Multiple Private Mail Accts. Without Multiple OS X Users

Question

This may be a stupid question:
I'm setting up a new iMac for my parents, who are relatively clueless about computers. I've convinced them to use Mail to deal with their (AOL) email accounts, but each of them wants to keep their account private. Thing is, nothing else on the computer needs to be private...just the email. Instead of making them each sign into their own User Account every time they start using the machine, then, I'm looking for a way to make Mail ask which email account it's dealing with each time it is opened and to have it ask for the password before allowing access to that email account (ideally, even to old messages...though it's okay if those are accessible password-free through finder, since they'd never figure that out).
Thanks for your help on this one!
iMac Intel Core Duo   Mac OS X (10.4.2)  

Answer 1

I hate to say it, but lame as it is for Macs, the AOL OS X client may be their best choice for this. From the beginning, it was designed for multiple users sharing one "master" account (one actual account, multiple "screen names"), & if this is what they have, it works pretty well for a single OS X account: the individual screen names each have their folders in an AOL folder in /Users/Shared, & can be set up to be off limits to other AOL user names, since the only easy way to access locally or remotely stored items in it is through the client software.
Also be aware that AOL offers Mail.app support as an IMAP account, but AOL has its own unique way of doing things that can confuse users. Typically, an IMAP account retains both read & unread messages on the server until the client tells it to remove them. AOL works this way for unread messages, but automatically removes read messages from its server after some variable period of time not under direct user control, which can lead to confusion. (To retain read mail on AOL's servers, you must either mark read messages as unread or move them to the AOL IMAP "Saved" folder.)
Even if you (or your folks) can deal with this, you still have the problem that in Mail, each user of a single OS X account will have full access to any locally saved mail, since those mailboxes will always be visible & accessible. If they never save any email locally, you could try the workaround of creating two Mail accounts for the single OS X user they share, one for each of their AOL screen names, & leave the password blank in account setup for each. This would require entering their password to retrieve new mail, but that is all that would remain private.
As others point out, the only really workable solution is creating individual OS X accounts for each of them. They can still share documents through the /Users/Shared/ folders, so I suggest you set up appropriate ones for their needs & add appropriate ones to each account's Finder sidebar so they are conveniently accessible. Plus, don't overlook the fact that with individual accounts, each can have their Desktop, Screen Saver, & many other user preferences customized to their tastes, & things like iChat & any "reply to" integration work with much less confusion this way as well. This could be a strong selling point, even if they (say) privacy is only an issue for email.
BTW, if you elect to use Mail.app, either with individual accounts or with a shared one, don't overlook the AOL Service Assistant as a fairly painless way to migrate from AOL to OS X's integrated apps. It isn't foolproof (see my own problems with it here or here) but it usually works well enough to justify the attempt, & is the only reasonable way to import old saved AOL mail (in AOL "File Cabinets") into Mail, plus being a painless way to add AOL bookmarks to Safari, etc.
And while I'm on the subject, check out AOL's
Macintosh Downloads page for some other (amazingly!) decent OS X apps for AOL subscribers. AOL Radio will give them complimentary access to XML stations (among others), or AOL Pictures, which will give them complementary web space for photo sharing.
Basically, the AOL client for OS X is obsolete & AOL appears to be supporting Macs these days through these helper/aux apps, which are far better developed.