TUAW's going Back to School! We'll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings in September.

It's time once again to head back to school. Some are entering high school, while others are going to college for the first time. If you're taking your Mac with you, you need to learn some security basics. In this post, I will show you how to secure your operating system and hardware.

Operating System (Software)
Mac OS X makes a great operating system for students and businesses because of its inherent security. However, any computer without a strong password or other means of security is an accident waiting to happen.

The first thing you need to do is set a login password. To do this, go into Accounts in the System Preferences pane. Once there you will be able to set your password for logging in. While in Accounts, you might want to disable automatic login. This forces your computer to ask for a password upon startup and makes it harder for someone to walk up to your computer and use it (or steal it and use it).

Turning off Sharing services is another way to protect someone from remotely connecting to your Mac. Go to System Preferences > Sharing. Once there, un-check all sharing services that you don't use. Disabling File Sharing, Remote Login, Screen Sharing, and other services such as these can save your Mac from being "hijacked." If you must have these services turned on, then make sure you have a secure password set.

Hardware
Securing Mac OS X isn't the only thing you need to do. If you live in a dorm, or in a shared apartment, then you may want to consider securing your hardware. No matter what security measures you put into place, they can always be circumvented by someone just stealing the machine.

Most Macs have a standard security port to connect a lock. This is a great way to protect notebooks as well as desktops and even printers and other peripherals. The locks are fairly inexpensive (around $40 US) and can save your expensive hardware from being stolen. You can find them at most big-box computer retailers and even online from companies like Kensington.

More on security...
If you want more information on Security and your Mac/iPhone, then visit TUAW's Security category. You can also get more TUAW Back to School goodness by visiting our Back to School page.

If you've been looking to snag Parallels Desktop version 3.0, but don't want to pay the $79.99 associated with Parallels then a summer MacHeist bundle is just the thing. MacHeist is currently offering Parallels Desktop + Mac Pilot for only $49 (US).

Returning MacHeist customers receive a $10 discount, making the bundle only $39. That's a steal! In addition, the first 1000 customers to purchase the bundle will recieve a free "mystery application" (one that's an Apple award winner) which will be detailed on Friday.

Update: The rumor on the street is hinting at the "mystery application" to be either Coda or Lineform.

If you haven't preordered Leopard yet, but both plan to get it and have a need for a little Windows action, Mac Warehouse has the deal for you. They're offering a bunch of Leopard, Parallels, and Windows XP (or Vista, but seriously, Vista?) for just $279. That's basically getting Parallels for free, and a little over $100 off the price of XP Pro. If you haven't bought any of these yet, and plan to use all three, that right there is a tasty deal.

And speaking of deals, we've gotten a lot of tips about this, so even though we've mentioned it before, it's probably worth another mention: Amazon is going aggressive on Leopard pricing, so they're offering it for only $109, twenty bucks off the price elsewhere.

Of course, buying Leopard in either of these ways won't get you the satisfaction of being there on Friday when Apple's new operating system goes on sale. But then again, how much are the crowds and the lines worth to you?

Thanks, Michael!

After months of betas and release candidates, Parallels has brought their fantastic Desktop OS virtualization software to an official release. As you might remember from their last release candidate, they have also listened to user feedback and bundled their Compressor Server tool for optimizing virtual disks and streamlining the amount of disk space they take up, which also brought the final price up to $79.99. However, until July 15th, Parallels is still offering a discount price of $49.99, so get those credit cards out if Boot Camp doesn't quite cut it.

[thanks for the tip, Mark!]

Reader JP Dane-Castro wrote in to remind us that it was exactly one year ago today that Apple starting shipping the world's most advanced operating system, Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.

Take stroll down memory lane by reading Apple's press release. Now, when is Leopard shipping?

Parallels sure has been busy these last couple of weeks, as they have now produced a beta of VM Compactor for Intel-based Macs (as well as Windows and Linux), an app that helps optimize VMs (virtual machines) and compresses the amount of physical disk space they use. The nice thing about VM Compactor is that it can help optimize VMs created with software other than their own Workstation, such as Microsoft's Virtual PC and VMware's Workstation.

If you aren't quite familiar with why software like VM Compactor needs to exist, here's a quick example: with an app like Parallels' Workstation (which has been creating so much buzz in the Mac world lately), you can install and run multiple operating systems, such as Windows and Linux, inside of Mac OS X. This is referred to as 'virtualization' and is a bit different - and some would say more useful for general tasks - from using something like Boot Camp which requires you to shut down Mac OS X in order to boot into Windows.

Well, over time, these other OS installs, called 'virtual machines,' can begin to take up extra and needless space on your hard drive, even when Parallels Workstation compacts and compresses their installation after each time you finish using them. This is where VM Compactor comes in: its purpose is to clean up, optimize and strip the fat out of these installs to make sure they run as well as possible and take up the least amount of disk space necessary.

Parallels VM Compactor is in beta and offers a 30-trial, which suggests it should be available for retail purchase within the next month.

I almost decided not to post this on the grounds that a lot of us probably won't be surprised, but then I figured it might still be good for a laugh.

A friend passed me an article at CNET which reports that Vista has been delayed yet again to January 2007. Windows chief Jim Allchin explained that a few complications would force some PC vendors to wait until '07 to get their hands on the über-delayed upgrade to Microsoft's OS, while others could have it as soon as November 2006. As a result of this quirk, Microsoft ultimately decided to push the hold button again, kicking Vista's debut into January of 2007.

Here's hoping Apple will capitalize on this latest roadblock in Vista's development. With Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) still slated to land this year, along with the recent announcements of a new chip from Intel and WWDC's move to August (perhaps for a Leopard release?), I wouldn't be surprised if 2006 turns into a fantastic year for Apple.

[thanks to Damien for the pic]