Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition

Signing In, Logging Out

Once somebody has set up your account, heres what it's like getting into, and out of, a Mac OS X machine. (For the purposes of this discussion, "you" are no longer the administrator —you're one of the students, employees, or family members for whom an account has been set up.)

Identifying Yourself

When you first turn on the Mac—or when the person who last used this computer chooses a→Log Out—the login screen shown in Figure 12-1 appears. At this point, you can proceed in any of several ways:

• Restart. Click if you need to restart the Mac for some reason. (The Restart and Shut Down buttons don't appear here if the administrator has chosen to hide them as a security precaution; see Section 12.5.)

• Shut Down. Click if you're done for the day, or if sudden panic about the complexity of user accounts makes you want to run away. The computer turns off.

• Log in. To sign in, click your account name in the list. If you're a keyboard speed freak, you can also type the first letter or two—or press the up or down arrow keys—until your name is highlighted. Then press Return or Enter.

Either way, the password box appears now (if a password is required). If you accidentally click the wrong persons name on the first screen, you can click Back. Otherwise, type your password and then press Enter (or click Log In).

You can try as many times as you want to type the password. With each incorrect guess, the entire dialog box shudders violently from side to side, as though shaking its head ...