Guest Account help

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Chris H.


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I'm trying to set up a Guest account- once I do, I get a password prompt box for "writeconfig" which is in the keychain. I enter my main password (the one to login etc) and it doesn't work. Is there a password that I don't know about?


This is the dialogue box.

Screen shot 2010-07-11 at 2.50.41 PM.JPG
 
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There could be if parental controls have been turned on and you don't know what that password is.
 
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Chris H.


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bobtomay said:
There could be if parental controls have been turned on and you don't know what that password is.
Click to expand...

I've only turned them on once for my younger cousin. I don't remember setting a password.

Is there a way to find out what that password is?

Or am I going to have to reinstall Mac OS X?
 
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Check to see if it's still turned on and try turning it off. Try both your admin password and a blank password if you don't remember setting one when it asks.
 
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Chris H.


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bobtomay said:
Check to see if it's still turned on and try turning it off. Try both your admin password and a blank password if you don't remember setting one when it asks.
Click to expand...


I'm not sure I follow. You mean to check and see if Parental Controls is still on? You mean the actual Parental Controls pref pane or in Accounts on the Guest setting?

I've tried my admin password and I've tried blank...that didn't work.


I logged out of my account, and tried accessing the Guest account. It wouldn't let me get in, so here I am back on my admin account.


I also dug a little in the Details in that prompt box:

Screen shot 2010-07-11 at 4.55.46 PM.JPG

Screen shot 2010-07-11 at 4.56.07 PM.JPG

Screen shot 2010-07-11 at 4.56.32 PM.JPG
 
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Try this: Open up Parental Controls

Click the lock so you can make changes and put in your password

Highlight the Guest Account

At the bottom, click on the down arrow above the lock and select 'Turn off Parental Controls for "Guest Account"'.
 
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And you don't have Norton on your machine by chance do you?
 
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bobtomay said:
And you don't have Norton on your machine by chance do you?
Click to expand...

:Oops:

Um...I do..on all three of my Macs.

But I'm running them with Windows computer on the network (about seven of them- plus emails that I send my friends- they have Windows as well)

I keep reading that ClamXAV is a better choice, but what does it do that Norton doesn't (in terms of what it's supposed to do..not what it does to other parts of the system)?

Norton supposedly "keeps an eye on the Mac OS X firewall" among other things...

Is it really recommended that I rid my Macs of Norton antivirus products?
 
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Chris H.


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bobtomay said:
Try this: Open up Parental Controls

Click the lock so you can make changes and put in your password

Highlight the Guest Account

At the bottom, click on the down arrow above the lock and select 'Turn off Parental Controls for "Guest Account"'.
Click to expand...

Tried it, still no change. Can't get in the guest account from the login screen.

Here's what I've noticed with my MacBook in the last week that doesn't feel normal:

Aside from the guest account being strange...

-When I'm on the internet, everybody else is slowed down. This doesn't happen on my Windows computer.

-If the computer is woken up from Sleep, or if the computer is turned on/restarted, I have to manually select my network from a dialogue box.

This hasn't happened on my Mac mini yet or my Power Mac G4, but the MacBook is my main focus right now.
 
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Sounds like the same sort of stuff I've had to deal with using McAfee the boss insists on in the office. I quit using Norton in the late 90's myself.

But, if you tried the idea in the post above that and it didn't work, the next couple of ideas would be to run Keychain firstaid and repair permissions. Norton is where I'd be looking next. I've read about too many weird things happen on Macs where it was installed.

As for your other Windows computers and Windows using friends, don't they all have an A/V installed for their protection? In a business/school setting where an A/V is required, Clam is the one I think I'd be using.
 
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bobtomay said:
Sounds like the same sort of stuff I've had to deal with using McAfee the boss insists on in the office. I quit using Norton in the late 90's myself.

But, if you tried the idea in the post above that and it didn't work, the next couple of ideas would be to run Keychain firstaid and repair permissions.
Click to expand...

I've ran Keychain First Aid and the Disk Repair Permissions. Nothing changed. (Strangely, I did run the Repair Disk Permissions twice, and the same things kept appearing. Including an SUID error involving ARD.app in its Contents folder)

bobtomay said:
Norton is where I'd be looking next. I've read about too many weird things happen on Macs where it was installed.
Click to expand...

Where to start with that? Uninstalling it? I've read that simply using AppCleaner fails to remove all files of Norton. Does this come with a built in uninstaller all on its own?

bobtomay said:
As for your other Windows computers and Windows using friends, don't they all have an A/V installed for their protection? In a business/school setting where an A/V is required, Clam is the one I think I'd be using.
Click to expand...

They do have A/V (I hope) and all my Windows computers are running Symantec Corporate Edition..well..except the Win7 models, which have McAfee.

I think I'll switch to ClamAV. I also have the DNSchanger removal tool on all of my Mac computers (I forgot where I got it- I think someone referred a link to it here on Mac Forums)
 
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I would at least try uninstalling it to see if it's the culprit. Norton should have it's own uninstaller, although it's been notorious for not removing everything for years. If you don't mind spending a few bucks and don't already have an app removal tool, I'm currently recommending Clean App.

Sorry, but Norton and McAfee are two apps I'm not willing to put on any of my computers even for testing.

The other thing to do is open up Norton and go through all of it's preferences. All of the network issues we had with McAfee at the office were able to be solved by enabling things that McAfee had disabled. Only with McAfee, the problem was not always in the software on the machine having the issue. I had to go around and check every single machine. But, I think the issue you're having with the Guest account would be localized.
 
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bobtomay said:
I would at least try uninstalling it to see if it's the culprit. Norton should have it's own uninstaller, although it's been notorious for not removing everything for years. If you don't mind spending a few bucks and don't already have an app removal tool, I'm currently recommending Clean App.

Sorry, but Norton and McAfee are two apps I'm not willing to put on any of my computers even for testing.

The other thing to do is open up Norton and go through all of it's preferences. All of the network issues we had with McAfee at the office were able to be solved by enabling things that McAfee had disabled. Only with McAfee, the problem was not always in the software on the machine having the issue. I had to go around and check every single machine. But, I think the issue you're having with the Guest account would be localized.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it'll be task to carry out on all of my machines (Mac machines that is).

But I'll start with the MacBook today, and post back here once I uninstall Norton (after sloughing through the preferences it has first).
I do have App Cleaner (it was free)- I might consider other uninstall programs later on.

Thanks
 
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Chris H.


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Contacted Norton this morning. (I'm a night owl). Explained my dilemma from last month..and they asked me to talk to Apple.

So I set up a support call for Tuesday. (Today I'll be busy).

In the meantime, I uninstalled Norton, and downloaded Beta 2 ClamXAV (the only one that runs on Snow Leopard apparently).

Scanning now.
 
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Chris H. said:
Contacted Norton this morning. (I'm a night owl). Explained my dilemma from last month..and they asked me to talk to Apple.

So I set up a support call for Tuesday. (Today I'll be busy).

In the meantime, I uninstalled Norton, and downloaded Beta 2 ClamXAV (the only one that runs on Snow Leopard apparently).

Scanning now.
Click to expand...

Exactly how did you uninstall Norton?

Did you check to see if the problem went away after removing Norton and before installing yet another A/V product?

That sounds like the old run around that AOL has been playing since the mid '90s. They can't fix their own software, so they tell you to call the OS support to fix it for them.

And I'm sorry, but if you can't uninstall all the A/V products (and any other parental control type stuff you may have on it, like K9) from this machine long enough to troubleshoot it, I wash my hands of it.

Good luck with the call to Apple though.
 
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chas_m

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Chris:

Are you not aware that there is NO need to run ANY anti-virus program on the Mac?

I mean, you can run ClamAV if you want to, be my guest -- but there aren't any viruses for the Mac, y'see, and the only threats to the Mac are from pirated software (which of course you don't do) and "free porn codecs" (as if anyone is dumb enough to fall for that one), so ... there's really not an issue.

I believe there is a thread on this very forum discussing this, actually ... :)
 
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Chris H.


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bobtomay said:
Exactly how did you uninstall Norton?

Did you check to see if the problem went away after removing Norton and before installing yet another A/V product?

That sounds like the old run around that AOL has been playing since the mid '90s. They can't fix their own software, so they tell you to call the OS support to fix it for them.

And I'm sorry, but if you can't uninstall all the A/V products (and any other parental control type stuff you may have on it, like K9) from this machine long enough to troubleshoot it, I wash my hands of it.

Good luck with the call to Apple though.
Click to expand...


The problem remained after I uninstalled Norton. There was a folder under "Utilities" called "Symantec Solutions". It contained an uninstaller.

And the reason why I downloaded ClamXAV- why does it exist? Honestly?
 
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Chris H. said:
And the reason why I downloaded ClamXAV- why does it exist? Honestly?
Click to expand...
Because there are still 100s of PC switchers that think they need anti-virus.
And then companies like Intego make lots of bucks off them.
Not saying that ClamXAV is out there to make money. Its exists so that you don't send your PC friends PC viruses and make them mad.

I have been running Mac OS for 10 years already, in that time I have never had any kind of anti-virus, or 3 Party firewall installed, and my Mac hasn't had a virus yet.
 
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Chris H.


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This takes me back to the time where I had a Windows computer and the registry was screwed

Well, if Norton didn't cause this, something did. (It could have, though one would think that uninstalling a possible/undoubted culprit would fix things)...

Disk Permissions Repair didn't help it. And nether did Keychain First Aid.
I've also reset my password, and came up with a new one. Still didn't help it. Trashing "com.apple.parentalcontrols.keychain.8F2KF6" didn't help the problem either (I restored the file back to its original place).

What is there left to do?

1) Reinstall Mac OS X
2) Something else? .

What can I do with my Time Machine backups for my MacBook, if I choose to reinstall Mac OS X?
 
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