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Bought Used Mac, Previous Owner's Account is Stuck in Mac App Store

M

MaestroBLC

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 25, 2010
18
0
So I recently sold my Mac mini to buy a MacBook Pro off eBay, it just arrived today. I have pretty much everything set up on it just the way I like it, but there is one problem. If I go into the Mac App Store, It says Angry Birds needs to be updated, even though it is not installed. I then logged into my account, and that didn't fix it. I then tried to install my copy of the app, and then it prompts for me to log in to the previous owner's account. I deleted his credentials from the login box, and put in mine, but when I click "Next" it just gives me an error (picture attached below). If there is a file I need to delete or something, please say so. Any help will be appreciated.

MAS_Problem.png
 
Last edited:
RebeccaL

RebeccaL

macrumors 6502a
Jan 1, 2011
590
10
The best course of action would be to perform a full reinstall of the OS. That way you will be sure there are no leftover information from the previous owner. It takes less than an hour and is easy yet the computer will be like new software-wise.
 
dangerfish

dangerfish

macrumors 6502a
Aug 28, 2007
584
133
Try creating a new admin account and see if it works there. If so, just delete the old account and use the new account.
 
cerote

cerote

macrumors 6502a
Mar 2, 2009
843
269
Always do a clean restore of the OS on used machines. You never know if the person put on a keylogger to catch your info.

If it didn't come with the disc then Snow Leopard is 29$.
 
M

MaestroBLC

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 25, 2010
18
0
cerote said:
Always do a clean restore of the OS on used machines. You never know if the person put on a keylogger to catch your info.

If it didn't come with the disc then Snow Leopard is 29$.
Click to expand...

The guy I bought it from on eBay had a 5 star rating overall, and has been on eBay for 10 years. On top of all that, when I got the machine, I virus scanned it with multiple softwares, so I don't think he has a keylogger on it ;). I have my own SnowLeo disc, I just wanna see if there is a solution to my problem before I go wiping anything.
 
Mal

Mal

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2002
6,252
18
Orlando
MaestroBLC said:
The guy I bought it from on eBay had a 5 star rating overall, and has been on eBay for 10 years. On top of all that, when I got the machine, I virus scanned it with multiple softwares, so I don't think he has a keylogger on it ;). I have my own SnowLeo disc, I just wanna see if there is a solution to my problem before I go wiping anything.
Click to expand...

Virus scans are completely pointless for keyloggers. There are legitimate keyloggers out there that no virus scanner would ever catch, but could be completely unseen by you.

Wiping the system is not just supposed to be a solution for your issue, though it certainly would be. It's just the most basic first step you should always do, without question, when you buy a used Mac, no matter how reliable the seller. There's no good reason that I know of to avoid doing so.

jW
 
N

nwbusa

macrumors regular
Jul 29, 2010
155
2
BC, Canada
Mal said:
Virus scans are completely pointless for keyloggers. There are legitimate keyloggers out there that no virus scanner would ever catch, but could be completely unseen by you.

Wiping the system is not just supposed to be a solution for your issue, though it certainly would be. It's just the most basic first step you should always do, without question, when you buy a used Mac, no matter how reliable the seller. There's no good reason that I know of to avoid doing so.

jW
Click to expand...

Truer words never spoken (or typed in this case).
 
cerote

cerote

macrumors 6502a
Mar 2, 2009
843
269
Plus doing a clean install helps you feel a sense of security because you are the only one that touched and installed everything.
 
ScottNWDW

ScottNWDW

macrumors 65816
Jul 10, 2008
1,231
315
Orlando, Florida
Whenever you buy a used computer you should always, always wipe it clean and install a fresh copy of the OS. whether the new computer is Mac, Windows, Linux, whatever.
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,478
43,397
You really do need to reformat, and install a clean and fresh copy OSX. Clears out all of the cruft, and prior user settings.
 
M

MaestroBLC

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 25, 2010
18
0
Alright, so I resulted to doing a fresh install in the end. My dad bought a new 250 WD Scorpio and gave it to me, plus I salvaged 4GBs of RAM from a broken computer, so I installed the new drive in and started new. Also, for all of you saying that a keylogger could be installed, I assure you there wasn't. I still have the old drive, and checked every single piece of the file system, and nothing was found. I do Computer Repair and Virus Removal as a job; I know what I'm doing :).
 
ScottNWDW

ScottNWDW

macrumors 65816
Jul 10, 2008
1,231
315
Orlando, Florida
MaestroBLC said:
Alright, so I resulted to doing a fresh install in the end. My dad bought a new 250 WD Scorpio and gave it to me, plus I salvaged 4GBs of RAM from a broken computer, so I installed the new drive in and started new. Also, for all of you saying that a keylogger could be installed, I assure you there wasn't. I still have the old drive, and checked every single piece of the file system, and nothing was found. I do Computer Repair and Virus Removal as a job; I know what I'm doing :).
Click to expand...

Interesting, you do computer repair and virus removal as a job, yet you didn't know that you should wipe a used computer clean by reformatting the drive doing a fresh install of the operating system. I'm not in computer repair and even I know that.

Makes me question how well your repair and removal skills are.
 
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