Hide installations on separate user account

[lysdexik]

If I create a second user account that does not get logged into unless I manually do it, and then install a program on it.. can the files on there be seen through the administrators account?

If so, how would you hide that sort of thing so that the when the admin inputs the file name into finder, nothing shows up?

 

[Mal]

...

Umm, why?

If you're trying to hide stuff from parents/teachers/boss, no one here will or should help you. Otherwise, there's no reason to do so.

Besides, the nomenclature here should give you a hint. An administrator is designed to administer the computer. They can get in and look at any of your files if they want.

A hint? If you want to keep your stuff hidden from others, you'll have to get your own computer.

jW

 

[priller]

Enable filevault on that account, admin account won't be able to see anything without your password or the master password.

 

[upaymeifixit]

Hide It

You should either get an external drive (eg. CD FlashDrive) and put it on there. Or you could password protect it. If you want something really secure you can hide it deep inside the computer files. It would help to know the OS.

 

[lysdexik]

... come on now

it is my computer, and.. even windows has an option on an account not to allow users on other accounts to access that information

 

[ppc750fx]

even windows has an option on an account not to allow users on other accounts to access that information

And it's worth every penny.

 

[mason.kramer]

...

Umm, why?

If you're trying to hide stuff from parents/teachers/boss, no one here will or should help you. Otherwise, there's no reason to do so.

Posts like this make me want to help you. ("What? Why would you want privacy? What are you hiding?" - this attitude makes me shiver.)

Enable filevault on that account, admin account won't be able to see anything without your password or the master password.

Administrators can see your files. If someone has admin on your computer, they can see your files. Unless you encrypt. However, you can't use filevault, because you must be an admin to set the master password, and if they have the master, they can get at your stuff.

However you can make a secure disk image and put your encrypted stuff inside of it. They'll be able to see that you have such a disk image (if they know what to look for), but no one in the world can see what's inside of it without the password.

Open Disk Utility is /Applications/Utilities. Make a New Image. Size it appropriately for your needs. Select Encryption - 128 or 256 it hardly matters. Chose your password. Finally, make the Image Format a sparsebundle. If you don't, Time Machine will back up the entire image every time you change even a single letter in a single file.

If your file name starts with "." as in .hiddenThing.sparsebundle, it won't show up in finder, even for an admin. The admin account still has the power to find the file by using the Terminal, if the administrator knows how to look for it (ls -A /some/folder will show him everything in the folder, even with a .) You can still access it using Terminal. To access the file issue the command "open /Path/To/.hiddenThing.sparsebundle".

Create the image in your home folder, or buried a little down in one of the folders in your home folder to prevent a casual inspection from finding it. When you want to access files in that image, double click it to mount it, and you will be prompted for your password.

Just remember, if you lose your password the data will be gone forever. That's the whole point, after all.

 

[lysdexik]

It's not that I want to hide something utterly secretive.. I want an installed game not to be able to be searched using spotlight.

Is that so hard to ask?

 

[bradenwh]

...

Umm, why?

If you're trying to hide stuff from parents/teachers/boss, no one here will or should help you. Otherwise, there's no reason to do so.

What? Why is it so wrong that someone wants some privacy? Is it a sin, seriously? Everyone on MacRumors acts so high and mighty. As if you've never wanted to hide something from someone. Sheesh.

 

[lostngone]

What? Why is it so wrong that someone wants some privacy? Is it a sin, seriously? Everyone on MacRumors acts so high and mighty. As if you've never wanted to hide something from someone. Sheesh.

Its very simple, if you have something you want to hide you must be guilty of doing something wrong.

I learned this from the last presidential administration...

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

What? Why is it so wrong that someone wants some privacy? Is it a sin, seriously? Everyone on MacRumors acts so high and mighty. As if you've never wanted to hide something from someone. Sheesh.

Just be glad the OP hasn't mentioned viruses.

It's not that I want to hide something utterly secretive.. I want an installed game not to be able to be searched using spotlight.

You could install it on an encrypted disk image. You might be able to install it directly onto the image, or you may have to install it on the hard disk first and copy it onto the image.

You could try disguising it as another program, by changing its' name and icon. You might need to change it back to the original name to run it, though.

 

[GGJstudios]

Just be glad the OP hasn't mentioned viruses.

Why? Who would want to hide a virus?

 

[bradenwh]

Its very simple, if you have something you want to hide you must be guilty of doing something wrong.

I learned this from the last presidential administration...

Or, there's always the chance that you're human and you enjoy privacy.

You keep surprise parties hidden, are they wrong?
You keep Christmas presents hidden, are they wrong?

Your logic sucks.

 

[jw2002]

...
Umm, why?

Whoa! Talk about shooting first and asking questions later. Isn't the wasteland the proper place for such pontificating?

Anyways, who are any of us to be judging someone else's privacy concerns? And furthermore, unless you know the original poster's country of origin, s/he may have more privacy rights than are typically granted for American computer users.

To the original poster: use file vault, use strong passwords, and take care in installing 3rd party software.

 

[VPrime]

Cant you just make the file/folder hidden? Spot light does not search for hidden files (if I remember correctly).. Now this isnt the best solution, but if they dont know where to look they probably wont find it.

 

[lysdexik]

geez if I had known I would cause so much drama here I wouldn't have posted in the first place.

If you want to know the truth about the situation all you had to do was ask. I'm a full time student with a part time job and internship and I sometimes like to play a game that my girlfriends frowns upon, so I wanted to make sure she can't easily find it.

is that so wrong?

 

[marbles]

Now I didn't know one could do this,

edit* ...my bad ,I was thinking of something else , I was looking to password protect some files on my machine

To the privacy police>I am admin on the computer but wanted to keep some documents ' safer' is that ok ?

Or, there's always the chance that you're human and you enjoy privacy.

You keep surprise parties hidden, are they wrong?
You keep Christmas presents hidden, are they wrong?

Your logic sucks.

I think he was being sarcastic

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

geez if I had known I would cause so much drama here I wouldn't have posted in the first place.

If you want to know the truth about the situation all you had to do was ask. I'm a full time student with a part time job and internship and I sometimes like to play a game that my girlfriends frowns upon, so I wanted to make sure she can't easily find it.

is that so wrong?

Move the game into your own user account (if you have one.)

Or, just forget about what your girlfriend says. It's only a game. It's not WoW