How Can I Keep People from Remotely Logging into My Mac?

Question

I want to keep people from logging on to my Mac remotely. I've unchecked everything in the System Preference's Sharing pane. Is there anything else that I need to do? I'm running Mac OS 10.5.8.

Answer 1

No, there isn't anything more you need to do. If you have everything unchecked in the sharing there isn't a way for anyone to remotely log into your Mac.

Answer 2

Unchecking everything in the Sharing preferences should do the trick unless you have installed any additional software that allows remote login (something like a VNC server or Timbuktu). If you're not sure, you can use the netstat command to look for anything listening for incoming connections:

$ netstat -an | grep LISTEN
tcp4       0      0  *.88                   *.*                    LISTEN
tcp6       0      0  *.88                   *.*                    LISTEN
tcp4       0      0  127.0.0.1.631          *.*                    LISTEN
tcp6       0      0  ::1.631                *.*                    LISTEN

The above example shows Kerberos (an authentication service) listening on port 88, and the CUPS printing system listening on port 631 (but only for connections from this computer, not over the net). This is the normal (minimal) state; if you see anything else, you might want to check it out.

Another option is to turn on the firewall (in the Security preference pane); with that on, you'll be alerted if any program tries to accept incoming connections, and it'll be blocked unless you grant it permission.