Previously, you had to save a recovery key, a long string of characters that Apple suggested you print out and store in a safe place. Two-Factor AuthenticationĪpple has offered two-factor authentication for some time ( here’s how you set it up), but with the release of iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan, Apple is changing the way this works. See that previous article to learn how to set your Mac’s basic security settings.īut Apple has incorporated several security features into OS X 10.11, some of which are quite important. None of these features have changed in fact, if you compare the Security & Privacy pane of System Preferences, you won’t see any differences. Last year, when OS X 10.10 was released, I wrote an overview of Yosemite’s security and privacy features. In OS X El Capitan, there are a few key security and privacy features that will make Macs much harder to attack, and that will protect your data. In addition to the widely-publicized features in a new operating system, there are always under-the-hood improvements that make the upgrade worthwhile.

I’ve only tested El Capitan on recent Macs, but if you’re hesitant, wait a week or so and see what the various Mac websites report about its speed on older Macs. Keep in mind that, historically, when Apple released a “revision” version of OS X, such as Mountain Lion or Snow Leopard, these newer operating systems were as fast, or even faster than their predecessors. If you have older hardware, you may hesitate, thinking that El Capitan might slow down your Mac. El Capitan will run on all Macs that can run Yosemite, so if you’re running OS X 10.10, you should consider upgrading to OS X 10.11. OS X El Capitan is now available, and it’s time to upgrade your Mac to Apple’s new operating system, if you so desire. Apple + Recommended + Security & Privacy OS X El Capitan: Security and Privacy Features Overview

Upgrade snow leopard to el capitan