Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual

Creating an Account

Suppose somebody new joins your little Mac family—a new worker, student, or love interest, for example. And you want to make them feel at home on your Mac.

Begin by opening System Preferences (System Preferences). In the System Preferences window, click Accounts. You have just arrived at the master control center for account creation and management (Figure 12-2).

To create a new account, start by unlocking the Accounts panel. That is, click the at lower-left, and fill in your own account name and password.

Now you can click the + button beneath the list of accounts. The little panel shown at bottom in Figure 12-2 appears.

Phase 1: Choose an Account Type

As though this business of accounts and passwords isn't complicated enough already, Mac OS X 10.5 offers more types of accounts than ever. And you're expected to specify which type each person gets at the moment you create an account.

To do that, open the New Account pop-up menu (Figure 12-2, bottom). Its five account types are described on the following pages.

Figure 12-2. Top: The screen lists everyone who has an account. From here, you can create new accounts or change passwords. If you're new at this, there's probably just one account listed here: yours. This is the account that Mac OS X created when you first installed ...