Security question about a used Mac

I've recently bought a used Mac, and had a couple of question to give me some piece of mind over it. Is there a way to determine if the original user had installed any software that can or will collect information like passwords or even access the camera that they can access down the line? I've heard some horror stories of this type that I think were done to PCs, but thought it couldn't hurt to see if this was ever seen on Macs as well, and what I might be able to look for before I start really loading this new machine up with personal info.

Thanks in advance for any help with this!

Hi and welcome to the forum.
In short no. If you dont know the name of whatever they put on there can be hard to find.
What sort of Mac is it and what OS is running at the moment. ?? Do you have the original install disks for the machine ??
If its a intel Mac and you dont have to disks then you can buy SnowLeopard and do a complete reinstall and have yourself a new OS and a clean Mac

HTH

Cheers

Buy a copy of the latest operating system the machine will handle, pop in the disc and boot holding down 'C'. Go into Utilities > Disk Utility and choose Erase Disk, using 7 pass erase under Security Options to be sure everything is removed, then do a clean install with your own name and password, and update.

Cannot help with operating system as you have not supplied model details.

It is an Intel MacBook Pro running OSX 10.6.8. I don't have the install discs and am hesitant to do a full reinstall because it did include several programs that I am interested in in keeping.

Just remember if you have the programs and no install discs they are there illegally. Just wait for Lion's release and download and upgrade to that. You will need install discs so go to Apple and purchase Snow leopard before they go through the roof.

Well, it was a good deal from craiglist, but I guess wiping it with new OS discs is the way to go.

Thanks all