Apple Otaku

Setting up your Mac with a password protected login offers some degree of protection. While it will keep out your average user, anyone with an OS X install disc can still get access to your system. They just have to boot the OS X DVD and use the included utility to reset your account password.

You can eliminate this backdoor by running the open firmware password utility. You can get a copy of this utility by going the /Applications/Utilities/ folder of your OS X install disc.

Once you’ve run the program and selected your password, no one will be able to boot your Mac with anything other than what you’ve specified as your start-up disk in your system preferences. So as an example, if you specified your main hard disk as your start-up disk, whenever someone tries to boot your computer with any other type of device, they’ll be blocked. Simple as that.

This is great way to secure your system because it blocks a potential backdoor and at the same time this solution isn’t too much of a hassle (assuming you usually boot from your main hard disk). Just make sure you don’t forget that password!

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