Remove pointless password prompts...

[theviewer19855]

Hey guys,

So my transition to the Apple ecosystem as of two years ago has certainly not been the height of enjoyment that I thought it would be. So many bugs and stupid UI decisions.

Either way, I'm in this mess now and I want to start focusing on fixing some niggly annoyances rather than getting frustrated every day.

I want to start with security. I'm not even going to get into how dumb it is that my £4,000 macbook can't use its fingerprint scanner when Apple needs my password as that's unfixable, but what I do hope to fix is the number of times I get asked for my password overall.

Personally, i understand having to enter a password once. To log in. What i don't understand, is when i try to install something, uninstall something, change something, open something etc etc etc it asks me, over and over again. I'm the only person who uses my computer, im the only admin user - its ridiculous. Please apple, just let ME take the risk over MY Macs security. My private gate and CCTV is all the security I need thanks.

I also hate the fact that every time i install something, not from the app store, i gives me a warning that I can't install it as my mac is set up to only allow mac apps. It doesn't give me much instruction beyond here, but I luckily know I have to open settings, browse to security, then click the open button. Oh and they give me NO such option to make it anything but "allow mac apps only" - I really want a, allow everything option to exist.

What made me write this post, is i am using an xBox controller on my mac to play certain games. To run it, i need a 3rd party driver. For the driver to function i need to open the driver settings and disable the driver and enable it again (temporary bug with the driver). But when i disable it PASSWORD PROMPT ... and then 1 second later when i enable it from the same screen... PASSWORD PROMPT.

Jesus H Christ this is an annoying operating system.

Are my frustrations legit... or has my newb'ness to Macos hindered me from finding the holy grail of security options somewhere?

 

[ruslan120]

It used to be better.

but...

It can be made better.

For each issue I've been googling "*specific issue* + permissions fix*. e.g. I used to get password prompts for dragging applications into my Applications folder, now I don't after configuring permissions.

Since it's a UNIX based system you can use the full admin account: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204012

 

[Fishrrman]

You WANT those password entry boxes to be there.

They're what keeps the Mac OS safe.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I think you could run your system as "root" user and avoid system security prompts. However, that's a horrible idea as it exposes your system and data without protection.

Seems like the thing that put you over the edge was a wonky driver and not the OS for which it was written.

 

[TheSkywalker77]

Without these password prompts your Mac would be a lot more vulnerable to security issues. I understand the annoyance of it, but you eventually get used to it.

And damn, £4,000 on your first MacBook? Wow.

 

[Macbooks Rock]

I don't think they are "useless", If they weren't there random Apps would be able to access and change sensible system settings and run malicious software, windows has something similar called "do you want to run as admin"

 

[bogdanw]

I also hate the fact that every time i install something, not from the app store, i gives me a warning that I can't install it as my mac is set up to only allow mac apps. It doesn't give me much instruction beyond here, but I luckily know I have to open settings, browse to security, then click the open button. Oh and they give me NO such option to make it anything but "allow mac apps only" - I really want a, allow everything option to exist.

Run

sudo spctl --master-disable

in Terminal

More info http://osxdaily.com/2016/09/27/allow-apps-from-anywhere-macos-gatekeeper/