[LittleBastad]

Hi,

My wife and I are looking into buying an iMac after our PC crashed for good this past weekend. I'm trying to research the answers for a lot of my questions in advance, and I haven't found an answer for this one yet:

I've read that setting up a separate administrator account is a good idea, and obviously you'd password-protect that one. But the "regular" user accounts that I'd set up for my wife and myself to use everyday -- would I password-protect those, too? Obviously when my baby gets a little older and starts using the computer, I'll want to do that. But for now, since my wife and I are the only ones using the computer, do I need to password-protect the regular accounts?

And does having a password or not have any impact on how quickly you can switch between users?

I apologize if any of this comes off as completely stupid. I haven't used a Mac day-to-day since my college days (which ended in 1999), and I only get to play around with them during various store visits nowadays.

[Big Mac]

1. I think passwords are recommended for all users, but they're only vital for administrator accounts.

2. It's not immediately intuitive how to set no password for an account because Apple wants you to set them for all accounts, but if you create a new user and leave the password field blank, you'll get a message saying the account should have a password. Click OK again and it will accept no password.

3. When you switch between users using fast user switching, any user with a password will require that that password be entered into a dialog box before switching. Users with no password will switch instantly.

[Sherman Homan]

I'm gunna get flamed for this, but I think you are absolutely correct. Create a main admin account. Use that account with a password for software updates and installers. Create two regular user accounts without admin privileges and without passwords. Fast user switching is in fact fast when you switch between users without a password. Make sure that file sharing is off, make sure the firewall is on, and do not do what I just said if you are not behind a router! If your Mac is connected directly to your broadband, get a router!

[Big Mac]

Why would you get flamed for that advice, Sherman? It's a perfectly fine security strategy for a home.

[LittleBastad]

I had a router that died about two weeks before my PC died. I'm not sure if we can afford a new router, in addition to the new iMac. Any recommendations on a brand? I was thinking about picking up an Airport Extreme at some point, especially since my job might get me a laptop for work due to this whole fiasco (I work from home two days a week, and now I can't because I have no computer).

[Big Mac]

Most any router will do (Airport Extreme is overpriced IMO), although I recommend against Linksys because they treat Mac users like crap. You don't really need a router if you only have one computer, but it does make things a bit easier and a bit more secure.

[Sherman Homan]

The Extreme is a fine router but yes a touch pricey. One of the things routers do is to give your computers in the house an IP address that is not easily discovered from the outside world. It is a very important layer of protection. If you get a laptop from your company you will need a router to let both your home machine and laptop connect at the same time.

[LittleBastad]

Thanks, Sherman. I just noticed your sig and was happy to find that I'm taking advice from a fellow Masshole (and I use that term with great affection). Though I'm transplanted to NH now, I was born and bred in MA, and I still work in Boston.

I'm aware of the benefits of routers, which is why I liked having one so much, even though I hadn't had a laptop to take advantage of its wireless abilities for ages. If I get the laptop for work, I will definitely be buying one again. Now it's just a matter of convincing the wife that we should buy one now.

If you were going to go with a cheaper router, what brand might you go for?

[Big Mac]

Watch dealnews.com for info on cheap router deals. You can get them for basically nothing if you time your purchase right.

[LittleBastad]

So brand isn't really an issue, and they'll all do about the same job? Is there any brand you would absolutely avoid, even if the deal was amazing? We had a D-Link wireless set-up before it died, and D-Link wired set-up before that.

[Big Mac]

Nope, brand doesn't really matter because they all do the same things. I just recommend against Linksys because their official policy is not to support Mac users at all.

[Sherman Homan]

Thanks, Sherman. I just noticed your sig and was happy to find that I'm taking advice from a fellow Masshole (and I use that term with great affection).

I feel the love!
Basically any router will give your house a set of addresses for laptops, desktops, Wii's Xbox's etc. For better or worse, I have had good luck with Linksys, Netgear, D-Link and Buffalo.

[Curiosity]

Originally Posted by LittleBastad 

Any recommendations on a brand? I was thinking about picking up an Airport Extreme at some point, especially since my job might get me a laptop for work due to this whole fiasco (I work from home two days a week, and now I can't because I have no computer).

I have a G-net router. I am quite happy with it. It was not all that expensive, something like $50 Canadian.

[frdmfghtr]

To get back on topic...I would suggest using a password for any account, admin or not.

Let's say you're connected directly to your cable/DSL modem with no router/firewall in between you and the outside world. Or, you have a wireless router with the wireless portion turned on even though you're connected via Ethernet to the router. Now, somebody came over to share some photos, or back up some data between your machine and theirs, so you turned on file sharing and forgot to turn it off.

If somebody was able to punch through your router or jump on your wireless connection, suddenly your machine is exposed. Worse yet, your machine is exposed with NO password protection. Now you're sharing files with who-knows-whom.

The hassle of a password isn't worth the risk of exposing your data to the outside world. I have a router/firewall and the OS X firewall between me and the outside world, and I am the only user of my machine, yet I use a password.

If you don't want to deal with a password every time you start the machine, then set it to automatically log on to the everyday account, but still set a password. This is what I did with my parents' Mac.

No, I can't recommend not setting a password, even on a non-admin account. There are too many smart people out there who would jump at the chance to take over an innocent machine (no, I won't get into a Windows/OS X debate) so provide as many barriers to them as you can: firewall, passwords, non-admin everyday accounts.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

Nope, brand doesn't really matter because they all do the same things. I just recommend against Linksys because their official policy is not to support Mac users at all.

I, on the other hand, always recommend Linksys because their routers actually work, unlike some of the competition (in particular, I have had problems getting iChat to work from behind Netgear routers), and because they work just fine with Macs, whether whoever writes the official policy likes it or not, since it's just Ethernet and 802.11b/g/n.

In fact, sometimes the Linksys routers support Macs better than routers that are supposed to support the Mac (we had a setup once where AppleTalk was actually working from a wireless laptop to an ancient AppleTalk-only LaserWriter IIg which was hooked up to the Linksys by way of an AAUI/10BaseT transceiver, and it worked. I have no idea why it worked, and it probably shouldn't have, but it did.

Anyway: Linksys == good routers.

[Chuckit]

I have to agree with Charles. My experience with Linksys routers has always been good, though their customer support is **** no matter what platform you're on.

[LittleBastad]

Originally Posted by frdmfghtr 

TThe hassle of a password isn't worth the risk of exposing your data to the outside world. I have a router/firewall and the OS X firewall between me and the outside world, and I am the only user of my machine, yet I use a password.

If you don't want to deal with a password every time you start the machine, then set it to automatically log on to the everyday account, but still set a password. This is what I did with my parents' Mac.

Thanks for the advice.

Something I'm beginning to wonder: Is it even worth it for my wife and I to have separate accounts/logins? She's already been resistant to the idea, since we've always just shared a login in the past, and I think the idea of having to enter a password every time you do a "fast user switch" or whatever it is you call it is just going to turn her off more. We shared an iTunes library on our PC, and we shared our Pictures folder, and the only thing we didn't share were e-mail addresses and Instant Messenger IDs (though she doesn't even use IM). There's nothing I do on my computer that I need to hide from my wife, and I'm pretty sure there's nothing she needs to hide from me.

What do you think? Is there a point to having separate logins? If there isn't, then it seems like a single password-protected non-admin account is the way to go for daily use.

[Sherman Homan]

Is there a point to having separate logins?

If you don't need it, you certainly don't have to! You can have separate folders for organizing files, multiple email accounts. In fact, if you had two accounts and you both know each other's passwords, then two accounts can be more annoying than helpful.

[LittleBastad]

Thanks, Sherman. That's the conclusion I'm coming to.

[ghporter]

I've always had passwords on every account. But I have been bringing up a bright and inquisitive son, and felt the need to limit his access to a variety of things, including MY documents. If your situation does not offer ANY threats (including friends who play around with your computer), then you probably don't NEED passwords on your non-user accounts.

I concur with CharlesS and the others on Linksys routers-I've been using them since...heck it's been almost ten years!

As for your "permanently crashed" PC, send it to me for proper disposal. Almost all PC self-destructs are due to bad hard drives (in one way or another), so unless there was actual smoke coming out of the case FROM THE MOTHERBOARD OR PROCESSOR, your PC may be useful as a "sold for parts" machine or just sold "as is" with the notation that it crashed and you've had it with PCs.

[LittleBastad]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I've always had passwords on every account. But I have been bringing up a bright and inquisitive son, and felt the need to limit his access to a variety of things, including MY documents. If your situation does not offer ANY threats (including friends who play around with your computer), then you probably don't NEED passwords on your non-user accounts.

I'll probably do what I said above: I'll have one password-protected account that my wife and I share. My daughter is a little young to be using a computer right now (she's 13 months old), and I don't have anyone who comes in an uses my machine on a regular basis, but I think it'll be better to be safe than sorry.

Originally Posted by ghporter 

As for your "permanently crashed" PC, send it to me for proper disposal. Almost all PC self-destructs are due to bad hard drives (in one way or another), so unless there was actual smoke coming out of the case FROM THE MOTHERBOARD OR PROCESSOR, your PC may be useful as a "sold for parts" machine or just sold "as is" with the notation that it crashed and you've had it with PCs.

I have a brother-in-law and a friend who are pretty computer-savvy, so I may have them take a look at it. I'm sure there are parts that could be salvaged (just as I'm sure there are a couple of parts that are completely dead, including the TV-tuner card and both DVD-ROM drives) and maybe I could get some of the money back that I'll be spending on the new machine.

I'd just like to say that everyone here has been really friendly and helpful. I'm happy to have found such a great community, before I've even bought my Mac.

[tinkered]

Linksys +linux loaded on it == awesome. Although hassle to set up. Still, I can't argue with a $40 VPN box.

[hab]

Be aware of the keychain implications. I faced the same dilemma in my household. Having no password does makes user switching easier. However, if you access other password protected services (such as Mail, your remote work email, etc.) you will be prompted to enter a password anyway. I ended up going back to password protecting the user accounts in my household because you can then enter one password which opens your keychain. I would be interested to hear from others who may know more about the keychain stuff.

[LittleBastad]

We finally got our iMac over the weekend, and I just wanted to come back and thank everyone for their advice. We set it up with one user account for my wife and I to share, and two admin accounts (one for regular use, and one for emergency use, in case I screw up the first one). Everything is password-protected.

So, that's that. Thanks everyone for all the advice.

[brokenjago]

No problem. Enjoy the computer! Which one did you get?

[LittleBastad]

Originally Posted by brokenjago 

No problem. Enjoy the computer! Which one did you get?

We went with the 17" with the SuperDrive, the stock configuration. We were thinking about a 20", primarily because of the bigger hard drive, but the money just wasn't there. And it turns out that the 17" fits into our rolltop desk infinitely better than the 20" would have. Technically, according to the measurements on Apple's website, the 20" would have fit, but I think it would have been too tight a fit.

So, to make up for the hard drive space that we didn't get, we're thinking about using the external hard drive we bought for back-ups a while back as a secondary media drive and then going with an online backup service for back-ups.

We're really happy with the machine so far, but we were away most of the weekend, so we only really got to play with it late on Friday evening after we bought it, and early on Saturday morning and Sunday morning before we took off for the day.