Changing the Admin Account

I've been operating under my admin account since I've owned a Mac, and in all that time I've always had two accounts, one the admin, the other named 'Test' as a clean user. In light of the new potential danger of future trojan's and such should I (and am I able to) switch the Admin powers over to the mostly unused Test account and make my main account into a daily user? Or am I stuck with this configuration w/out a complete erase and reinstall?
Thanks
Ted

Yeah, geeze, we're getting ahead of the ball game here. These speculative precautions about viruses cause, as we see, more problems than they solve.
Instead of changing the way you work (and the way the OS is designed to work), don't mess with the user accounts. If you're the primary user of the computer, work in an admin account -- it's nothing like working as "root" (which is bad), and there are just too many occasions when you need to be an admin that working as a non-admin user is going to cause a big pain.
The only sensible precaution (in my opinion) is to back up your data. Retrospect Express and blank DVD-R won't cost you much, and they will protect against the myriad failure modes -- not just the unlikely case of a virus.
Once viruses become a problem inOS X (which, I agree, is inevitable), I have every confidence that Apple, Symantec, and lots of other companies will come up with good solutions. But, at the moment, the threat is slight, and so the demand is light, and therefore the products (and workarounds) are lousy. I don't think there's much virtue in being the first on your block to build a fallout shelter.

Similar Messages

I am unable to change the admin account

Hello, I'm unable to change my Administrator password.
Computer model: MacBook Pro (mid 2012), not Retina.
OS: OS X Mountain Lion.
There's a network account server in my settings.
Admin account info: Admin, Managed, Mobile.
I have tried to change the password via System Settings and via Terminal (passwd command line).
When I try to change it in the Terminal, it just echoes out "passwd: general failure".

Oh, okay.
I was once able to change the password, and then I changed the password of my account in their Microsoft Exchange Server.
And after that, I was unable to change the password on my Mac.

In regard to Time Machine. I have two accounts one is an admin account, the other is a standard user account. When I implement Time Machine when I am logged into the Admin account, is the standard user also backed up?

in regard to Time Machine.
I have two accounts on one Macbook Pro running OS 10.6.8. One account is an admin account, the other is a standard user account.
When I initially implemented Time Machine I was logged into the Admin account. I allowed Time Machine to erase the drive and backup the computer. Is the standard user account contents also backed up?
Also after I completed the Time Machine backup session, I turned off Time Machine and removed the portable hard drive. I plan to return in to Time Machine after being away from the portable hard drive for approximately a month. After a short interruption of approximately one month, when the Macbook Pro is reconnected and Time Machine is turned back on, will Time Machine create a new instance of a backup? WIll the back up contain the standard user account changes?

Time Machine backs up by default all the user accounts.
When you reconnect the backup drive after one month, Time Machine will do an incremental backup and it might take a while minutes to hours depending on how much has been changed. With a gap of a month, Time Machine will have to do a lengthier than normal survey of both drives to see what has changed, so it might take some time preparing for the backup. The backup will include everything that has changed since the previous one.

How do I change my admin account to a standard acct without losing anything?

I'm not sure if that is the best way to phrase the question, but I have been reading a lot about the last trojan that seems to be causing problems. I am very careful about not downloading or installing things I am not sure of, but even then, I might want to download a picture that seems safe and be surprised. I have been reading that it is better to do daily internet tasks/surfs/etc from a standard rather than from my admin account. I am the only one regularly using my mac so I hadn't really thought that it was a problem. (I have a seperate account with parental controls set for my grandchildren to use). Can I turn this account into a standard account and then have a different admin account? And then what if I want to install something for my standard account to use? Would I still download audiobooks from a website I belong to to the admin account? If the issue is that I need to provide my admin password, why is it any safer on the standard account? I hope I'm making myself clear. I want to understand this so I can make the decision that works best for me, whichever way I chose to go.
Thanks,
Laverne's Mom

thank you for reminding me about Thomas' Corner. I read it probably a month after I got my Mac. I am not going to instll any AV software right now, but will look at ClamXav, which is the most recommended one on this forum, since I fall into the "might need peace of mind" category. I do think I "surf" very responsibly, don't download or install anything I am not sure of, don't do social networks (I may be the only person who has never been on Facebook) or open unknown emails, and use the WOT add on to alert me to dangerous websites. thank you for responding to the other post about the issue regarding general and admin accounts. If I change my mind, I know what options are available to me.
Laverne's Mom

Changing the Admin name

How can i change the Admin name on my mac mini?

Do you mean the user account that has 'Administer this computer' privileges?
Once created, you can't (easily) alter a users name. ou could just create a new user with admin privileges and delete the old one( saving any data in the old users $HOME (~) first).

SL:How do I give the Admin account premissions to access other accounts?

How do I give the Admin account the permissions needed to read and write the folders desired in the other account(s)?

hassiman wrote:
I have a MacPro running Tiger and for whatever reason when I am logged into the machine with my user account which has Admin privilages I can open/drag and drop etc. from my desktop to my wife's account ( which I set up as limited with parental restriction to only what she needs to access and use.)
a parental controlled account for your wife. you must have an interesting relationship...
I am setting up a Mac Mini running SL for my 90 year old in-laws and it was my intention to give them a STANDARD user account so that they can not download and install anything nasty which they did all the time on the Windoze machine the Mini is replacing. I have set up an Admin account on the machine so I can install stuff and perform maintenance functions VIA VNC connection from San Dieg to them in NYC... But I was surprised when I could not access any folders on their account... specifically their desktop where I tried to drop a file.
Not sure why it's no biggie on Tiger but Leopard's throwing a fit. Any ideas?
this is quite normal and is the default in all versions of OS X. a user has write access too their own home directory but not to any other users home directories. being an admin user does not change that. as an admin user you can give yourself write writes to it as discussed earlier but that won't happen by default. the best thing to do in the situation you describe is to log in as your in-laws once you vnc into their computer. then you can copy what you need to the desktop. it's of course possible to do it from the admin account by giving it write access to their desktop as you were intending but that will give you extra problems later because their users won't have write privileges to anything you copy that way.

How do I change the admin name and password on my iMac?

How do I change the admin name and password on my iMac? It's been about two years since I've done that and I've totally forgotten how to. Your help is appreciated!

Hi Haldane, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Changing the name can be dangerous, use ChangeShortName 10.4 only...
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16620
Many way to change the PW then, the Accounts Pref Pane, unlock the Lock, click on change Password.

Checking parental controls locked me out of the admin account won;t take my admin password

I check the parental control box while in the admin account. It locked my account and won't take my password. How to get out of this?

OK, please do a couple of administrative things once you have changed your password. First is update your profile. You can easily do that by clicking Your Stuff in the upper right then click Profile and update as needed. This saves us a lot of time!
Next when you are replying to a message please click Reply in the message you are replying to, otherwise we cannot tell who your message is intended for.
Now to change the password in Lion please read Reset 10.7 Lion Password

Hi Apple Team, I would like to change the iCloud account on my iPhone, however it says I must 'delete the account' before doing so? Does this mean that I delete the entire existing account, or just delete it from my phone specifically?

Hi Apple Team, I would like to change the iCloud account on my iPhone, however it says I must 'delete the account' before doing so? Does this mean that I delete the entire existing account, or just delete it from my phone specifically?

From the iPhone only.

How to change the Reconciliation Account of a Customer.

Hi Everybody,
I went through few posts from users regarding the change of Reconciliation Account in Customer Master, but nowhere the complete process of change of Reconciliation Account is explained. Can anyone throw some light on this and tell the complete procedure of changing the Reconciliation Account in the customer Master.
Thanks.

Dear Himanshu,
There is no specific process of changing the reconciliation account in customer master because it is not recommended and when you change the reconciliation account in the customer master then system will stop you at all. If you want to change then please follow steps mentioned below.
1. Clear all the open of the customer whose reconciliation account you want to change. If open item exists and you change then this balance will lie forever in the trial balance which Accounting Standard will not allow.
2. Once the customer balance does not exist then you can change reconciliation account.
Another way to do is
1. You create a copy of the customer you want to change the reconciliation account, put the new reconciliation account in the copied customer.
2. Then you transfer all posting to the new customer so customer with old reconciliation account will be nil.
If your profit center functionality is active and document splitting is not active with profit center characteristics then please avoid the second alternative
Regards,
Chintan Joshi.

How to change the reconciliation account in customer master record?

hi friends,
i created customer master with wrong reconsiliation account in XD01. i failed when i am trying to change that reconsiliation account in XD02. it was suppressed. how to change the reconcilition account in customer master data?

Hi,
Go to this path: Spro>Financial Accounting>Account Receivable & Account Payable>Customer Accounts>Master Data>Preparations for Creating Customer Master Data>Define Account Groups with Screen Layout (Customers)
Double Click on Your Group, Then Click on Company code Data under Field Status, Then Double click on Account Management, That screen you will find the Reconcilation Account, Select Requred Entry.
now it will coming Customer master.
It's useful assigne points as a way to say Thanks
Regards
gvr

Change the Reconciliation Account for the FI Document

Hi,
I like to change the reconciliation account of the line item in a FI Document, which will be created FROM MIRO or MIR6 trxn. I have tried the BTE - 00001120, I can modify the required field, but at the time of posting it's again fetching the default reconciliation account.
Can any one plz suggest me the way to solve the problem? Please suggest.
Thanks,
Kuntal

HI Kuntal,
I'm facing same problem as yours.
I posted a msg at this bulletin also, but the same, nobody answered me.
Have you found any solutions yet? Kindly share to me if you have.
Thanks a lot in advance!
Best regards,
Miao

Change the Reconciliation account

Dear Friends,
Can we change Reconciliation accounts in Customer/Vendor master records? If we can, so what about the old reconciliation account data or balance? How do we capture data from old reconciliation account to new reconciliation account?
Explain in details......
I appreciate your help.....

Hi Teja,
You can change the reconciliation Account in the Vendor or customer Master provided the field Status in your configuration allows changing the Reconciliation Account. Also, it is ideal that you change the reconciliation Account when the balance on the Reconciliation Account is Zero.
If the Balance is not zero, then also you can change the reconciliation Account. In such a case you need to maintain a Clearing Account in Configuration and then execute the Transaction F101 with the check box "Change Rec Account" under the Parameters TAB in the transaction F110.
This transaction will move the balance to the new reconciliation account,
Regards
Mahendra
Assign points if it helps

Changing the "Reconciliation Account" in the master data of a Customer

Hi All,
I've to change the "Reconciliation Account" in the master data of a Customer. But this fiel has been made not modifiable.
Could anyone tell how change this?
Thanks,
Gandalf

Hi,
In SPRO, change the field status for the customer account group to optional. Then you can change the reconciliation account of the customer.
The Path -
SPRO>>Financial Accounting (New)>>Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable>>Customer Accounts>>Master Data>> Preparations for Creating Customer Master Data>>Define Account Groups with Screen Layout (Customers). Here select the account group for the customer and double click on the line. In this screen, double click on Company code data. Then change the field status in Account management for Reconciliation account.
Hope this helps.
Thanks and Regards,
Anit

Changing the recon account

hi,
i have an issue like to change the recon account in goods receipt transaction. right now the vendor is having (x for domestic )recon account and now he is purchasing the capital goods from the same vendor and in the system there is another recon account (Y for capital goods)
so right now we want the goods receipt transaction to capital goods recon account
please let me know the procedure

Dear Alapati Srinivas,
You need to customize "Posting with alternative reconciliation account".
The SPRO path is: Financial Accounting-> Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable-> Business Transactions-> Postings with Alternative Reconciliation Account-> Define Alternative Reconciliation Accounts (or T-Code S_ALR_87002480).
In there you have to define account Y as alternative reconciliation account for X.
Also in both X and Y master records you need to flag "Recon. acct ready for input" check- box in the "Create/bank/interest" tab.
After that when you try to post incoming invoice the system will allow you to choose between X and Y as reconciliation account.
Regards,
Milen.
Edited by: Milen G on Sep 1, 2010 8:20 AM

Changing the Admin Account

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for