multiple accounts and performance

nickgb3nickgb3
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Hi,



Does setting up multiple accounts in Tiger, on a 1ghz 768mb RAM iBook G4, say, result in any sort of performance hit? What about with fast user-switching enabled? I set up what I wanted - an unrestricted admin account and a limited guest account - but now I'm paranoid that leaving the guest account available for fast-user switching will, oh, I don't know, make it harder to kill Nazis in Wolfenstein - something morally redeeming and important like that.



thanks,



nick

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    mr beardsleymr beardsley Posts: 365member
    Just setting up multiple accounts will have zero performance impact on your machine. If you are logged in to multiple user accounts using fast user switching, that could give you a performance hit.



    As an aside, you don't really need two accounts (admin and regular user) like in windows on OS X. On windows if you are an admin you can inadvertently run all sorts of stuff without you really knowing (spyware adware while browsing). On a Mac you are prompted for your password anytime something needs to access a protected area. So even though you have admin rights on your Mac, your admin account is just like a regular account till you supply your password. Hope that all made sense.
  • Reply 2 of 3
    zenatekzenatek Posts: 203member
    I have looked at this issue before and the only hit you will take is on memory usage. The actual usage of the processsor is not effected by having to users running at the same time.



    If you have two users accounts logged in, bring up Activity Monitor. Then if you select to see all processes you will see all the process's that are running because of the other user. You will see the process's use real memory but the processor usage should be 0.
  • Reply 3 of 3
    pbpb Posts: 4,255member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by zenatek

    If you have two users accounts logged in, bring up Activity Monitor. Then if you select to see all processes you will see all the process's that are running because of the other user. You will see the process's use real memory but the processor usage should be 0.



    This is half true. If some other user has a program executing calculcations in the background, taking system resources and time to finish, it will show up in the Activity Monitor with its CPU share. What you say is true if this other user has open applications that just sit there doing nothing.
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