Help! Strange text on Lion Login Screen???

[joetweber]

Unfortunately, I can't take a screenshot of it because I have to be logged out to see the login window... But the strangest thing is at the bottom:

Just above the Sleep, Restart, Shut Down buttons is a line of text that is the name of my old company. I changed the name months ago, and nowhere in my user settings or address book does this name appear... and yet I can't figure out why it's there or where to change/customize it!

Any ideas? Does anyone else have text here, and if so, what does yours say?

 

[ledfrog]

You're looking at the edited contents of a file called com.apple.loginwindow.plist. It's located in Macintosh -> Library -> Preferences and it's a locked system file.

For OS X 10.6, there's a program called Onyx that allowed you to edit the contents of that file and put in your own custom message. I did it on mine and it was working great. Then I upgraded to Lion and although the message is still there, I can't edit it anymore! The only version of Onyx that works now is the new beta version, but it still doesn't have this option.

Anyway, I found a website that gives instructions on how to edit it:

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20020921074429845

I haven't done it yet because my file doesn't look like their example and I don't want to screw it up.

 

[joetweber]

Thanks for the reply, ledfrog! You're absolutely right, I did use Onyx with Snow Leopard, I never thought about that...

I actually figured the answer out a few days ago and forgot that I had an open thread about the topic. This is what I found:

A search for "login window" in the Finder help menu yielded a topic titled, "Display a message in the login window."

You can add a short message to the login window that is displayed when the computer is locked. The message can be anything appropriate to users attempting to log in or for example, guest log in information. The message can also act as a virtual engraving, to provide contact information for a misplaced computer.
Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, and then click General.
Click the lock icon to unlock it, and then type an administrator name and password.
Click “Show a message when the screen is locked.”
Type the message you want to display in the login window.

 

[ledfrog]

Wow! Was that always there? Or did they add that with Lion? I'm assuming it was added recently and that's why Onyx no longer has the option to edit it.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[joetweber]

It is a new feature in Lion as you suspected. I thought a more common-sense place for the option to appear would be under System Preferences > User Accounts > Login Preferences. (That's why I couldn't find it initially.)

Anyway, it's always cool to see Apple adopt third party features/apps into an OS.