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2 Dumb questions from a very recent switcher

T

theanimala

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 2, 2007
450
252
First of all, I have been searching this website, as well as the internet, to find the answers to what I believe are simple questions. I honestly have been unable to find them, so I thought I would post here.

Is there an easy way to switch been users without having to shut down the applications? If I want to log out of my profile into my wife's, it makes me shut down all of my apps.

Second, when downloading something from the internet, it seems to save it automatically to my desktop. Is there an easy way to have the download go to a specific folder? Also, can I download and install a program so all of the users can see it? Right now, if I install Firefox, only I can see it. I've had to go back to the website and re-download it from the other user profile. I have a feeling I am wasting a lot of hard drive space.

That being said, I am loving the OS X interface, even if I am pretty lost. I've been looking for a good tutorial / book, but I'm thinking I should wait until the new ones are out for 10.5

Thanks!
 
1.) To log into your wife's account without logging out of yours have a look at fast user switching. System Preferences - Accounts - Login Options

2.) Set the downloads to go to Users/shared/ As to how to set where Firefox/Safari to download there look in the preferences for each application
 
If you want everyone to see and use an app you downloaded, you could place it into the Applications folder as well.
 
All of those are pretty easy.

1) It is called fast user switching. You can enable it under System Preferences->Accounts->Login Options

2) In Safari, go Safari->Preferences->General->Save Downloaded files to->Other. Pick where you want them to go.

3) Just put the application in the Applications folder in the root level of your hard drive, not the one in your users folder. You may need to authenticate as an administrator to do this.
 
You can setup fast user switching to easily switch between accounts. Go to System Preferences, select Accounts, and then select Login Options (you may need to click the lock in the bottom left to enable you to make changes). Check the "Enable Fast User Switching" checkbox. A new menu will appear in the upper right corner of your menu bar that will let you switch between accounts.

If you're using Safari, you can go to Preferences and go to General and then there is an option to select which folder to have downloads saved to. There is a similar preference for Mail.

If you want applications to be visible to every user, simply drag them to the Applications folder after you download them. Every user can see what's in the Applications folder, but not every user will be able to see what's on your own desktop.
 
everyone, thanks for the quick replies. I had fast user switching set up but being a bit slow I never noticed the little icon on the top right; I kept switching by going to the top left and loggin out. Oh well, this is going to take me longer then expected. Thanks again.
 
theanimala said:
everyone, thanks for the quick replies. I had fast user switching set up but being a bit slow I never noticed the little icon on the top right; I kept switching by going to the top left and loggin out. Oh well, this is going to take me longer then expected. Thanks again.
Click to expand...

After the first little bit, it actually does get a lot easier. Like you noticed here, you have to orient yourself to know how OS X communicates information -- no task bar or little pop-up reminders in the lower right corner, etc. -- and also how and where different aspects of its behavior are modified. But you'll get the hang of it. :)
 
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