OS X Server on El Capitan and Yosemite
As part of the development of Mac OS X, Apple has also developed Mac OS X Server as a way to provide access to both additional services on OS X and the management tools needed to administrate those...
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Slides from the “OS X Security – Defense in Depth” Session at MacTech...
For those who wanted a copy of my security talk at MacTech Conference 2015, here are links to the slides in PDF and Keynote format. PDF – http://tinyurl.com/MT2015SecurityPDF Keynote –...
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“OS X Security – Defense in Depth” session video from JAMF Nation User...
JAMF Software has posted the session videos for from JAMF Nation User Conference 2015, including the video for my OS X security session. For those interested, all of the the JNUC 2015 session videos...
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Java 8 Update 65 Redux – The Good, the Bad and the Failings
With the release of Java 8 Update 65, Oracle has returned to using an application to install Java. This switch away from using installer packages is a problem for Mac admins who need to deploy Oracle’s...
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Downloading installer packages from the Mac App Store with AppStoreExtract
As part of my work, I occasionally need to download installer packages for certain applications from the Mac App Store. In particular, I routinely download and archive certain Apple applications from...
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Providing OS X Upgrades via Casper’s Self Service
To help the folks in my shop keep their Macs updated to the latest version of OS X, I’ve been providing a Self Service-driven OS upgrade option via Casper for the past couple of years. For a high-level...
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Automator’s Ask for Finder Items windows no longer showing text prompts in OS...
As part of working with Automator to build applications, I’ve been leveraging the ability of Automator’s Ask for Finder Items action to set text prompts in my Automator-based applications. These text...
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Setting Microsoft Outlook as the default application for email, contacts and...
While working on an Outlook 2016-related issue earlier this week, I found that there is not a straightforward way to set Microsoft Outlook 2016 as the default application for email, contacts and...
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Deploying and licensing Endnote X7
In my shop, a number of folks use Thomson Reuter’s Endnote bibliography software. Thomson Reuter makes Endnote available with a drag-and-drop installer, but I need an installer package in order to...
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Upgrading to OS X El Capitan using the OS X 10.11.2 installer removes package...
Following the recent release of OS X El Capitan 10.11.2, it appears that the OS X 10.11.2 installer has an unexpected and unwelcome behavior. When upgrading from an older version of OS X to OS X...
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Status report script for Linux-hosted Casper servers
As part of keeping an eye on my support systems, I’ve been using a script for my Casper servers running on Linux which emails me a status report on a daily basis. I adapted this script from an earlier...
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Fixing the OS version of transferred ESXi-hosted OS X VMs
Starting with VMware Fusion 7.x Professional, it’s been possible to transfer virtual machines from VMware Fusion to VMware ESXi. This ability has been improved with VMware Fusion 8.x Professional, but...
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System Integrity Protection’s csrutil status’ message change for OS X 10.11.2
In order to check whether System Integrity Protection (SIP) is enabled or disabled on a Mac running OS X El Capitan, you can use the csrutil command to report on SIP’s current status. For example, to...
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Casper Extension Attribute script to report System Integrity Protection status
To follow up on Apple’s changing the output of csrutil status when System Integrity Protection (SIP) is disabled, I’ve posted the following Casper extension attribute to my GitHub repo to report on...
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Updated System Integrity Protection status reporting script
After writing a Casper Extension Attribute script to report on the status of System Integrity Protection, I realized that I hadn’t accounted for reporting SIP’s custom configurations. These are...
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