User Accounts - Applications

Question

Hi there,
Is there a way of hiding applications bewteen different users, ie yahoo messanger, my son is barred form using it for two weeks howver I don't want to delete it off the system.
Many thanks in advance for your help.

Answer 1

Bogus274 wrote:
yahoo messanger, my son is barred form using it for two weeks howver I don't want to delete it off the system.
Two options:
(1) If you don't already have a folder named Applications in your Home folder, create it, then move the application you want to deny your son to it. In Mac OS X, applications installed in </Applications> are available to all users, while applications installed in <~/Applications> are available only to the respective user.
(2) Compress the application in question as an encrypted (password-protected) archive, then delete the app. When you want to restore it, expand the password-protected archive. (Make sure you don't forget the password!) Here's how
<http://osxdaily.com/2012/01/07/set-zip-password-mac-os-x/>
However, either option is easily circumvented -- what's to prevent your son from downloading his own copy of Yahoo Messenger and install it in his own <~/Applications>? Or running it from a USB thumb drive?
You need to look into a different solution -- eg, parental controls, or controlling traffic type from the router. (Or even better, forget the belief that social issues can be solved by technical solutions, and deal with your son on a parental, rather than technological, level.)