PALM desktop 4.1 password prompt
Alfred E Newman
I use a PC at home and a Mac at work. I've installed and am running
the latest desktop 4.1.
When I start it up on the PC I get prompted for a password. I enter my
palm p/w and away I go.
When I start the Mac it goes directly into the desktop without
prompting for a password.
It's driving me nuts. I've searched and searched and cannot for the
life of me find a setting to make it prompt for a p/w.
I use a M500 Palm, but I don't think the model is an issue.
PLEASE HELP! Thanks.
Dave
mah
It should be the same on MAC.
Alfred E Newman
I've searched through Preferences and Settings, but I can't find an option.
HELP PLEASE!
Thanks.
mah <mah0...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<MPG.1a2fc577d...@news.fina.hr>...
Dan Norder
>> I enter my palm p/w and away I go. When I start the Mac
>>it goes directly into the desktop without prompting for a
>>password.
>>
>>It's driving me nuts. I've searched and searched and cannot
>>for the life of me find a setting to make it prompt for a p/w.
>At PC Palm Desktop you go: tools > options > security tab
>(check it) It should be the same on MAC.
He obviously already knows how to do it on a PC, and if it were that simple
he'd have it done already. The Mac (note, not an acronym, so not all caps)
version of the Palm Desktop is completely diffferent. It doesn't even have a
Tools menu and, in fact, has no password option unless they added one in the
most recent release of the software. If it existed it'd be under Preferences.
Alfred E Newman
and quick...I can dig it!
Thanks.
Now if those pesky developers would kindly create a p/w prompt...that
would be lovely!
Anyone know any software or patches available to create a temporary
solution (aside form having to log off each time I get up to pee!)?
Cheers
dann...@aol.com (Dan Norder) wrote in message news:<20031127190130...@mb-m06.aol.com>...
John Faughnan
Desktop/Mac. It tracks "private" status, but it does not limit access
to private items. Instead it assumes that security is managed at the
system level. One has to login to a machine, and if one logs in one
has access.
If you want encrypted security one possibility is to play around with
creating a 128bit encrypted disk image on the Mac (using disk utility)
and put the Palm user file there. You'd have to experiment, I've no
idea if this would really work and how sync would work.
I would NOT, however, recommend using the Panther "Vault" feature to
encrypt your entire home directory. I think that needs a lot of work
before it's safe to use.
Desktop/Win was created in the Win98 world, when security was handled
by applications. XP applications move security and user level
management to the OS; I think if Desktop/Win were authored today it
would behave more like Desktop/Mac.
It's very confusing (managing file access, user roles and security at
OS vs. application level), even for people who work in this area. I
think in some ways CO actually has a better appraoch to security than
Desktop/Win, but this whole domain is very messy at the moment. CO was
created long before the Mac moved to a UNIX style permissions system.
john
PS. I don't know if Desktop/Win actually encrypts its data. I've not
tried, but I wonder if one could open a memo file with a hex editor
and read the text of private memos.
meta: jfaughnan, Palm, security, user access, encryption, Mac,
Windows, OS X
Craig Bowers
> tried, but I wonder if one could open a memo file with a hex editor
> and read the text of private memos.
No it does not, and yes you can.
John Faughnan
So if someone can sync your PDA, then the data is theirs -- unless
it's internally encrypted. A well locked (TealLock) PDA is hard to
sync, but I'm sure there's a way.
It is a bit unsettling that it's so easy to bypass the "hide private"
feature. Just sync the PDA with a Mac and everything will be visible.
At least on a PC one has to use a hex editor to get at "hidden" data
(assuming one doesn't have the right password).
I keep my PDA data that I want to be private in an application that
does internal encryption (more security than most thieves will want to
deal with), but it sure does annoy me that PDA customers haven't
pushed vendors to provide more secure features. On the other hand, I
suppose even the "hide private" feature is a bit more secure than a
paper Franklin planner.
meta: jfaughnan, jgfaughnan, PDA, PIM, Claris Organizer, Mac,
Desktop/Mac, Palm, security, encryption.
Dan Norder
>So if someone can sync your PDA, then the data is
>theirs -- unless it's internally encrypted.
Encrypted or locked.
>A well locked (TealLock) PDA is hard to sync, but
>I'm sure there's a way.
As far as I know, you can't get into or sync locked Palms (at least the ones
with hardware that came with OS 4.0 installed and up) at all without the
password, and earlier Palms were technically possible to get into but not at
all likely for most anyone to pull off (required debug mode and application on
a computer that could access the Palm's data remotely).
>It is a bit unsettling that it's so easy to bypass the "hide
>private" feature. Just sync the PDA with a Mac and
>everything will be visible. At least on a PC one has to
>use a hex editor to get at "hidden" data (assuming one
>doesn't have the right password).
No editor is necessary. The files can be imported or moved to other data
directories to be read automatically with the Palm Desktop. The password is
stored separately and tied to the username.
John Faughnan
> jfau...@spamcop.net (John Faughnan) wrote:
> >A well locked (TealLock) PDA is hard to sync, but
> >I'm sure there's a way.
> As far as I know, you can't get into or sync locked Palms (at least the ones
> with hardware that came with OS 4.0 installed and up) at all without the
> password, and earlier Palms were technically possible to get into but not at
> all likely for most anyone to pull off (required debug mode and application on
> a computer that could access the Palm's data remotely).
So there might be a way, but it's likely to require specialized
expertise and equipment. My data isn't worth that kind of bother! Good
to know. Security, after all, is mostly making the cost of obtaining
the data higher than the value of the data.
> >It is a bit unsettling that it's so easy to bypass the "hide
> >private" feature. Just sync the PDA with a Mac and
> >everything will be visible. At least on a PC one has to
> >use a hex editor to get at "hidden" data (assuming one
> >doesn't have the right password).
> No editor is necessary. The files can be imported or moved to other data
> directories to be read automatically with the Palm Desktop. The password is
> stored separately and tied to the username.
So very much like the situation with Mac/Desktop. The "private" flag
is even weaker than I'd imagined, but I never did think it was worth
much.
TealLock has been working well with my T|E, so I don't feel too bad.
Much as I like TealPoint (I own several of their products), I do think
many of TealLock's key features (timed locks, etc) should be part of
the base OS.
Bottom line for this thread though, the fact that Desktop/Mac (Claris
Organizer) defers security to the OS does not make it significantly
less secure than Desktop/PC -- because in reality Desktop/PC ALSO
effectively defers security to the OS*.
* XP Pro and Win2K have very nice support for encrypted folders that
are transparent to applications, enabling that feature might be a good
idea for a Palm folder on a traveling laptop.
meta: jfaughnan, jgfaughnan, PalmSource, PalmOne, security,
encyrption, Mac, OS X, XP, Desktop data, privacy