OS X, 3-yr old proof ?!

iq78iq78
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I'm setting up a new iMac for my brother who has 4 boys, the youngest is 3, oldest 11. The youngest is able to play educational CD's.



I thought it would be easy to kid proof the iMac with OS X, but I haven't figured out how to limit the access the younger ones have to folders such as "Applications (OS 9)" for example.



It seems that although you can create groups and users using the NetInfoManager, many folders that are created on install are in such a way that the logged in user always has access to them.. "unknown" is the group I think.



Anyway, I could really use help on how to have a super restriction for a couple of the younger boys, limited restriction to the older ones and no restrictions for the parents.



(thanks, please e-mail me, private response if needed)

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    drive radrive ra Posts: 6member
    What you can, or could do...is create a new user: by going to System Preferences , Users and create a new user with limited privs, or the least access one, as I am not in front if my Mac so I cant see.

    Then you can get him to login with it if wanted and have the Applications folder only displayed on the desktop. Which he will double click and the applications will be their. Click on the little button on the top right, which looks like a small bar, and if you click on it the toolbar will disappear so they can go to different directories..

    Also you can get rid of the dock, or leave NO applications in it for him...

    I hope I have helped, I hope its understandable
  • Reply 2 of 5
    iq78iq78 Posts: 256member
    Well, it is easy enough to setup a non-admin user. However, it is not quite so easy to change the owner of files and/or folders, which is what would be required to do what I need.



    OS X only has two basic user groups: Admin and non-Admin. So whatever privledges I give to non-Admins are given to all non-admins. Plus, as far as I can tell OSX gives everybody access to the OS 9 folder (maybe they have to in order for classic to work properly).



    Anyway, the solution is in being able to change the group that associated with a file or folder. I guess you can only do that via command line. Even then, can a folder be accessed by multiple groups... or does a group have to be created that contains those multiple groups?



    Mark
  • Reply 3 of 5
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    I know it doesn't help now, but check out the User account pane in System Preferences for Jaguar... it allows precisely what you want.



    Search around for an image of the pane... I believe thinksecret has one.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    roborobo Posts: 469member
    I imagine you could probably set permissions quite accurately from the CLI, but i can't help in that regard.



    However... your problem seems to be restricted to the OS 9 bits of the system. In OS X, your 3 year old nephew could only mess up his own home directory, so it's an issue of how important OS 9 is to your brother and his family. If they just use it occasionally for Classic compatibility, then it's ok to get it messed up. somebody can keep a fresh copy in their home directory and drag and drop if some three year old click and dragging has messed up the current copy.



    Personally, however, i'd be more concerned about the 3 year old hacking into my personal files. They keep getting younger!





    -robo
  • Reply 5 of 5
    iq78iq78 Posts: 256member
    Thanks for all the responses.



    Yes, I saw the jaguar screen shot. Unfortunately I need a good solution now.



    I have been using the CLI to shore up some sharing issues. For instance, I need the whole family to maintain the same iTunes and iPhoto and VPC prefs.



    I've found the symbolic link to be essential with this stuff (standard shortcuts don't often work).



    Thanks again.
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