Nothing in macOS protects you from fraudulent apps. They’re commonly notarised, and some have even been supplied from the App Store. Firewalls and keeping macOS up to date are also no protection. Here’s practical advice.
EACAS
Refurb, from a reseller, or buy private? What to beware of, what to check, and how to ensure the Mac you buy won’t lock you out.
How to erase just the Data volume, the whole Boot Volume Group, all volume’s in the Mac’s visible container, or the entire internal SSD.
First decide what you want to ‘clean’: the Data or System volume, or firmware? Then consider the methods of choice to perform that. Explained for Intel and Apple silicon Macs.
It throws away the encryption key for the Data volume, effectively wiping all its data. It doesn’t alter the System volume, SSV, or the macOS installed.
You’ve set up your new Mac, and now need to prepare the old one for disposal, maybe to a friend, relative or someone buying it, or to go for recycling. What to do next,
There’s extensive experience in recovering deleted files from hard disks, and results can be surprisingly good. Recovery from SSDs is more tricky, and secure ‘wiping’ ensures nothing can ever be recovered, making good backups essential.
From the start of the fourth cycle in M4 Macs and the smallest ever, through the omission in macOS VMs, and QuickLook shortcomings, to the stealth firmware update.
Could old images be retained on a device or your Mac after you had securely erased it using Erase Assistant?
Step by step guide to passing your Mac on or recycling it. Use EACAS where available. Don’t use .AppleSetupDone which doesn’t work in macOS 14 anyway.
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