I
need to loan my Mac to a friend, but don't want him to be able to access my
personal files. How can I let him use the machine, but not my content?
It’s probably best to keep friends
from examining your personal files too closely, and the Mac operating system,
OS X, makes this simple. All you need to do is create a new user account on the
Mac and tell your friend the credentials to log into that account.
To create a new user account, start
System Preferences, and then select to the Users and Groups option. You will
need to unlock the settings so that you can make changes and then add a new
user. Supply a password for the new user, and then you’re all ready to loan
them your Mac.
Your friend will be able to log
into the new account you created, but won't be able to access your personal
files. When the new user attempts to do
so, the computer will display a get a warning indicating that the files aren’t
available for this user. There’s really
nothing your friend can do without knowing your password and logging into your
account to get into your content. It's very safe, and this mechanism provides a
great way to share the computer with other users. (If you’re really paranoid,
you might want to consider also encrypting your data, but that’s a topic for a
separate tip.)
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