Setting Up the Login Process

12.5. Setting Up the Login Process Once youve set up more than one account, the dialog box shown in Figure 12-1 appears whenever you turn on the Mac, whenever you choose Log Out
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Setting Up the Login Process12.5. Setting Up the Login ProcessOnce youve set up more than one account, the dialog box shown in Figure 12-1 appearswhenever you turn on the Mac, whenever you choose Log Out, or whenever theMac logs you out automatically (Section 12.9.3). But a few extra controls let you, anadministrator, 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 Mac OS X very well might object to one sentence in this section: If youre an administrator, you can change your own account in any way you like. Because everybody knows that theres one aspect of an account that even an admin cant change: the accounts short name. Once thats created, its yours forever, or at least until you delete the account. Now, you wont find this feature listed on Apples 300 New Leopard Features Web page, but its true: In Leopard, theres now a secret way to pick a different short name. You cant easily change the one you created originally, but you can create another one—shorter, more memorable—that also works when youre logging in or authenticating yourself. To find it, Control-click (or right-click) the accounts name in the list at the left side of the Accounts panel in System Preferences. From the shortcut menu, choose Advanced Options. The strange and wonderful Advanced Options panel appears. Right there in the middle is a Short name box, but dont edit that; it wont work. Instead, click the + button below the Aliases list. Youre offered the chance to type in an alternative short name and then click OK. You can create as many of these aliases as you like. When its all over, click OK. The next time you log into your Mac, you can use your new, improved short name instead of the old one. Rejoice that you lived to see the day.Open System Preferences, click Accounts, and then click the Login Options button(Figure 12-12). Here are some of the ways you can shape the login experience for greatersecurity (or greater convenience):Figure 12-11. Top: This dialog box lets you know where to find the deleted accounts material, should the need arise. Bottom: The files and settings of accounts you deleted live on, in the Users Deleted Users folder. • Automatic login. This option eliminates the need to sign in at all. Its a timesaving, hassle-free arrangement if only one person uses the Mac, or if one person uses it most of the time. When you choose an account holders name from this pop-up menu, youre prompted for his name and password. Type it and click OK. From now on, the dialog box shown in Figure 12-1 wont appear at all at startup time. After turning on the machine, you, the specified account holder, zoom straight to your desktop. Of course, only one lucky person can enjoy this express ticket. Everybody else must still enter their names and passwords. (And how can they, since the Mac rushes right into the Automatic persons account at startup time? Answer: The Automatic thing happens only at startup time. The usual login screen appears whenever the current account holder logs out—by choosing Log Out, for example.) • Display login window as. Under normal circumstances, the login screen presents a list of account holders when you power up the Mac, as shown in Figure 12-1. Thats the List of users option in action. If youre especially worried about security, however, you might not even want that list to appear. If you turn on Name and password, each person who signs in must type both his name (into a blank that appears) and his password—a very inconvenient, but more secure, arrangement. Figure 12-12. These options make it easier or harder for people to sign in, offering various degrees of security. By the way: Turning on Name and password also lets you sign in as >console, a troubleshooting technique described on Section 10.30.7. Its also one way to sign in with the root account (Section 16.9), once youve activated it.• Show the Restart, Sleep, and Shut Down buttons. Truth is, the Mac OS X security system is easy to circumvent. Truly devoted evildoers can bypass the standard login screen in a number of different ways: restart in FireWire disk mode, restart at the Unix Terminal, and so on. Suddenly, these no-goodniks have full access to every document on the machine, blowing right past all of the safeguards youve so ...