3.2. Managing User Accounts

Mac OS X is a multiuser operating system, therefore every file on the system is owned by a user, and every process is run by a user. One great way to analyze the processes in use on your system, along with the name of the users running them, is to view them using the Activity Monitor, accessible via the Utilities folder on the machine. As you can see in Figure 3-1, a variety of accounts are listed in the User column, each running separate processes. Activity Monitor has permissions to manage processes that the user can access. Therefore, processes are restricted from accessing data they should not be able to access. This security extends to files and other system resources on your computer.

Figure 3-1. Activity Monitor ...

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