macOS Mail Stores Encrypted Emails in Plain Text

IT specialist Bob Gendler found that macOS Mail was storing encrypted emails in plain text. He first notified Apple on July 29, but only got a temporary fix from the company 99 days later on November 5.

The main thing I discovered was that the snippets.db database file in the Suggestions folder stored my emails. And on top of that, I found that it stored my S/MIME encrypted emails completely UNENCRYPTED. Even with Siri disabled on the Mac, it *still* stores unencrypted messages in this database!

Mr. Gendler shard a fix in his blog post.

How to Move Your Apple Mail Files From Old to New Mac

Tom Nelson at Lifewire writes:

Moving your Apple Mail to a new Mac, or to a new, clean install of the operating system (macOS), may seem like a difficult task, but it actually only requires saving three items and moving them to the new destination.

And if you have all your email account passwords handy, the number of files to move drops from three to two. Tom goes into great detail, which is good, but one might have to exercise some care and thought for specific cases.

iPad Dreams...and More Cowbell – Mac Geek Gab 761

It’s worth digging into your Mac’s auto-startup items every now and then, just to clean things up. That’s especially true when your two favorite geeks discover a new place to look… and find some very old stuff out there. Listen as John and Dave talk through all this and more. Plus, some great Quick Tips and Cool Stuff Found from your fellow listeners, including one that’ll help you keep all your power tools charged. And, we might just have an answer to listener Scott’s iPad dreams. Press play, listen, and enjoy learning at least five new things!

macOS: Turning Off Calendar and Contacts Suggestions

Today’s Quick Tip is all about those grey suggestions in Calendar and Contacts that may be coming from other apps around your Mac. If you’ve made a flight reservation and see that event show up automatically on your calendar, that may be handy! But if you’d rather someone’s business phone number not get added to her contact card, for example, you may find the feature less helpful. We’ll tell you how to stop this from happening in either program!

Managing Messages, Voice Assistants, APFS, and Quasi-Mesh - Mac Geek Gab 692

Messages are a huge part of our online life, and they don’t always work the way we expect or prefer. John and Dave start by answering some of those questions. Then it’s on to where you should – and shouldn’t – be using APFS. After that, the questions jump around a bit, including one about mesh vs. quasi-mesh. All this and more on Mac Geek Gab 692 today!

ProtonMail Bridge Lets You Use Apple Mail as a Client

ProtonMail is an end-to-end encrypted email service based in Switzerland. Since its debut, it has become a viable email service for those wanting email security. Until now, you could only access your ProtonMail account via the web app, and an iOS app. But ProtonMail Bridge finally lets you bring it to the desktop. Bridge acts as a local email server using IMAP and SMTP. It runs in the background and interacts with email clients on your computer. All encryption and decryption happens locally. Benefits include full text search, multiple accounts, and import/export of emails. It uses JavaScript cryptography, and is open source. The software is only available for users with paid accounts, however. You can download it here.

Don't Commit a Photo Crime – Mac Geek Gab 686

Sometimes iCloud gets out of sync. Your geeks and fellow listeners have some tips and solutions. Then it’s time to talk about troubleshooting tools that exist on either iOS or macOS but not both. What are your options? Your geeks talk through that, too. Of course, ’tis the season, so Cool Stuff Found abounds. We share and you share! We all learn (at least) four new things! It’s Mac Geek Gab, after all. Enjoy MGG 686!