Switchers' Blog

Finding Who Locked the File in Mac OS X

Every once in a while you find a document that cannot be deleted or a disk volume that cannot be ejected because the file is locked by a process that is currently running.

For example, yesterday one of our users could not eject the AllBookmarks disk image:

The best way to find what process is using this file is to use lsof command. For example,

lsof | grep AllBookmarks

The output will display a list of processes that a related to AllBookmarks:

As you can see in this picture, the process with id 913 is using the disk image volume. Now that you have the process id you can force this process to quit by using Activity Monitor application or simply by running kill 913 in the Terminal window.

Taking your 1Passwd Data on a Road Trip!

1Passwd is a wonderful tool for your Macintosh but some people are forced to use public computers and non-Macs when traveling. 1Passwd can generate long cryptic passwords that provide fantastic security but are nearly impossible to memorize. This is obviously not ideal if you need to access your bank's web site from a PC at the airport. Plus it is not always practical to put your keychain data on everyone else's Mac. (although we encourage you to put 1Passwd on them) If you have a Palm device, you can always use the 1Passwd Reader for Palm to take your passwords with you. However for the rest of us there is a another solution: Printing all of your 1Passwd data to a password protected PDF file and putting it on a USB key drive. Detailed instructions listed below.

Creating a Password Protected .PDF file with all your 1Passwd Data (and optionally copying it to a USB key)

Tweaking Autosave and Autosubmit

Occasionally the need arises to have 1Passwd not Autosave or Autosubmit information on a particular site. For example, a site may request additional random information that is not stored in 1Passwd. (like Captcha pictures) In this case, information would need to be manually entered before submitting the form.

Instead of toggling the global option, 1Passwd allows you to get more granular with Autosave and Autosubmit.

First, let's look at disabling Autosubmit on a particular site.

Making OS X Mail Run Faster

I like Apple's Mail app, but it often slows down, and even beach balls. After every reinstall of OS X, Mail runs great, but it seems to start getting sluggish after a month or two. I've tried emptying the trash, and Rebuilding the mailbox, but those steps never returned Mail to its fresh install speed.

Today I decided to fix this without reinstalling the OS. First, I found that Mail keeps a huge cache folder (~/Library/Caches/Mail). I found thousands of files there:

find ~/Library/Caches/Mail/ | wc -l

2451

du -ch

21M total

2.5 thousand files that take up 21 Megs might not sound like much, but on a tiny and slow laptop hard disk, it makes a significant difference. It took over 30 seconds to delete the files, so it stands to reason when checking the cache for a hit, Mail would have to wait a long time for the disk to dig through these folders.

Keeping Your 1Passwd Keychain Unlocked

I was asked today for the simplest possible way to keep 1Passwd from prompting you to unlock it, without any talk about security. So here it goes:

When your browser asks you for your password, type it, but before clicking Unlock, click the More Options triangle button:

Customizing your 1Passwd Icons

Although it was discussed in the forums, it is not general knowledge that it is possible to customize the 1Passwd icons in most of 1Passwd's supported browsers. I have outlined the procedure below, but it is important to remember that these customizations will not be saved if a new version of 1Passwd is installed. Therefore, a copy of the customs icons should be stored in another location.

First, Ctrl-Click (or Right Click) on the 1Passwd icon in the Applications folder and select 'Show Package Contents'

Mac Users Are The Best!

I have said it before, but it doesn't hurt to repeat something so important: Mac Users Are The Best!!

Look at these amazing comments we've gotten since the 2.3.8 release:

• You guys are the model for how software should be done. Kudos! (John H.)
• Dave & Friends, Love the programs. (Jan L.)
• You guys are the best. This is the highest level of support I've seen in any product. (Gary G.)
• Congratulations on all the great PR. I Love your product. One of the best I have every come across!!!! Simple and effective (Daniel L.)
• First, just wanted to praise your app. I purchased my copy of 1Password through MacHeist. I just started using it. Mind blowing how awesome it is! Almost life changing. (Rod)
• Again, I think this is a great product. It really gives me peace of mind knowing that my passwords are all protected so that if either one of my computers were stolen, I'd be in good shape. (Bob B.)
• I'm a happy user of your product and I appreciate your continuous improvements to the product. (Kana N.)
• Love 1Passwd and it is one of the apps that has become indispensable. Looking forward to all the exciting new features. (George A.)

The silver bullet for developers is motivation. These passionate comments motivate us to take 1Passwd to the next level!

I'm so happy we made the switch to Mac!

1Passwd 2.3.8 Released

Roustem and I just released a new version of 1Passwd today: version 2.3.8. This is another 'minor' update that has quite a few new features.

As always, you can download the latest version from the website and update manually, or use the (preferred) built-in automatic updates to avoid any issues that can happen if the browsers aren't all closed.

Alright, onto the new stuff!

TUAW Podcast #22 Features 1Passwd

David Chartier featured 1Passwd in this week's The Unoffical Apple Weblog podcast.

See the TUAW post to watch the full movie.

What an amazing month March has been! First 1Passwd was mentioned in MacWorld, and now a full TUAW podcast dedicated to 1Passwd. Now all we need is some more sunshine up north here so Roustem and I can code longer :)

MacWorld says 1Passwd is "Hot Stuff"

In April's edition of Mac World, Mac World is "raving" about 1Passwd in their Hot Stuff column:

It was an honour to be mentioned in Mac World.