Mac OS X Panther in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Name

Accounts and User Management

Synopsis

Add another user to the system?

System Preferences→Accounts→click on the plus sign button (+) at the lower-left of the window (requires administrator privileges)

Tip

Unix administrators might be tempted to use the useradd, userdel, and usermod commands to add, remove, and modify a user, respectively, from the Terminal. However, those commands don’t exist on Mac OS X.

Remove a user from the system?

System Preferences→Accounts→select the user’s name in the left column click on the button with a minus sign (-) to delete the user

Tip

While logged in, you can’t remove yourself from the system. If you want to remove your user account from the system, you have to log out and log back in as another user.

Configuring my login?

System Preferences→Accounts→select your username in the left column→Login Options

Change my login password?

System Preferences→Accounts→select your username in the left column→Password

Use the passwd command in the Terminal.

Tip

When choosing a password, you should avoid using dictionary words (i.e., common, everyday words found in the dictionary) or something that can be easily guessed. To improve your security, we recommend that you choose an alphanumeric password. Remember, passwords are case-sensitive, so you can mix upper- and lowercase letters with your password as well.

Turn on fast user switching?

System Preferences→Accounts→Login Options→select the checkbox next to “Enable fast user switching”

Give a user administrator privileges? ...