Need to Share Files Securely? Try Password-Protected ZIP Archives

Imagine you’re staring at a file or folder—perhaps confidential employee information that you need to send to your accountant. If attaching it to an email message makes you think, “That doesn’t seem like a good idea,” award yourself a gold star!

Sending sensitive files via email is a bad idea, partly because the email could be intercepted in transit (possible but highly unlikely), but more because the files then live in both your and your recipient’s email accounts in an unprotected form. If an attacker were to gain access to either of your email accounts, they might scan for patterns like credit card numbers, ID numbers, phone numbers, and postal addresses and find them even in attachments.

There are ways of encrypting email messages so they can be read only by the recipient and never exist in an unencrypted form other than while being created or read, but they’re difficult to set up and fussy to use. For most people, most of the time, encrypted email is overkill.

For a more straightforward solution to exchanging information securely via email, use password-protected and encrypted ZIP archives. They’re easy to create on the Mac, either using a simple command in Terminal or with a third-party utility. And better yet, any Mac user can expand them using the built-in Archive Utility simply by double-clicking and entering the necessary password.

Create Encrypted ZIP Archive Using Terminal

Although many Mac users are intimidated by using the Unix command line in Terminal, making an encrypted ZIP archive is easy enough for anyone. All it takes is typing a single command, dragging a file or folder to Terminal, and entering a password twice. Follow these steps, which make an encrypted ZIP archive on your Desktop:

  1. In your Applications folder, open the Utilities folder and double-click Terminal to launch it.
  2. Type (or copy and paste) this command, replacing “archiveName” with whatever you want to name the ZIP file and making sure to type a space after the last letter—the “p” in “zip”. (The tilde ~ character is Shift-backtick, and it’s the key to the left of the numeral 1 key.)
    zip -er ~/Desktop/archiveName.zip
  3. Drag the file or folder you want to protect into the Terminal window to complete the command.
  4. Press Return, and when prompted, enter the desired password twice—the second time is for confirmation.

Create Encrypted ZIP Archive Using Archiver

If you have trouble with the command-line method or plan to create encrypted ZIP archives regularly, it’s worth using a Mac app that simplifies the process even more. There are various apps, but a particularly straightforward one for those running macOS 11 Big Sur is Archiver ($19.99, with a free trial). Download it and then follow these steps to create an encrypted ZIP archive:

  1. Launch Archiver.
  2. Drag a file or folder to the Archiver window and click the Archive button in the toolbar.
  3. Select the archive format (use ZIP), click the Encrypt checkbox, enter the password twice, and click the Archive button in the toolbar.
  4. Drag the ZIP archive to the Desktop or another folder and click the Done button.

Decrypting a ZIP Archive

As noted earlier, decrypting a password-protected ZIP archive on the Mac is as simple as double-clicking it and entering the password when prompted.

What about iOS or iPadOS? Never fear, since the Files app can also decrypt ZIP archives; just tap the archive to open it and enter the password when prompted.

A Word about Passwords

It’s important to think briefly about how you’re going to communicate the password to your recipient. Don’t send it in email or else anyone who compromises either your email account or your recipient’s account could decrypt the ZIP archive.

Instead, use what’s called an “out of band” communication channel. In other words, if you’re going to send the ZIP archive via email, communicate the password in a phone call or text message. That would keep the password safe if either of your email accounts were compromised.

If you’re sending password-protected ZIP archives to a particular person regularly (and the files don’t contain state or corporate secrets), you could agree on a system for generating passwords so you don’t have to communicate each one individually. For instance, you could combine a random word and the current month, so the password would be “cheddar9September” one month and “cheddar10October” the next.

As you can see, you can use this technique with so little extra effort that it’s worth ensuring a higher level of security whenever you need to share confidential information.

(Featured image by iStock.com/brijith vijayan)

Ever Have Trouble Printing? Try a Different Printer Driver

Some clients have reported problems with HP laser printers failing to print. Sometimes there’s an error. Other times, the print job just disappears into the ether. It’s unclear why this is happening or how widespread it is, but here’s a workaround that can help. Create a new printer configuration by clicking the + button in System Preferences > Printers & Scanners and selecting your printer in the list. Then, from the Use pop-up menu, choose something other than the default Secure AirPrint driver. We’ve had the most luck with Generic PostScript Printer. Both the old and new configurations will be available when printing, so if one doesn’t work, try again with the other one.

(Featured image by Mahrous Houses on Unsplash)

Nightstand Mode Makes Your Apple Watch a Helpful Bedroom Companion

Most Apple Watch users charge their watch every night, putting it on a charger as part of a bedtime routine. If that’s you, make sure you’re not missing one of the Apple Watch’s best features: nightstand mode. When you enable it in the iPhone’s Watch app, in General > Nightstand Mode, a charging Apple Watch displays the charging status, current time and date (in a large, easily readable font), and the time of any alarm you’ve set. It uses a green color that won’t shock your eyes in the middle of the night, and after a minute, the screen goes completely dark. To see it again, tap the watch or—even better!—the surface it’s on. The screen lights up for 10 seconds before going dark again. (And yes, we love the little classic Mac stand.)

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

The Mac’s Magic Shortcut to Trashing Files and Photos Quickly

Sure, you could select a file in the Finder and choose File > Move to Trash or drag it to the Trash in the Dock. Similarly, you can trash selected photos in Apple’s Photos app by choosing Image > Delete X Photos, or by pressing the Delete key, but both of those methods result in a dialog asking if you’re sure. The easiest way of trashing a file in the Finder or a picture in Photos is to select it and press Command-Delete. Poof, it’s in the Trash (Finder) or Recently Deleted album (Photos), with no extra effort or prompts! And if you accidentally trash the wrong thing, just press Command-Z to restore it. Keep this key combination in mind for other apps too, since they may also support it as a shortcut for “delete without prompting.”

(Featured image by iStock.com/YurolaitsAlbert)

Filter What’s Showing in Photos to Focus on Specific Types

You know you can make albums and smart albums in Photos, and do searches to find photos that contain particular objects. But what if you want to separate photos from videos, identify which images in an album have been edited, or pick out just the ones you’ve favorited? For that, use Photos’ filters. On the Mac (below left), click the Showing menu in the upper-right corner, and in iOS and iPadOS (iPhone screens below right), tap the ••• button in the upper-right corner and tap Filter. Either way, you can choose Favorites, Edited, Photos, or  Videos to limit the items showing to that type. When you’re done, turn the filter off by choosing All Items.

(Featured image by iStock.com/metamorworks)