IT Nota

How to Install Cryptomator on macOS

Cryptomator is a free and open-source client-side encryption tool that can be used to encrypt files before uploading them to cloud storage services.

Here are the steps to install Cryptomator:

  1. Go to the Cryptomator website.

  2. Before you install the Cryptomator program, you can install macFUSE.

    Please note that Cryptomator recommended macFuse for Intel and FUSE-T for Apple Silicon but I found that FUSE-T is still buggy. It is still tagged as experimental, so use it at your own risk. It gave me a panic attack when I saw less than half of my folders showed up after upgrading to a newer version of FUSE-T. Only after I switched back to macFUSE could I see the complete folders again.

  3. Open the downloaded file and follow the installation wizard.

    Cryptomator Mac installation

  4. Once the installation is complete, launch Cryptomator.

  5. Create a new vault by clicking on Create New Vault and selecting the location where you want to create it.

  6. Set a password for the vault and click Create Vault.

  7. Your new vault will now be visible in the Cryptomator interface. You can drag and drop files into it to encrypt them.

That’s it! You have successfully installed and set up Cryptomator.

If you find the software useful, you can help supporting it by purchasing a Supporter Certificate or Donation.

Cryptomator - Support Fund

Download

Cryptomator: Download
macFUSE

Further Reading

FUSE-T

How to Turn On Advanced Data Protection for iCloud

Many people don’t realize that since iOS 16.2, you can make your cloud data security more secure at the risk of potentially not being able to retrieve your data if you lose your password and have no recovery contacts.

Advanced Data Protection for iCloud offers the highest level of cloud data security and protects the majority (not all) of iCloud data using end-to-end encryption.

Requirements

  • An Apple ID with two-factor authentication.
  • A passcode or password set for your device.
  • At least one account recovery contact or recovery key. If you don’t already have one, you’ll be guided to set one up when you turn on Advanced Data Protection.
  • Updated software on all of the devices where you’re signed in with your Apple ID:
    • iPhone or iPad with iOS 16.2 or later
    • Mac with macOS 13.1 or later
    • Apple Watch with watchOS 9.2 or later
    • Apple TV with tvOS 16.2 or later
    • HomePod with software version 16.0 or later
    • Windows computer with iCloud for Windows 14.1 or later
    • If you haven’t updated your OS, you will need to do that first. If the device is too old, you may have to remove that from your account (see below).

Steps

Important: You only need to do from one device (not all), it eventually will get synced across your devices that use the same iCloud account.

iPhone or iPad

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap your name on the very top, then tap iCloud.
  3. Check the Account Recovery, make sure you have selected some trusted people as Recovery Contacts or set up your Recovery Key. The easiest is to have recovery contacts, but make sure you pick someone who you can trust. Otherwise, go with the Recovery Key but this pose another dilemma as well, as you need to store the recovery key in a safe place. If you lose it, you will never be able to recover your data.
  4. Once the Account Recovery is set, tap Advanced Data Protection and tap Turn on Advanced Data Protection.

Mac

  1. Go to Apple menu on the top left , then select System Settings.
  2. Click on your name, then click iCloud.
  3. Click on Advanced Data Protection.
  4. If you haven’t set up the Account Recovery yet, make sure it’s set up accordingly (scroll down in the Advanced Data Protection window.
  5. Click Turn On button.

Further Reading

Advanced Data Protection for iCloud
iCloud data security overview
How to turn on Advanced Data Protection for iCloud

How to Create SSH Keys

The recommendation now is to use ED25519 whenever you can.

Commands

Using ED25519

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"

Using RSA

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]"

-C is optional, if not used then the login and machine name is going to be used instead.

Use -b to specify key size.

Ways to create SSH keys on macOS

On Mac OSX and Linux

You just get to Terminal and start typing:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"

You can use either your email address as label or anything that can be used to remind you what you use the SSH key for.

On PC

You need to download an external client such as puttygen (from putty) or if you have GIT, you can use the bash shell interface as well and the command is the same.

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"

Adding the Key

eval $(ssh-agent -s)

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_keys

To see the Keys

ssh-add -l

To copy key to clipboard:

$ pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_keys.pub

Further Reading

PuTTY: a free SSH and Telnet client
Git
SSH key-type, rsa, dsa, ecdsa, are there easy answers for which to choose when?
Use SSH keys to communicate with GitLab

How to Delay Shutdown or Restart on a Mac

Continuing on a previous post, this post shows you how to do the same thing in a mac with a slightly different command line in your Terminal.

Trying to accomplish the same thing, type the following:

sudo shutdown -r +360

-r – To reboot the computer.

time – Sets the time-out period before shutdown to +minutes or you can put an exact time in yymmddhhmm format.

In this example, the time is set to +360 minutes (or 6 hours).

If you make a mistake or just want to change your mind on the parameters, you can always cancel your job by executing this command:

sudo killall shutdown

For more available options, you can always type the following in Terminal:

man shutdown

And it will show you the System Manager’s Manual similar to the screenshot below:

man shutdown on a mac Terminal

That’s it.

Further Reading

How to Delay Shutdown or Restart on a Windows Server

Filed Under: How To Tagged With:

How to Type Emoji Using Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows and macOS

One thing that you can do easily in a smartphone but not so obvious in a desktop computer is to quickly type an emoji character in your text. By memorizing these keyboard shortcuts, you can do the same, whether it’s on a Mac or a Windows system.

Mac

On a mac, press all these keys: ⌃ CTRL + ⌘ Command + spacebar.

Emoji keyboard shortcut demo for macOS

Windows

Either of these combinations will work on Windows 10 or later:

  1. Windows + . (Period)
  2. Windows + ; (Semicolon)

Emoji keyboard shortcut demo for Windows

That’s all there is to it.

Notice that the emoji will be rendered a bit differently for each OS, but that should not be a problem.

Once you know this trick, soon enough you’ll be more tempted to using it more in your notes or blog. 🍻

Further Reading

Mac keyboard shortcuts

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