New to OSX with some questions

Hello new member here. I purchased a ibook G4 about a month ago and I must say, it's very different then windows. I purchase the ibook because I wanted a portable laptop that is good for photoshop. I'm a amatuer photographer and this computer seem to be the best pick for the price. I bought it in Japan so I saved a bit of money compared to back at home.

Well enough of why I bought it, on to some questions about OSX. When you go to the hard drive there is a little house icon there with the movie, music, pictures ,etc icons. When I bought the computer, the guy asked what i want for user name and password. I said abc for user name. The house is icon is named abc. I went to the account in the system preference to change it to patrick. ok done. i went to the users folder and the house is still abc and there is a folder with patrick on it. Shouldn't the house icon say my name on it, and not it stay the same and not make a new folder? And when I log in, I log in as Patrick. But when I transfer photos, it would go to the photo folder of abc, but not to photo folder of patrick.

Another problem I have is the computer would turn itself off at random times. The only way I get it back running is taking the battery out and putting it back it. Any idea why this happens?

Also can I take out programs like idvd, garageband and be able to install them if I ever need to use them? They are just taking up space.

It's a little late so my brain may not be working really well. Sorry if I typed anything that didn't make any sense. I will explain it better if I confused anyone with my explaination. But besides those problems, I'm very happy with the mac.

hi abc1...congrats on your mac! I dont have an answer for all your questions but might have a solution for your mac shutting down. The screen usually goes blank after 3 minute or something and if its not in use for a while then it sounds like its shutdown but its not. Try clicking on the keyboard when you think it is shut off and see if anything happens. If not, then your MAC really is messed. But considering you just bought it call Apple up and see what they have to say. I would definitely ask for a new one if this one seems to have such a major problem.

My ibook screen sometimes just blacks out but I know that its through wear and tear for me having been real portable with it and for the <cringe> picking it up by the top of the screen <cringe> when I have been lazy in picking it up off the floor onto my lap..

Anyway, I just shut the screen and wait for the light that looks like it is breathing to advise you that it is asleep and then just open screen and it awakes naturally to my password screen,(you may not have this setup so will go to your desktop).

Re your problem surrounding your name next to the house icon, all I can suggest is that you go into network preferences and then accounts and then see what is set up in there as it sounds as like your system has set uo two people under the same login - which I wasnt aware you could do but are a novice to these myself compared to some of the people on here.

Having looked in my prefs/accounts, I have my preferred name as the administrator and my partner is a sep user under a sep login. I do not want to play around with it incase it makes 2 of us in the same position.

If you have only just got the ibook then its more likely you will have less stuff to lose on there so it may be worth just backing any files you have and doing a software restore reinstall the OS. If you can do the install yourself, which is easy if you and follow the instructions (I think if you can isntall windows then you will have no probs with OSX as it is easy to follow.)

BEFORE DOING THIS THOUGH, GIVE THE POST A BIT LONGER IN CASE ANYBODY ELSE CAN RESOLVE YOUR PROBLEM - I dont want to be responsible for putting you through a few hours of pointless fun..

Well, you COULD reinstall the OS, but that would be a colossal pain. You'd lose all the settings you've got so far.

Or you could do this, which is marginally less painful: http://cf.williams.edu/oit/faqs/pcounter/changeuser/

As with Windows, the only way you can remove programs like iDVD or GarageBand and expect to get them back later is if you have them on CD. So if you own a CD that says "iLife" on it, then yes. If you don't, then I don't advise removing them.

i had this, my PB came back from Apple Care with a silly short name. Check that link above. if it does what it says you should be fine but be careful it looks to have some information regarding that network in particular.

I personally re-installed osx and took the chance to strip out garageband and other stuff i didn't need at the install level, i also put in the short name i was after. saved a couple of GBs on the install that way but this isn't probably for you if you're worried about data loss or reinstalling everything.

black screen could be standy, look for the glowing light by the catch...

If it isn't standby (standy)/sleep mode, then it's possible you should have the unit looked at by an Apple technician. Did you purchase this from an authorized Apple reseller, or used from a secondhand source?

Hello, thanks for the quick replys everyone.

Well I am sure that the ibook is not falling a sleep on me. When it shuts down, there is not light indicating it's a sleeping and press any button won't do anything. The only way I can start it back up is when I take the battery out and put it back in. It seems to only happen when I am not plugged through the adapter and when the battery has about an hour left. It's not a very big deal since it only happens once in a blue moon.

I went to the account in system preference and there is only 2 accounts there. Me and a guest. My short name is abc. So maybe that's why the house is name abc and not patrick. I tried to rename the house to patrick but there's a folder named patrick already. I'm just going to move everything in the patrick folder, delele it and rename the house to patrick. You think I should do that?

Also I don't have the disk for ilife, but the folder "Installers" in application, isn't those setups to install programs like idvd? If not, then I guess I will keep it.