Chapter 25: Managing User Accounts
In This Chapter
Understanding why OS X supports multiple accounts
Adjusting the main user's password and personal settings
Specifying applications to start automatically at login
Controlling startup options for all users
Adding and configuring additional users
Switching among user accounts
The Mac is a personal computer, so the idea of having, much less managing, a user account on your Mac may seem like a bizarre concept. After all, you're the user and it's your Mac, so why do you need an account?
If you are truly the only user of the Mac, then the idea of an account can seem unnecessary. Except that it isn't. And if more than one person uses your Mac, you definitely need to set up and manage the accounts so each user's data, applications, and so on are kept separate for privacy, security, and stability reasons.
First, assume you're truly the only user of the Mac. Why bother with a user account? The basic reason is that your Mac has an account for you whether you know it or not. And the benefit of managing that account is to set up security, so if anyone else tries to use your Mac—particularly a thief—he or she is blocked by the need to type a password to use that Mac. Passwords are tied to user accounts, so you need the user account. Plus, the user account is what OS X uses to save some of your preferences, such as the login items (the applications and utilities that start up automatically when your Mac starts up.)
Now look at why you might ...
