MacOS – Securely wipe all user data from iBook G4 / OSX 10.4

macosSecurity

I have unearthed an old working iBook G4 which I'd like to clean and then give away. I don't have a copy of 10.4 on hand to install. And I'm not terribly interested in wiping the installed applications off of it, more so I just want to make sure there's no application user data left on it.

At this point all I can think of is to just create a new user, and delete all trace of the existing user from /Users/. I personally have very little experience of 10.4 however, and only got involved in Mac since 10.6, so I'm concerned about things I might be missing.

Best Answer

You can take your 10.6 knowledge and apply it down all the way to 10 as the big changes in user level data and file system changes arrived at 10.7 and later.

The easy way out, is boot the Mac in target disk mode and connect it via FireWire to any Mac and zero the drive, secure erase, etc... The recipient will likely be able to order a 10.4 replacement disk for less than $25 online and set up the OS as desired.

Also your plan to just make a shell user account and delete the old user accounts would work well for light protection. Better to copy movie files or other data over all the empty space then delete them to prevent a simple undelete from recovering files only deleted by the OS.

Maybe examine the system keychain for any wireless passwords you don't want escaping, but most things of a sensitive nature are in the user home folder.

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MacOS – Remap “Home” and “End” to beginning and end of line

The default shortcuts for moving to beginning or end of (wrapped) lines are ⌘← and ⌘→. ⌥↑ and ⌥↓ or ⌃A and ⌃E move to the beginning or end of unwrapped lines (or paragraphs). ⌥← and ⌥→ move backwards/forward by words, and all of these are compatible with holding Shift to select during the corresponding moves.

You could remap home and end by creating ~/Library/KeyBindings/ and saving a property list like this as DefaultKeyBinding.dict:

{
    "\UF729"  = moveToBeginningOfLine:; // home
    "\UF72B"  = moveToEndOfLine:; // end
    "$\UF729" = moveToBeginningOfLineAndModifySelection:; // shift-home
    "$\UF72B" = moveToEndOfLineAndModifySelection:; // shift-end
}

Most of the keybindings for editing text in OS X are defined in /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Resources/StandardKeyBinding.dict.

Applying changes requires reopening applications. DefaultKeyBinding.dict is ignored by some old versions of Xcode (works with latest version 6.3.1), Terminal, and many cross-platform applications.

See Cocoa Text System and my website for more information about the customizable keybindings.

Terminal's keybindings can be customized in Preferences > Settings > Keyboard. \033OH moves to the beginning of a line and \033OF to the end of a line.

In Eclipse, key bindings should be modified in Preferences > General > Keys. You need to modify default bindings for commands Line Start and Line End (replace ⌘← by ↖ and ⌘→ by ↘). For selection to work, also modify Select Line Start and Select Line End.

PS: You may need to logout and login again for the ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict change to take effect.

MacOS – Will i benefit from important features of Lion with a trackpad/MacBook

Another way to address your question:

If this is the Mac you're using to make your living, then DEFINITELY run don't walk and get a touch input now. Recommend Magic Trackpad if it's a desktop, but not a strong opinion there.
If you're in college, just in your first job, or in a financial situation where someone bought your Mac for you and the $60-70 for a touch input is pricey - I definitely think you can get by without one without feeling like a 2nd class citizen.
Same answer if you're planning to upgrade soon to another Mac that'll come with one and don't want to pay for one twice.
Otherwise, if you're using this Mac several times (or several hours) a day, I'd say get a touch-based input sooner than later.
If you're only using it occasionally and you're asking because spending another $70 (on a computer you thought important enough to invest $1000+ in, mind you), then I'd wait until you can try it out on someone else's computer.

Finally, if you are considering getting one and $20-30 will make a substantial difference in your decision calculus... keep an eye on discount sites, including Apple clearance online.

Every few months they typically offer discounted refurb devices that are easily as good as buying new.

Best Answer

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MacOS – Remap “Home” and “End” to beginning and end of line

MacOS – Will i benefit from important features of Lion with a trackpad/MacBook

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