Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual

Chapter 12. Accounts, Parental Controls, & Security

In an era when security is the hottest high-tech buzzword, Apple was smart to make it a focal point for Mac OS X. It was already virus-free and better protected from Internet attacks than Windows. But Mac OS X 10.6 is the most impenetrable Mac system yet, filled with new defenses against the dark arts. This chapter covers the whole range of them.

On the premise that the biggest security threat of all comes from other people in your home or office, though, the most important security feature in Mac OS X is the accounts system.

Introducing Accounts

The concept of user accounts is central to Mac OS X’s security approach. Like the Unix under its skin (and also like Windows), Mac OS X is designed from the ground up to be a multiple-user operating system. That is, you can set up your Mac OS X so that everyone must log in—click her name and type her password—when the computer turns on (Figure 12-1).

Upon doing so, you discover the Macintosh universe just as you left it, including these elements:

• Your documents, files, and folders.

• Your preference settings in every program you use: Web browser bookmarks and preferred home page; desktop picture, screen saver, and language; icons on the desktop and in the Dock—and the size and position of the Dock itself; and so on.

• Email account(s), including personal information and mailboxes.

• Your personally installed programs and fonts.

• Your choice of programs that launch automatically at startup.

This system ...