HELP!!! Lost all setting on Apple Mac. Gone back to original setting!!!!!

Hi Mac Users,

Can you help in any way. Our apple mac computer 3.9 OS has gone back to it out of the box setting and we have lost all applications setting and my partner has also lost his email contact list plus his emails on entourage. We thing our son has accidentally moved a file while in the finder. But we don't know what this file could be called and were it should be??. But we are only suspecting this.

Can you help!!! My partner has not backup any of his email (what a bad thing that was) and he has not back up his contact list also (another bad thing).. Any help welcome.

Thanks

okay. are you on OSX 10.3.9?

your emails should be on a web server unless you have downloaded them then deleted them from your inbox.

to get everything back, you need to have a backup in place.

any files that are important to the booting of OSX and the running of OSX is protected (i.e he needs the admin password to be able to move them).

As an outside hope, go into Users under Accounts in System Preferences and see if he has accidentally set up a new account and also has anyone tinkered with the Home folder?

harryb2448 said:

As an outside hope, go into Users under Accounts in System Preferences and see if he has accidentally set up a new account and also has anyone tinkered with the Home folder?

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Thanks you both for your input. It help us eventually find out that the login folder holding all the login files was accidentally renamed by our son to 1234. Then when we logged in it just created a default folder.. while the original folder was still there. All sorted. My partner is now backing up all his contacts etc and we are creating a separate login for out son to use.

Want a tip ~ a separate machine is the go for kids who like to experiment on their Macs. Maybe a cheap Mac Mini?

You are right a separate Mac would protect our work on it. What about a separate log-in that does not allow him into where all the files are.....???

We have to save up for a mini mac.

HappySad99 said:

You are right a separate Mac would protect our work on it. What about a separate log-in that does not allow him into where all the files are.....???

We have to save up for a mini mac.

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That will work. Make sure when your set it up for him that you don't give him Admin rights.

A separate account is only as good as your memory. Not the Mac's memory, your memory. You'll have to log out every time you move away from the computer, forcing your son to log into his own account, for which he has a password.

toMACsh said:

A separate account is only as good as your memory. Not the Mac's memory, your memory. You'll have to log out every time you move away from the computer, forcing your son to log into his own account, for which he has a password.

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Ahh so you can't get at least a screen saver password?

Sorry, I don't understand.