Apple Technician wants my log in name and password

when the apple store technician migrated everything from my late 2009 mbp to my mid2010 mbp they requested my log in information. if i remember correctly i logged into a handheld device they have, but that's been almost 3 years ago so i forget. at either rate, they asked me for my information as well...

Can you phone the repair centre where your Mac is being handled for confirmation?
Is it a hardware defect or a software problem you brought your iMac in for?
If it is the former, normally Mac technicians can use an external HDD with the right Mac OS X version to boot from and check, unless your Firewire and USB ports are fried of course.

kretek said:

My guess is why not login as a Guest, to perform the diagnostics.

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First the Guest account has to be enabled and second, the Guest account does not have enough privileges.
But then again, a proper technician should be able to perform these from an external HDD and the correct Mac OS X version on it.
Or a proper technician could just remove the password altogether.

Change your password when you get it back. You should change your password on a regular basis anyway.

My late 09 is in at Apple for a hard drive change under the recall. He just booted off an external diagnostic tool and ran that for about 5 minutes. Didn't need to log into any account.

If you want them to check for potential problems then of course they need to log in and check everything works.

That is common sense. Come on.

Are you a hot chick? I could see that happening. Anytime a hot chick brings anything to get repaired at any computer shop they will definitely looks for good pictures in the computer.

I would not give my user/pwd, especially if you use it in different places or saved other passwords in your keychain in OS X that they could use while the computers is getting fixed.

You should always create a "Service" account when bringing your Computer in for repair.

BSoares said:

Are you a hot chick? I could see that happening. Anytime a hot chick brings anything to get repaired at any computer shop they will definitely looks for good pictures in the computer.

I would not give my user/pwd, especially if you use it in different places or saved other passwords in your keychain in OS X that they could use while the computers is getting fixed.

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I think if you want them to somehow check for future issues with their crystal ball, you need to provide your user name/password.

kretek said:

Handed in my late 2009 iMac for a diagnostic check to today, as the warranty expires soon.

Received a while later an email from the responsible technician requesting my login details as well as password, which according to him is necessary to perform the diagnostic check.

This sound all a bit strange.

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Is it a technician who is going to check an Apple computer, or is it a technician employed by Apple?

BSoares said:

Are you a hot chick? I could see that happening. Anytime a hot chick brings anything to get repaired at any computer shop they will definitely looks for good pictures in the computer.

I would not give my user/pwd, especially if you use it in different places or saved other passwords in your keychain in OS X that they could use while the computers is getting fixed.

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Not sure whether to laugh or seriously worry about this...

Zav said:

Not sure whether to laugh or seriously worry about this...

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You should honestly worry about it no joke. Techs have been known to share pictures and movies they steal off clients computers. There was recently an article on a tech blog confessions of an apple employee. Lots of tales of steal pics/movies off girls computers.

gnasher729 said:

Is it a technician who is going to check an Apple computer, or is it a technician employed by Apple?

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Although a very good question, I feel it is an Apple Store because the OP states that his or her warranty is about to expire and that's why it's being brought in.

when i take mine in i change the pw to password and fix that when I get it home... they never seem to be phased by the guy on guy porn. The screen saver popped on one time in store and got some attention.

How do you change the password when the computer is bung and you're taking it in because it doesn't boot?

Kiole said:

You should honestly worry about it no joke. Techs have been known to share pictures and movies they steal off clients computers. There was recently an article on a tech blog confessions of an apple employee. Lots of tales of steal pics/movies off girls computers.

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When you google "confessions of an apple employee", you actually do find articles, none of them stating anything close to what you're describing. Maybe you have a link?

Update: found this http://theultralinx.com/2012/12/corrupt-apple-store-employees-destroy-inventory-abuse-system.html

Hope those employees are the exception, but I guess don't leave files on your device, that you don't want anybody to look at. Obviously that goes not only for Apple ; )

@OP: I think you should verify with Apple Care by phone, giving them the login data is one thing, but requesting it by mail does seem strange.