I have to take my comp to the Apple Store soon to get a fan replaced. Do i need to take everything off of it i do not want them to have access to (no not porn), or can i just create a Geuis Bar user account, and they'll be happy with that?
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Genius Bar: How snoopy are they?
- Thread starter GigaWire
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Hemingray
macrumors 68030
They're just replacing a fan, dude. They probably won't even hook a monitor up to it. I sincerely doubt you have anything to worry about. Plus, why would they hunt around on someone's HD just for the odd chance they'll find something of interest? Most likely, they have better things to do.
rainman::|:|
macrumors 603
before people start posting that "if you have something to hide.." bs, i've wondered this too-- but for sending things to Apple for repair. I don't like them having access to my personal info. can i just yank the HD?
pnw
pnw
jelloshotsrule
macrumors G3
well i would imagine that when sending it for repair, there's two things that affect it.
1. is the single person working on it snoopy? some probably are. some probably aren't...
2. do they have a ****load of work to do? a lot of repairs? if so, they're less likely to focus on one person's hard drive for an email from their lover than if they have only one repair to do all day...
i guess it all depends on what is getting fixed too. if it's a fan, most likely won't even come up. if it's a hard drive specific problem, then it's a bit more of an issue....
ps., i have lots of porn and other stuff on my computer i don't want people to see. who doesn't!
1. is the single person working on it snoopy? some probably are. some probably aren't...
2. do they have a ****load of work to do? a lot of repairs? if so, they're less likely to focus on one person's hard drive for an email from their lover than if they have only one repair to do all day...
i guess it all depends on what is getting fixed too. if it's a fan, most likely won't even come up. if it's a hard drive specific problem, then it's a bit more of an issue....
ps., i have lots of porn and other stuff on my computer i don't want people to see. who doesn't!
I guess the peeps in the pasadena apple store have lots of time or they're just snoopy. Might have been an innocent mistake...I took my comp to get it fixed and when I went to pic it up, there were a couple of guys there that made comments on a project that I was working on. <photos and web work, I'm a photographer> And I thought that it was kinda odd that they would have known what I was working on. Mind you they were good comments, but still who knows if they looked up my credit card info or passwords?? I makes me think...happy to say that its been two months and nothing bad has happened with my credit...but still there is principle! they should not be looking through my stuff period!!!
nate
<no, there wasn't any nudity or a porn site>
nate
<no, there wasn't any nudity or a porn site>
ibookin'
macrumors 65816
When you send your machine in to Apple they often ask for your administrator password. My suggestion is to lock folders and create a new account with access to just about nothing, but an admin nonetheless. All they need it for is to test your machine/run diagnostics, so just giving them a nothing account should be fine.
Also, I would think there are regulations against Apple employees snooping around hard drives...
Also, I would think there are regulations against Apple employees snooping around hard drives...
sparkleytone
macrumors 68020
just create a folder with a leading period such as '/Users/paulwhannel/.pr0n' and it won't appear in the finder. basically it won't be found unless someone is specifically looking for it.
Great Idea...I will do that next time...but there is still principle! Just because they have the access should they be able to access your info? And if there are regulations, who manages them? The store managers? They probably have the same human nature as the ones doing the snooping.
Just my 2 cents....<I'm very idealistic>
Will this make the folder invisble..? and if so how would you access it yourself...I know its a dumb question....not exactly fully aclimated to os X yet.
🙂
If you are really worried about it, you can just take your drive out of the machine entirely. If it is just a hardware issue, then they shouldn't need it anyway, and I am sure they have a spare bootable drive lying around for diagnostic work. This isn't so easy with a notebook or iMac, but it shouldn't be too hard with a PowerMac.
QCassidy352
macrumors G5
yes, but *should* we trust them? maybe, maybe not; I guess that's each individual's call.
"Lock certain folders, and deny via the use of passwords."
this suggestion intrigues me... but how do you lock folders?
also, to those suggesting creating new accounts: can't anyone with a Mac OS X boot cd break in to anything they want?? Not that I think they would go to those lengths, but couldn't they?
I'd take the main folders or files that you want to protect and put them in a password-protected archive of some kind. Why take chances? It is unlikely that they will snoop through your files, and even less likely that they'd do something with the information if they did, but you'd worry just the same. They are just human, so you can't "trust Apple" any more than you can trust any other professionals. 99% of them may be respectful of your privacy, but nobody can tell you it's 100%.
You would have to use the go to folder command in the finder.
if is found in:
Go->Go to folder...
or shift-apple-g
this lets you type in the path to your secret folder. The folder will thus be invisible unless you know the path.
One note however, the finder will not let you create anything with leading periods. You will have to use the terminal's mkdir (make directory) command to do that.
rainman::|:|
macrumors 603
😛 i could care less if they want to look at pr0n, it's just the principal of the thing 😀
i did always wonder tho... is it in bad taste to submit pr0n sites as bugs when safari can't display them? 😉
pnw
What i want to do is have porn on my laptop going through airport security when they ask you to open it. Or some times they ask me to turn my ipod on and they listen to make sure the headphones are working, it would be funny to have some super laud sound that would hurt their ears. Well not that funny i guess. 😀
Well some friends and at school boot up the eMacs and g4 towers holding command-S. Then you type in a simple command I used to have it memorised. And then it prompts you for a new root password it only takes as long as the comp takes to reboot in the command-S mode. Then you can enter the login as "root" and the password is what ever you just set it to. Pretty Easy.
Well some friends and at school boot up the eMacs and g4 towers holding command-S. Then you type in a simple command I used to have it memorised. And then it prompts you for a new root password it only takes as long as the comp takes to reboot in the command-S mode. Then you can enter the login as "root" and the password is what ever you just set it to. Pretty Easy.
cb911
macrumors 601
yeah, you can't trust anyone 100%. i wouldn't be so worried about Apple store people looking around my HD, well, maybe concerned about my Keychain...
but for all of your important stuff you've definitely got to make sure it's all backed up before you take it in. i don't think that they would care much about pr0n, but would they look for pirated/unlicenced software as well?
it's a bad thing to do, but if i was someone who had a pirated copy of OS X, and a heap of pirated apps on my Mac, i'd be hell scared of takin my Mac in for a service.
but for all of your important stuff you've definitely got to make sure it's all backed up before you take it in. i don't think that they would care much about pr0n, but would they look for pirated/unlicenced software as well?
it's a bad thing to do, but if i was someone who had a pirated copy of OS X, and a heap of pirated apps on my Mac, i'd be hell scared of takin my Mac in for a service.
GeeYouEye
macrumors 68000
Don't know about the Apple Stores, but the AppleCare Techs aren't snoopy, from my experience. I had an iBook with a broken screen, and I checked TypeRecorder after the repair. There was only one line difference, and the line was blank, signifying a return. So they booted up and hit the power button and return to shut it down. I can deal with that. Either that or they saw TypeRecorder, and deleted appropriately, but I doubt it.
A local family donated a Quadra 840AV to our middle school. (It's an ancient model, but one teacher still had a use for it since she just wanted to let students use a set of reference CD-ROMs.) Anyway, I decided to give the system a once over before putting it in a classroom, even though it already had Mac OS and a couple of applications installed and seemingly working fine. I'm glad I did. The web browser cache was full of porn. And there was also an address book with names, addresses, phone numbers, dial-up account numbers, etc. Needless to say, I decided it was worth the time to do a low-level zeroing of the disk drive and to reinstall all software!
Repair people don't have a reason to snoop, but people who donate a computer should expect somebody to be looking at what's there. How could people donate a computer like this to a school without thinking about what's on the system?
Repair people don't have a reason to snoop, but people who donate a computer should expect somebody to be looking at what's there. How could people donate a computer like this to a school without thinking about what's on the system?