[Ralpho]

I was going to be away from home for a couple days, so I changed security preferences on my iMac desktop (bought new in July 2013) to require log-in upon start-up. So I switched on computer when I got home and got a screen containing a round photo of me with my name underneath. It looked like I was supposed to click on my photo or name. I tried that, but nothing happened. I also tried clicking on Sleep, Restart and Shut Down with no effect. The computer wouldn't even let me log in. I had to pull plug to turn it off.

Does anyone have any idea how I can defeat this fiendish log-in screen?

I'm running Mavericks operating system, by the way.

[Mike Wuerthele]

I'm not sure how bypassable this is anymore. Does the machine boot from the restore partition?

OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support

[Ralpho]

Originally Posted by Mike Wuerthele 

I'm not sure how bypassable this is anymore. Does the machine boot from the restore partition?

OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support

I was able to log in by pressing arrow keys. That caused the photo of me with my name to be highlighted. After that I just pressed enter and typed my password. It was easy but counterintuitive.

Maybe this didn't happen the way Apple designed it and is a result of upgrading to Mavericks (or possibly not including Tim Cook in my prayers). If this isn't a problem at all, but is simply the way Apple designed the log-in screen, I have to say, "What the hell is wrong with you, Apple?! Are you trying to frustrate we long-time Mac users and drive us to Windows machines."

Because, if you are, it's working.

[badidea]

No, that's not the way it is designed - usually you should be able to click on the photo!

[Mike Wuerthele]

Yeah, there's something else going on. Do you have the mouse through a USB hub or something?

[DCJ001]

It is good that you thought to move with the arrow keys.

Based on your description of what you have seen and done, I have concluded that your trackpad or mouse was not on or connected through USB or Bluetooth. Please look into this for your solution.

[Ralpho]

Originally Posted by DCJ001 

It is good that you thought to move with the arrow keys.

Based on your description of what you have seen and done, I have concluded that your trackpad or mouse was not on or connected through USB or Bluetooth. Please look into this for your solution.

I don't think anything was amiss with my track pad as I was able to move cursor around screen easily. But nothing happened when I clicked (or double clicked) on anything. And track pad worked fine after I used arrow keys to get things moving.

I've been growing more and more disenchanted with Apple in last two years. One day it wouldn't let me open any of my Pages files, but a day or two later I was able to open all of them. Changes are made to things that make them worse. For example, with Calendar you used to be able to get a birthday alert a week before a birthday and tell software to remind you again in two days. Now all you can do is Snooze the alert for ten minutes. And if you shut down after Snoozing an alert it doesn't reappear. I don't understand why anyone at Apple would find that change to be beneficial in any way.

Do Windows users have the same frustrations? Do they have it worse than Apple users? Or better?

[ghporter]

Windows, up through the launch of Windows 8 (which is the latest release) has had issues that make OS X glitches look negligible. In addition to changing the overall user interface (sometimes drastically), Microsoft has yet to fully rewrite Windows. That means that brand new machines are running an OS that still includes bits of 30 year old code. Windows users MUST use antivirus software and keep it up to date to keep badguys from hosing their systems and stealing personal and financial data. Many Windows users are very good at reinstalling their OS, because that's something that seems to need doing kind of frequently.

So no, Windows users don't have the same frustrations, they have it a lot worse than Apple users.