Snow Leopard 'Guest Account' bug deleting user files, terrorizing children?
By Darren Murph 
posted October 12th 2009 11:05AM
posted October 12th 2009 11:05AM
[Via Neowin]
posted October 12th 2009 11:05AM
Apple Mac OS X Lion
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Not a good week for user data, is it?
If this week has served any purpose in history, it's to remind us of the importance of backing up your data on a regular basis.
Apple's secretive and selectable way of dealing with customers. I am no MS fan-boy but, I have to say that MS is much more proactive than Apple.
i'm going to bookmark this page to re-read funny comments.
Since Apple sold this "upgrade" for only $30, they now have to make up the costs by secretly building in a "feature" that forces you to visit the Genius Bar and charge you massive amounts of money for "data recovery"!!!! I knew $30 was too good to be true!
@James Barsby
that's for users of Leopard (and older) who accidentally rename their home folder and everything goes screwy.
Unfortunately, it doesn't help in this case as all your settings, bookmarks, documents, etc. that's stored in your Home folder (and Desktop) is deleted.
And if you don't have a backup...well....you're essentially whitewater rafting with no paddles and oars....in a creek you don't want to be on.
It happened to a friend of mine (who also has a sidekick...so yea...he got a double dose of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chYba6bt4aA )
Even DataRescue2 didn't help as the files were just nuked beyond recognition.
sounds like a hoax
Knowing there's scripts under OSX, and it's Linux/UNIX/BSD like:
@login
if [ `grep $USER /etc/passwd` -ne "" ] then
# new user/guest
sudo rm -rf $COCOA_PROFILE/*.*
fi
*or course if COCOA_PROFILE is not defined, there goes you HD! It's a common script error.
Does trying to install SL using a family pack disc (the first two installations were successful) which allows use in up to 5 machines fit the category? The attempt rendered the MacBook in question useless, with that folder with a question mark icon flashing whenever I removed the installation disk. I tried to resolve things with TechTool Pro, to no avail. I had to reinstall Leopard (10.5) and the main account became a "recovered" item. A very long and unpleasant experience, especially for someone using Macs since 1986.
So SL has a few problems and the MS fanboys are going nuts saying how shitty Apple is and how their ads are complete lies. But when MS has problems, no big deal, they're still the best company in the world? 40% failure rate for Xbox360's? oh no big deal, MS still is number 1, oh Vista is complete and udder shit! no big deal, MS is still number 1... Oh Apple's SL is having a few problems. OMG Apple is so shitty.... i just don't get the fanboy logic.....
Fanboy Logic?
The reason that everyone is jumping on Apple is because of phrases like "Macs Just Work", "Macs dont get Viruses." etc. At least with Microsoft they admit to their problem, XBox 360 RROD and Vista's poor OS. Apple never admits to having any issues and bashes MS on a daily bases about viruses and locking up and every other issue under the sun.
This is huge issue, MS would never have made this mistake because they have beta testers send back info about their experiences and fix the issues before it goes to market. Apple can go ahead and fix this but honestly they arent going to live this down. SL was suppose to improve on security and stability and what happened there?
I can't help but be reminded of that "I'm a Mac / I'm a PC" commercial where PC was sitting at a table dividing up money, with a HUGE pile going towards advertising, and then this tiny pile going towards "fixing the problems with Vista." Oh the irony.
Anyway, I'm glad I have the Guest Account disabled on my MBP, but even then I didn't do an upgrade from Leopard, which seems to be the cluprit.
A flurry huh. All I keep seeing is a retelling of one person's incidental story of losing his data after accidentally logging into a guest account. What I want to know is, is anyone able to reproduce this?
wait till Microsoft copies that feature in Windows 8 =)
Steve Jobs is very mad right now. He demands Perfection!!!!
what kind of idiot uses the guest account for anything other than browsing the web, using a few key programs, and maybe swapping files to and from a flash drive and network drive? i certainly can't think of any reason for someone to have more than a day's worth of data with a guest account. which is bad, but this is not the horrible miserable failure everyone is crying about. it's not like it's deleting, you know, ACTUAL user account data. what happens when you stay at a friends house and leave a bunch of your stuff laying on their couch? do you expect it there a week later? a month? who are these people?
you know it's an overhyped story when you read through 5 pages of comments and there isn't a single person complaining that they've been affected by the problem - but hundreds of windows fanboys (ie MS employees) jizzing their pants at another opportunity to make an "it just works" sarcastic remark. it's remarkably similar to the "change we can believe in" sarcasm that right-wing nutjobs throw around whenever they think Obama has done something wrong. maybe it's not much of a coincidence after all...
Now if I criticise Apple I must be a right-wing anti-Obama nut job?!! Thank you for the insightful comment.
It's good that you read the 5 pages of comments; it's a pity you didn't read the article. Perhaps you glossed over it in case a real problem was mentioned? If you had read the article, you would see that it says that logging in to the Guest account might lead to "mass deletion of all user files on the primary account". Note: PRIMARY account, not the Guest account. So contrary to your other post above, it exactly IS LIKE, you know, deleting ACTUAL user account data.
One simple question......HOW THE FUK DO SOOO MANY MACTARDS "ACCIDENTALLY" LOG INTO THE 'GUEST" ACCOUNT???!!!
I mean seriously....wtf?
Oh....and this "update" was all about fixes and enhancements "under the hood". No new features, just an optimized infrastructure, for $30.
Somebody was feeling real pressure from the Almighty Windows 7 and it's soon to be totally successful release. That's right....I said Almighty. Jobbs can go fuck himself.
F.U.C.K you engadget it doesn't save under guest account you act like the whole OS is deleting everything, I swear you people need to be shut down, beginning to sound a lot like FOX news, trying to catch out attention with false topics and accusations along with the descriptions on everything you post up on here.
You guys are garbage. I hope someone seriously shuts you down.
@hsb - "Had something of this sort been done by Microsoft Windows, this post by Engadget would have been different."
Rubbish. The article was highly critical of Apple - do you think that if it was MS then Engadget would have posted a nicer article?
No, obviously you think that a) the article was not critical and b) if it was MS then the article would have been critical because c) Engadget is biased towards Apple.
The problem is that you have merely assumed that the article was not critical, because you believe the "Engadget bias" crap that has done the rounds this year and last, and you just relied on your assumption instead of ... you know ... actually reading the article.
Got it yet? The article WAS critical of Apple.
If this had been MS then I believe Engadget would have been just as critical as they have been of Apple. Proof? Read Engdget's articles regarding the Danger-Microsoft data loss on Sidekicks. See? Critical. Just the same as here.
Now go away you stupid "Engadget is biased" troll.
They are biased moron. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to search the archives for all the ridiculous posts concerning anything about Microsoft products, and then to see all the love for Apple products.
If this happened in a new release of Windows, the headline/article would be drastically more critical and bashing.
It's a screw up of apples backdoor to delete stuff they don't want you to use
I'm only a recent apple user, about 6 months. And this article scared the crap out of me when I read it yesterday. Especially, since I had just enabled my guest account on Sunday for a friend to be able to use. I've checked repeatedly since then and none of my files were lost or deleted. And I've gone back and forth between the guest account several times. There must be a certain combination of factors that allow this to happen.
People, you should all have a backup strategy aside from Time Machine anyway. Multiple redundancies, etc. Granted, I'd of been pissed if this happened to me though.