How to close a program?

You didn't leave a program running, most likely. You failed to log out. As long as you're logged in, that computer is authenticated under you and any printing will be charged to your account. Same deal in Windows, Unix, or any other OS.

To log out: either (1) there should be some kind of big blaring logout icon on the desktop or in the dock at the bottom of the screen that your school put there, or (2) click on the apple icon in the menu bar and choose the item near the bottom of the menu that says log out....

You should make sure you do this every time you leave a computer in a university lab. In Windows the equivalent is typically Start -> Shut Down... -> Log out.

Any time you leave your account logged in to a computer at a campus lab, you open yourself up to a lot of mayhem... not just printing on your account.

If you look at the dock and see a little black arrow under the program icons, it is still open. To close a program either press "(open apple) - q" or look in its file menu (or sometimes program menu - the one with the program name) for exit or quit or close (some call it different things)

theimp said:

Hm, maybe. I have really never used any campus computer. I know on my home computer though, when I close out of firefox, and then go back to use my netid for something, it asks me for it again, but maybe it is just a preference or something I have turned on. I still want to make sure though, if the menu bar says finder, and there are no windows open, are those programs actually closed?

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I still am almost certain your issue was caused by my explanation... if you open say Word or Powerpoint on a campus computer, once you've logged in, do you even have to authenticate in order to print? Let alone authenticate again in a web browser?

But anyway, it is possible for a program to be running with no windows open. If programs are running they should have black triangles under their icons in the dock. You can also hold down the ALT key and press the Tab key. This will bring up a string of icons center screen representing all running programs. If no programs are running, the only icon should be the Finder icon....

Or quite possibly he added his id to the keychain and is allowing it to be accessed by everyone automatically... So clearing the keychain data (system prefs) and logging out is definitly the answer in that case

galstaph said:

Or quite possibly he added his id to the keychain and is allowing it to be accessed by everyone automatically... So clearing the keychain data (system prefs) and logging out is definitly the answer in that case

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That's very doubtful though. Most campus' use session based authentication and all the applications that you run are run under your ID until you log out. (Hell, I can lock my screens and expect no one to EVER raise a fuss about it in a lab.)

I know on my home computer though, when I close out of firefox, and then go back to use my netid for something, it asks me for it again, but maybe it is just a preference or something I have turned on.

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That's very strange. It sounds like the applications are authenticated on a per instance basis. You have to authenticate to use the program and don't get a log in window?

Eidorian said:

That's very doubtful though. Most campus' use session based authentication and all the applications that you run are run under your ID until you log out. (Hell, I can lock my screens and expect no one to EVER raise a fuss about it in a lab.)

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Yes, agreed. If the system is designed so that the keychain exploit above is possible...then there needs to be a purging of the responsible IT staff. There is no excuse to design a managed system with such an obvious exploit when the system preferences can be used to defeat it with less than two minutes of work...

theimp said:

charged 30 bucks of printing after I left

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You have to pay to print something out?!?!?! I LOVE MY COLLEGE!

Sorry.

But yeah, just make sure to log out, because you'll still be active. And you can suffer other consequences if he uses your account for malicious purposes.

benthewraith said:

You have to pay to print something out?!?!?! I LOVE MY COLLEGE!

Sorry.

But yeah, just make sure to log out, because you'll still be active. And you can suffer other consequences if he uses your account for malicious purposes.

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Most colleges are looking into printing quotas. Right now I have $20 per semester. ($0.04 b/w, $0.10 color) Luckily, I have near unlimited in my department. (I'm an IT admin. )

They're looking to cut down on toner usage more then paper. You learn how expensive it gets when you're one of the people that's ordering it. Sheesh!

apple + q ............no need for paragraphs people.