macOS Sierra: The Missing Manual

Setting Up the Login Process

Once you’ve set up more than one account, the screen shown in Figure 13-1 appears whenever you turn on the Mac, whenever you choose →Log Out, or whenever the Mac logs you out automatically. 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.

Power Users’ Clinic: The Secret Account Options

Anyone who knows macOS very well might object to one sentence in this section: “If you’re an administrator, you can change your own account in any way you like.”

Because everybody knows that there’s one aspect of an account that even an admin can’t change: the account’s short name (the account name, as opposed to the Full Name). Once that’s created, it’s yours forever, or at least until you delete the account.

Or at least that’s what Apple wants you to think. There is, however, a secret way to pick a different short name. You can’t easily change the one you created originally, but you can create another one—shorter, more memorable—that also works when you’re logging in or authenticating yourself.

To find it, right-click (or two-finger click) the account’s name in the list at the left side of the Users & Groups panel in System Preferences. From the shortcut menu, choose ...