I'm sorry this happened. I guess my only advice can be to call the police, don't leave your macbook here and there, and turn on find my mac!
Apple has unfortunately made it very easy to reset the password. All you do is command-r boot to recovery then in the Utilities menu select Terminal, then type "resetpassword" and enter and follow the prompts. Just like that I am in your account.
If you have sensitive data you want to protect, you really should enable FileVault encryption on the drive. That is very secure.
Depending on what state you live in, you may have other ways to retaliate. In my state we can shoot people stealing our property. I think I'd throw another backpack in my back seat one night, stake out the vehicle and when they come to steal your stuff, turn them over to the police with a few extra bullet holes. Just let them get away from your car first, you wouldn't want any buckshot to mess up the bodywork.
I have to say, I'm stunned. I would have bet you were mistaken, but yep, apparently it's really easy to do. I've always known it's fairly easy to access the account data in other ways (e.g. removing the drive or booting up from an external drive, etc.), but this is the kind of thing someone could do in a few minutes just sitting down at the computer with no tools or other devices. Really unbelievable. I still feel like I'm missing something.Bypassing a user password is simple but only if they have not set an efi password. If you didn't then a simple command line gets rid of your password. Luckily keychain won't play ball without your password but it will allow a fresh OS X install to be performed.
To be clear, if you're using FileVault, you're safe. Here's a pretty good article on how it all works with FileVault and EFI. cnet article link.This is extremely helpful. I have FileVault2 turned on but had never focused on the EFI password. I just set a password. Thank you.
Bypassing a user password is simple but only if they have not set an efi password. If you didn't then a simple command line gets rid of your password. Luckily keychain won't play ball without your password but it will allow a fresh OS X install to be performed.
Newbie here so forgive me for what might be some stupid questions but what is an efi password? And are you telling me that the login password I have set is pretty much breakable with a simple command line, meaning someone who does this can access my data? I was under the impression that you can access the computer, but you would have to erase everything first...
And about FileVault, will it slow down my computer? What's the difference between that and the regular password protection that I have set up now?
I guess what you're missing is an EFI password!I have to say, I'm stunned. I would have bet you were mistaken, but yep, apparently it's really easy to do. I've always known it's fairly easy to access the account data in other ways (e.g. removing the drive or booting up from an external drive, etc.), but this is the kind of thing someone could do in a few minutes just sitting down at the computer with no tools or other devices. Really unbelievable. I still feel like I'm missing something.
I guess what you're missing is an EFI password!
The other good tip I've learned is to actually enable Guest Mode with no password so the thief can actually use your stolen laptop to connect to the internet to facilitate you locating it via Find My Mac.
Yes, FileVault will slow down your computer somewhat. Disk reads and writes anyway. Usually not by an amount that people notice.
It keeps data on your disk encrypted, so if somebody steals your computer they will have no way to access your data, even if they remove the drive and try to read it with a different computer.
Do you mean turn ON FileVault2? Not playing "gotcha," just wanting to be ultra-clear.
Yes... good catch. I changed my post to indicate ON.
/Jim
Op honestly I don't feel sorry for you as you are not a nice person. You want to post a message on someone's house accusing them of stealing your laptop, and your evidence is the lights were on at night. Ridiculous.
Depending on what state you live in, you may have other ways to retaliate. In my state we can shoot people stealing our property. I think I'd throw another backpack in my back seat one night, stake out the vehicle and when they come to steal your stuff, turn them over to the police with a few extra bullet holes. Just let them get away from your car first, you wouldn't want any buckshot to mess up the bodywork.
This is indeed unfortunate.
If it's so easy to reset passwords then I wonder why Apple bothers with passwords at all.
I just had a password on my MBA's user account because I figured it's inconvenient enough for somebody to take the SSD out and read the contents with another machine but I guess I will be turning on FileVault.