[bmmp]

Does this happen to everyone?
Everytime I lock my Startup Disk (Sys Prefs), when I reboot, it automatically unlocks.

What the hell? Fustrating. Defeats the purpose of being secure if all people need to do is restart to gain access.

I want to lock my Startup Disk on my ibook just in case it ever gets stolen. I'm running Lapcop (http://homepage.mac.com/sweetcocoa/lapcop.html) on it and so far they havn't gotten back to me on a possible problem/solution.

[Art Vandelay]

That isn't what the lock icon means in System Preferences. It's not like the lock checkbox in the Get Info window, it doesn't prevent that setting from changing. It indicates the authentication status. Since you are an admin, you are automatically authenticated to make changes. If you weren't an admin, then it would be locked until you clicked it and provided admin credentials.

If you don't want anyone to change the startup disk on your Mac, enable the Open Firmware password, make sure they aren't an admin, and don't set your Mac to autologin to an admin account.

[bmmp]

Excellent Art.

That worked nicely.
Now I have another problem.
Since Im logging into Jag with a new account and not the admin, everything is cleaned out.

Is is possible to duplicate an account?
My programs dont recognize my settings, desktop, docking bar, everything is default again and I've spent years modifying the OS to the way I like it.

Thanks again.

[Art Vandelay]

Originally posted by bmmp:
Excellent Art.

That worked nicely.
Now I have another problem.
Since Im logging into Jag with a new account and not the admin, everything is cleaned out.

Is is possible to duplicate an account?
My programs dont recognize my settings, desktop, docking bar, everything is default again and I've spent years modifying the OS to the way I like it.

Thanks again.

Make your new account be the admin account, and change your old account to be a non-admin account. That way you can keep all your old settings and not worry about being logged in as an admin.

[bmmp]

Art you are a genius!

But as one problem leads to another, I think have another one that may stump you.

The way LapCop works, is that it will detect any Network changes and transmit a signal to my email, so if someone steals my laptop, and happens to connect to the net, an invisible message is sent to me indicating whereabouts.

I now have my Startup Disk locked, so no one can change it or boot from CD without my password, but now my Network Preferences are locked as well.

Is is possible to unlock my Network Perferences but still keep my Startup Disk Locked?

[Art Vandelay]

If you want to change the network settings yourself, click the lock and authenticate yourself with your admin account.

However, if someone steals your Mac. They won't be able to do anything unless they know your admin account. You can't selectively unlock and lock items. It's an all-or-nothing deal.

Also keep in mind that if someone has access to the hardware, they can defeat any of these security measures. There is a backdoor to everything.

[mikerally]

Yes beware of the fact that people can also get access to the data on your laptop's hard drive by starting it up in Firewire Target mode (holding the T key down when the computer starts up forcing the laptop to become a Firewire disk, and then hooking it up to another Mac via Firewire).

Whether Firewire Target Disk Mode can be also disabled or is password protected in Open Firmware, I don't know.

[Art Vandelay]

Originally posted by mikerally:

Whether Firewire Target Disk Mode can be also disabled or is password protected in Open Firmware, I don't know.

It is protected. All of the "Snag" keys are disabled by the OpenFirmware password. However, if you have physical access to the machine, the OF password is easily removable.

[mikerally]

How would you reset the open firmware?

Take out the backup battery?

[Art Vandelay]

Originally posted by mikerally:
How would you reset the open firmware?

Take out the backup battery?

Change the amount of RAM and zap the PRAM three times.