One of the greatest features all the Apple products come along with is the ability to perform remote actions on the devices. In very unfortunate cases, like when your Mac is stolen or lost, you can make use of the remote actions to control your lost device. The remote wiping feature lets you wipe off all the data stored on your Mac. Thus, you don’t have to worry about others accessing the confidential data stored on your machine.
We’re going to use Apple’s iCloud suite to remotely wipe the lost Mac. Besides wiping, it offers a couple of other actions as well that you can initiate should you wish to.
For this to work, you have to enable the “Find My Mac” option on your machine. If you still have access to your Mac, simply follow the following steps to enable the option on your machine.
Enabling Find My Mac on Mac
1. Click on the Apple icon in the top-left corner and select “System Preferences…”.
2. On the screen that follows, click on “iCloud.” It should let you modify your iCloud settings.
3. Here you will be presented with all of your iCloud features that you can either turn ON or OFF. Simply put a checkmark in the box that says “Find My Mac.” It will enable the “Find My Mac” feature for your machine.
4. A prompt will appear asking if you really wish to enable the said option. Click on “Allow” and it should be enabled.
5. You are done.
The Find My Mac feature is now enabled for your Mac and you can now use it right off the iCloud website.
That was about turning on the feature; here’s how you can go about wiping off your lost or stolen Mac.
Remotely Wiping a Mac
1. Head over to the iCloud website using your web browser.
2. Sign in to your account if you haven’t already.
3. Once you are logged in, click on the “Find My iPhone” icon on the homepage.
4. If it asks you to re-enter your password, then do so.
5. Click on the “All Devices” link given at the top center. It should list out all of the Apple devices connected to your iCloud account.
6. Click on the name of your Mac from the options available to you. It will let you perform remote actions on the chosen device: your Mac in this case.
7. On the next screen, click on the “Erase Mac” button. Follow the on-screen instructions to erase the data on your Mac.
Your Mac should now be erased, and the person having access to it simply won’t be able to see any of your files.
Conclusion
A simple tip like this can really be a lifesaver if you have some confidential information stored on your Mac and it has been stolen. It really prevents anyone from accessing your data and hence protecting you, not to mention that this feature is completely free. What other solution do you use to remotely wipe your Mac?
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Mahesh Makvana
Mahesh Makvana is a freelance tech writer who’s written thousands of posts about various tech topics on various sites. He specializes in writing about Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android tech posts. He’s been into the field for last eight years and hasn’t spent a single day without tinkering around his devices.
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