Password protect Apps or Folders in OSX ?

[soamz]

Hi..
One of my office employee started studying Objective-C and since he has no MAC, he wants to do his tests on my macbook.

I have got very delicate contents , apps and information on my macbook.

What I would like to do is, password protect the whole home folder, with just public access to one folder (so he can save his xcode documents there).

And also password protect a lot of apps, so if he tries to open, it will prompt for password.

So, how do we do that ?


Multiple user account is not a solution, since I already tried that , and in there, the spotlight search, xcode and finder view doesnt work at all. Crap!

 

[old-wiz]

The only way to do this is to set up password protected disk images. It is not practical for applications.

 

[MacDawg]

This isn't a solution to your question, but rather some advice
Just say "sorry, but no" to the request

If the person is serious about the need for testing and developing, they need their own environment
And if you are concerned about privacy and access to your stuffs, you are better off not allowing access

My 2¢ which isn't worth much
But I think you will find it will save you plenty of headaches and possibly a friendship along the way

 

[soamz]

He cant a costly MAC right now.

Anyways, so I have a good idea for next Apple OS release then

 

[snaky69]

He cant a costly MAC right now.

Anyways, so I have a good idea for next Apple OS release then

Why not simply setup a guest account with no administrator rights? He can play around all he wants, if he screws anything up, just delete the account and presto, nothing happened.

 

[heisenberg123]

Why let him use you Mac if you cant trust he will only use it for what your giving him persmission to use it for?


Now if the real reason you want this, is to secure pornography from others who use your Mac than thats a better reason

 

[interrobang]

Multiple user account is not a solution, since I already tried that , and in there, the spotlight search, xcode and finder view doesnt work at all. Crap!

Then there is something seriously wrong with your computer.

 

[alphaod]

From the looks of things it sounds like you're the employer?

If so and you're asking an employee to learn Objective C, don't you think you're suppose to provide all the required tools? My advice is simple: Acquire the equipment for your employees if you expect them to do what needs to be done.


Now, on the other hand, it's your colleague just tell them no. You have too much personal information on your computer that you feel uncomfortable sharing. Also developing on the Mac needs administrative access, so you can't get away with a standard account, much less a guest account. Without administrative access, I believe Xcode and such will run, but you can't really compile and debug.


As with multiple accounts not working with Finder, etc., that's usually caused by parental controls. When you create a new account, it usually automatically enables parental controls. You can go into parental controls to either disable it entirely or choose the applications, etc., the account that is specified can use. That's all built-in into the OS.