While OS X includes password security to prevent unauthorized changes to both system settings and access to your Mac, these features should not intrude on your standard workflow. When you log in to your Mac, for the most part you should be able to work password free, so if you are constantly met with requests to authenticate when managing files, or are denied access to an action you are attempting to perform, then something is likely wrong. Continue reading
Tag Archives: home folder
Multiple ways of accessing your user library folder in OS X
Do you need to access your “user library” folder? If you come across instructions that direct you to do so, or if you otherwise develop the need to modify items within your library folder, then unless you are familiar with OS X’s library structures, you might end up being either being unable to locate your library, or using the wrong one. Continue reading
How to share files between user accounts in OS X
OS X is designed to isolate users’ files from each other, so while you can have multiple user accounts on your Mac, out of convenience you might end up using services like e-mail, Dropbox, sending files through iMessage, or using other online options as a means of transferring files to other user accounts.
Even though these options can be convenient, they do use third-party solutions that are entirely unnecessary, Continue reading
How to combine two accounts in OS X
If you have a second user account on your Mac in which you have done some significant work, you might at some point wish to combine it with your main one. Unfortunately there is no quick way to do this, and will require some manual transferring of files, contacts, and other information, as well as remembering which of these you need to transfer. Continue reading
How to fix home folder permissions in OS X
If you run into odd slow-downs or problems with loading specific programs and services, then sometimes this can be caused by the inability of the program or service to access a necessary resource on disk, be it a preference file, or a core resource like a framework, font, or audio unit. In these cases you might see an error, but also might just see the problematic behavior. Continue reading
How to remove application preferences on your Mac
Most programs and services you run in OS X will save preferences to disk as a property list (.plist) file in your account’s hidden Library > Preferences folder. Since these files contain settings that are loaded and interacted with as the program is run, if a fault exists either in a specific setting or in the structure of the file itself, then a program may experience hangs, crashes, the inability to save and retrieve settings, or other odd behaviors. Continue reading