Guest Account & Apple Repair

[zenapple]

I never liked the thought of giving my password to apple if my laptop ever stops working and I have to give it to apple to repair. They always ask for the password.

If I have the option I wipe the machine clean before I give it to them but if it crashes then it's not possible.

Creating a guest account, that's a new option in El Sierra I believe would that be sufficient and safe enough to give to Apple for MacBook repair?

 

[Lunder89]

If the problem is specific to your account, you have to give them the system password. If you are not comfortable with that, then change the your system password before it goes to repair.

If the problem is not account specific, then just create a new admin account for Apple to use.

They might not be able to do, what they need to do, if they don't have admin access.

 

[Weaselboy]

Creating a guest account, that's a new option in El Sierra I believe would that be sufficient and safe enough to give to Apple for MacBook repair?

Maybe... but your data is still there and if they really want to snoop and see your data it takes about ten seconds to reset your admin password. If you have confidential data on there, I would remove it before you drop it off if you can.

 

[Lunder89]

Maybe... but your data is still there and if they really want to snoop and see your data it takes about ten seconds to reset your admin password. If you have confidential data on there, I would remove it before you drop it off if you can.

Isn't that a bit paranoid??

 

[chscag]

Better to be paranoid and keep your data safe.

 

[Weaselboy]

Isn't that a bit paranoid??

Not at all. Read this article.

If you have confidential information on there and it gets out because you left it on a computer you dropped off for service, you are going to be in a world of trouble. Think about a lawyer with client information on there, or a company employee with trade secrets on there. If it gets out because you were too lazy to wipe the drive and restore the data afterward, it is going to be on you and the potential negative consequences on your career are very serious.

Why take the chance?

 

[zenapple]

Thanks for the replies. I would always wipe everything before bringing it in for repair BUT let's say a drive or motherboard malfunctions and the computer is dead. In that case I would not be able to wipe it. So maybe have a extra account with admin settings specially for Apple repair all setup? Maybe silly, maybe not?