Mac® Security Bible

3.4. Configuring an Account

Adding, deleting, and editing accounts and groups in Mac OS X are straightforward processes, but you have a number of options to consider.

3.4.1. Creating a new user

To create a new user account of the administrator, standard, managed, or sharing only variety, follow these steps:

1. Choose System Preferences to open System Preferences and then click Accounts to open the Accounts pane.

2. If the lock icon in the lower-left corner of the pane is in the locked state, click it, type an administrator's username and password, and then click OK.

3. Click the Add (+) button below the list of accounts to open a dialog box showing options for the new account.

4. From the New Account pop-up menu (refer to Figure 3.4), select the account type you want to create.

   NOTE

   You can convert most account types to most other types after the fact. For example, you can turn a standard user into an administrator by clicking the Allow user to administer this computer check box or into a Managed user by clicking the Enable Parental Controls check box. However, you can't convert any sort of user account to a Sharing Only account or vice versa.

5. Fill in the Name field. This can be anything, but it's normally used for a person's first name and last name. Spaces are permitted. Optionally, you can ...