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SwitchMe brings makeshift guest account to Android root users
Wouldn't it be absolutely splendid if you could hand your phone over to a friend (or complete stranger) without fear of them mucking up your system or digging into your personal bits? Yes, we'd absolutely love to see guest accounts become standard issue on all handsets, but until that day arrives, a new application called SwitchMe will work in a pinch. Word of caution, this app requires root privileges, which may deter many folks.Rather than allowing multiple sessions to run simultaneously, as you'd expect on a desktop computer, SwitchMe lets users easily jump between different installations of Android -- they exist separately and don't talk to each other. Naturally, this also allows hobbyists to easily jump between their favorite ROMs, and gives developers clean sandboxes for app testing. The first hit is free, but if you want to manage more than two installations, you'll need to buy the unlock key for $1.98. Still, those who find the SwitchMe useful should consider tossing the developer a few bones.Update: As a commenter pointed out, multiple ROMs are not supported at this time. The developer has verified this, stating that any content inside /system cannot be changed. Bummer.[Thanks, Alan]
Mac 101: Create a guest account
"Can I use your computer real quick?" Depending on who asks you this question over the next week, reactions may range from nothing to frantic flailing toward your machine to see if you can make it do something that looks like it is unusable, getting you out of having to relinquish it to a family member with a checkered techno-past. Since you've already done the basics to protect your Mac, like set a screensaver password, what else can you do to family-proof your machine? Luckily, a small bit of prep work can make this question easy to answer. All you have to do is whip up a guest account on your system. Guest accounts are perfect because logging in as a guest user limits the amount of damage that can be inflicted on your system to virtually nothing. Guest users can't change other user accounts or system settings and have no remote access. If you really want to ratchet things down, you can also use Parental Controls to limit the apps a guest account can use, or filter internet content. While all of that is nice, one of the most important differences between a guest account and a regular account is files: Any files created or downloaded by a guest account are deleted on logout, so every time you log in as a guest user it always looks like nobody has ever logged in before. If this sounds like the way to go for you, and you're running 10.5 or higher, here's how to create a guest account: Go to System Preferences and select Users and Groups (10.7) or Accounts (10.5 or 10.6). In that panel, click on the Guest User, and check "Allow guests to log in to this computer." That's it! No really! All you have to do is determine whether you want to turn on Parental Controls or allow the guest account to connect to shared folders, and you're done. Now your Mac is ready for whatever your visitors can throw at it.
Create a guest account in OS X Lion
Want to let someone else use your Mac temporarily and have OS X Lion clean up their info and files afterwards? Open the Users & Groups pane in System Preferences, click on the Guest User, and check "Allow guests to log in to this computer." Guests can then log in without a password and their data is deleted when they log out.
Project Skylight puts Second Life right into your browser
When most people (who don't play) think of Second Life, they don't have a terribly flattering picture in their head. That's neither fair nor even-handed, but it's hard to convince someone to download a new game and install it on the basis that it might be better than expected. So it's a good thing all around that Project Skylight, a new viewer for the game, is now available. It's a viewer with a crucial difference -- it's a browser-based client that allows players to start tooling around immediately with no prior installation. According to players, the client works well enough, albeit with some caveats such as a limited amount of time allowed per day. The service is clearly aimed at new players, as a 45-second promotional video plays before the client can be accessed, and players can only log in using guest accounts. That being said, it's a full client inside your web browser, requiring no extra setup or commitment beyond the willingness to try the game. Second Life fans should be happy, but people who have never tried the game should be happier, as it just got easier to see if the virtual world might be the place for them.
Apple aware of Snow Leopard accounts bug that kills data, is working on a fix
Apple just made a statement about that nasty Snow Leopard Guest Account bug that deletes user data -- it's not much, but at least the people in charge are working on things. We are aware of the issue, which occurs only in extremely rare cases, and we are working on a fix. Peachy -- now if Apple would just figure out how to fix all those broken Time Capsules holding the backups, we'd be all set.
Bug tracker: Snow Leopard guest accounts eating files?
Update: Cnet reports that Apple is acknowledging the problem, while calling it "extremely rare." There's a few threads on Apple's Discussion Boards describing a problem that's affecting some Snow Leopard users. An issue with the Guest account feature in SL appears to be chomping down on user data with extreme prejudice. Cnet/MacFixIt first took notice of the issue back in early September, but a 2nd report & a link from 9to5Mac have raised the threat level quite a bit. According to affected users, the guest account's logout wipe -- a standard feature intended to prevent guests from leaving files on the machine -- is inadvertently clobbering the home directories of the non-guest accounts, with catastrophic results. One user writes, "I hadn't used my Guest Account since upgrading to snow leopard, and I accidentally clicked it instead of my user account this morning, to find that when I logged into my normal account ALL my files, settings, mail etc had been reset." Worse of all is that he's not the only one. MacFixIt reports that it isn't an epidemic, but readers have described the same issue in the comments to their post. For now, we offer this simple advice. First, make sure your backups are current. Secondly, turn off the Guest account feature if you're not using it (simple instructions here); some suspect that the issue is triggered by having it turned on prior to the SL upgrade. If and when the culprit is identified and squashed, we'll let you know. Thanks to everyone who sent this in. [Via Engadget]
Snow Leopard 'Guest Account' bug deleting user files, terrorizing children?
Think your Snow Leopard woes are finally over? Don't go logging into that Guest account, then. A flurry of reports have surfaced around the web explaining that even an accidental login to one's Guest account within Snow Leopard could lead to mass deletion of all user files on the primary account, and when we say "mass deletion," we mean "mass deletion." The problem goes something like this: if one clicks on the Guest account after upgrading their machine to OS X 10.6, and everything hangs, there's at least a decent chance that all of your data will be evaporated whenever you surf back over to the main profile. Apple has yet to address the issue (at least publicly), but we'd probably recommend disabling Guest accounts on your rig(s) until all of this gets sorted. You know, unless you actually enjoy watching your data vanish. [Via Neowin]
Make your guests feel at home with Leopard's Guest account
I have my Mac's workspace down to a science-- everything is exactly where I want it and tuned just exactly how I think it should be. And so, even though it's a little silly, whenever a friend comes over and wants to use my computer, I always hesitate for just a second to let people invade my little workspace.But now, those worries are over-- reader Michael C sent us a tutorial he wrote up for how to make the best use of Leopard's Guest account, and though he comes at it from a business' perspective, it seems like the perfect plan for letting my guests use my Mac without messing up my stuff. Basically, Michael walks you through how to log into the Guest account, and then how to save the settings you implement after customizing it (usually, they're wiped out on logoff, but his method has you backing up the defaults and putting your own in their place).The only drawback is that any new accounts you create will use the same default settings at first, but I bet you could just load the backups and then create the new account and you wouldn't have any problems. And that's a very small price to pay to have a clean, configured guess account all ready to load up for anyone who happens to come over. Very nice!
