Do you allow other people to use your Mac?

[zap2]

Laptop not really...desktop more so but my main one I need to be with them unless its someone who know computer.


I have 2 Mac in my basement for public use(public being anyone in my house)

 

[Grakkle]

Very rarely, and only with great misgivings. I did loan it out to a friend once, but was so paranoid about it that I didn't do it again.

She left fingerprints all over it too. Now it's only immediate family.

 

[timswim78]

Yes, I loan my friends and family my car, computer, digital camera, or whatever else they need. All of these items are things that I like and can easily be replaced for a relatively small price. All of these people I love, and they cannot be replaced for any price.

 

[bbergie]

I only allow my wife to use my PowerBook. However, I have sparingly in the past allowed people to use my Mac to check e-mail or to surf, but apparently my body language and penchant for hovering closely are easily read signals that I don't like to share my Mac.

When my TiBook was newer, a friend used it to check online e-mail, and his watch chipped away the paint along the outer border where his wrist was resting. That incident still haunts me, and sadly, I'm of the view that too many people are just careless, which for me justifies my reluctance to make my Mac widely available to the masses. Get your own.

 

[Diatribe]

Only my gf, only with clean hands and she has to take her rings off. No other persons allowed.

 

[Legolamb]

Only my gf, only with clean hands and she has to take her rings off. No other persons allowed.

Yeah, I've taken off rings, bracelets, and my watch (don't need one, what with cell phone, computer...but that's another thread).

 

[Markleshark]

Yeah. GF has my G3 iBook at her house because her laptop is broken.

No one gets to use the desktop tho, very rarely anyway.

 

[Zmmyt]

not for a long time, otherwise they have to log in with my "friends" account.

 

[true777]

I don't let anyone use my MBP.
Too much personal stuff on it.

 

[savanahrose]

yep

I do but not to too many people. So far it is the hubby, daughter, son, brother and my niece.

They aren't on there long. I came home from work the other night, found my daughter on it and asked her how come she wasn't on the computer (gateway) in her room. She said that she didn't want to go in there, but I have seen her on mine more and more. hmmm........... She did say that when she moves out she is going to get a mac of her own.

 

[0007776]

Not usually, I have let my brother use it for recording in garageband, but that is about it except for sometimes my parents use it and I can't really do anything about it.

 

[Leareth]

Only if the person is a non-smoker with clean hands and no liquids around incuding body fluids (a classmate with nosebleed used my ibook once *shudder*), they are allowed to use the guest account to check email, print papers, give PPT presentations but no installing or deleting stuff.

 

[gadgetgirl85]

No one uses my mac if they want to play around on my computer they use the PC

 

[MSM Hobbes]

The woman and the critters have accounts on the iMac and MB. However, mainly the woman on the iMac, w/ digital photos, and the oldest boychild putting about. The MB is only used by these three when we are traveling.

But,,, all must say grace and provide proper reverence before their humble fingers are allowed to touch.

 

[wmmk]

I tend to let my dad look at the NYT and see if more people google him or some guy who writes for the Times with whom I guess he has some fierce rivalry...

 

[pixelbaker]

A. they don't know how to use macs, only PC's. I'm basically safe
B. it automatically locks on screensaver and I lock it any time I leave my desk
C. if they're on it, it's only because I couldn't quietly maneuver myself into the chair first. even then, I hover and take it as soon as they get up.
D. too much "personal stuff." (COUGHPORNCOUGH)

 

[Queso]

Just my partner, but all he does is check e-mail and do his online banking so I get it back quite quickly

 

[dukebound85]

Nope. I am too concerned about the stuff I have on my computer as in I only want stuff I want on there and not a whole bunch of items/programs that are useless. I try to keep my mac tidy

 

[highres]

No, nobody but me touches my production machine. I have another "decoy" machine in my home office that my friends and other can use and of course at the agency there are tons of other machines besides mine to use.

The only person that uses my machine at work occasionally is the owner of the agency and that's because my machine always works, rarely crashes and is configured with similiar shortcuts and menu configurations like his own machine.

 

[crazycat]

No one is allowed to touch my macs at all, except for my girl friend she can do what she wants.

 

[RedTomato]

When people ask to use my powerbook, I whip out my spare iBook, and distract them with it!

I also have another spare iBook, which has been on loan to my dad for months and months now.

If I trust them and I can't be arsed to get out the iBook, I'm not too bothered if people do a bit of minor websurfing / checking hotmail on my powerbook, but anything more than that, and it's use the iBook please.

I had to take my PB in for repair recently, and that caused a lot of cleaning up, locking / deleting sensitive files etc - who knows what a prying tech will be looking at

 

[Counterfit]

D. too much "personal stuff." (COUGHPORNCOUGH)

I hear ya. Here's a lozenge.

It really depends on who. I have some friends who I can trust with certain things other than my computer (we're all music majors, so I can at least trust the other instrumentalists with my horns. Throats get no such consideration ) I let one friend drive my new car without me in it (granted, he didn't leave campus, but still) and I'm pretty sure I'd let him use my PB (on a separate account to hide the copugohcroungh ), simply because he knows how to take care of ****.
I'm not sure if I would let my brother use it, because he could find said copugohcroungh, but he has a bigger/faster PowerBook than me, and he just uses our parents iMac anyway.
Not-so-computer literate friends would be hovered over, but no one really asks anyway, so this is all quite moot.

 

[Kwyjibo]

wow

the way I see it there are two reasons to keep your computer away from other people, privacy and paranoia. I condone privacy because I value my own, which is why I have a separate user account ...

but paranoia ... come on its just a computer. I'm not saying I would hand it over to a random stranger on the street but I would never say no to a friend or acquaintance ... I mean come on. I"ve actually given my laptop away for a whole weekend and just used a PC because my friend needed it for some reason or another.

but I stress this once again, its just a computer.

I was thinking about this same issue with cars. When you are young your car is probably your largest asset, and when someone asks you to use it, you start thinking about what if they crash it or what if this or what if that ... the older you get the more apt you are to just toss a person your keys. Its much more refreshing to just not worry about the what ifs ...

 

[iSaint]

I allowed my iBook into the hands of my daughter. I even created an account for her. Now it's in her grimy hands permanently. She brought it to me for updates the other day and the screen was very dirty. I was ticked.

No one touches the Powerbook, however.

 

[holamiamigos]

i let my cousins use it sometimes for garageband but for some reason they touch the screen a lot and all the fingerprints piss me off but i cant say it to them cause they would think of me as very picky