How easy is it to screw up your account

[evanrousso]

I am a new mac user with a macbook.

I had a problem in the first couple of days where I changed the name of my home folder not thinking that it would basically "hide" all of the music and such that I dragged over from my old windows machine. I ended up having to reinstall OSX because I couldnt figure out how to get it all going again.

There have been a few occasions where I accidentily drag my home folder outside of the HD folder. Luckily I notice it and prevent erasing it from the HD folder (this is really easy to do with the trackpad on the macbook).

What would have happened if I accidentily drag my home folder, app folder, or whatever outside of the HD folder...would everything disappear again? If so, dont you think that makes OSX a little "too easy" to screw up if you are like me and dont really know what your doing yet.

I say this because I am strongly considering getting a mac for my desktop system and dont want my girlfriend accidentally screwing the account up by renaming a folder or dragging a folder outside of where it is supposed to be.

 

[apfhex]

Don't move or rename your Home folder and you'll be fine. Apple really should put some limitations on it 'cause I do hear of it happening often.

If you move or rename it, what happens is OS X can't find all your settings (which are stored in that folder) and creates a new empty folder in the proper location with the proper name. Just put your original folder back in its place and everything should be fine again.

 

[mad jew]

CanadaRAM had a good rule of thumb. Only move or rename folders and files that you have created yourself.


To be honest, even if you do rename something, it's not usually the end of the world. Renamed Home folders can be remedied from a second administrator user account. In fact, there are many benefits to having a second account. It might be worthwhile setting a customised account up for your girlfriend. You can place some limitations on it that might ensure she can't go too far wrong.

 

[evanrousso]

yeah, at one point I did rename my home folder and screwed it all up.

Honestly, I think that was too easy for me to do. I think that is a major flaw in OSX. There are times where my cursor is on the home folder and I go to move the cursor to something else and it drags the home folder with it. I dont know if thats just the nature of a laptop (that the trackpad isnt that accurate) but if thats the case it would be way too easy for someone to mess up all their settings

 

[mad jew]

The point is though, you could make a new account and rename your old Home folder from there quite easily, with no data loss or change.