Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Panther Edition

Setting Up the Login/Logout Process

Once you’ve set up more than one account, the dialog box shown in Figure 11-1 appears whenever you turn on the Mac, whenever you choose →Log Out, or whenever the Mac logs you out automatically (Section 11.4.1). But a few extra controls let you, an administrator, set up either more or less security at the login screen—or, put another way, build in less or more convenience.

Figure 11-8. Top: This dialog box lets you know where to find the deleted account’s material, should the need arise. Bottom: The files and settings of accounts you deleted live on, in the Users→Deleted Users→[name] folder.

Login Options

Open System Preferences, click Accounts, and then click the Login Options button (Figure 11-9). Here are some of the ways you can shape the login experience for greater security (or greater convenience).

• Display Login Window as. Under normal circumstances, the login screen presents a list of account holders when you power up the Mac, as shown in Figure 11-1. That’s the “List of users” option in action.

  If you’re especially worried about security, however, you might not even want that list to appear. If you turn on “Name and password,” each person who signs in must type both his name (into a blank that appears) and his password—a very inconvenient, but ...