Mountain Lion - Installing Software for ALL ACCOUNTS

I'm still fairly new to MAC and I'm not sure if this is something so simple which is why when I search for the issue, I just can't seem to find it exactly.

I have...
iMac12,1
i5 2.5 Ghz
16GB Memory
750GB Hard Drive
OS X 10.8.2

-So I've come across this issue a few different ways and it always seems to drive me nuts trying to figure out the best way to resolve the problem.
-This iMac is used by 2 different USERS so there are 2 separate accounts (Both Admins); User Female - Is on it quite a bit usually just playing web games and some minor web browsing - regardless this user is still logged onto the machine %75 - Male User only logs into his account here and there (has his own MacBook Pro) usually at least once a week or so.
-Male User's Account - Installed Plex Server (which thinks it would run like a "Service" regardless of who's logged in, would still run in the background) and seems that if he's not logged in - Plex isn't running. - This is 1 instance
-2nd Instance - Male Install Avast Anti-virus while logged on as Female User just because didn't think it mattered - thought it was a system type install - meaning it would install across all accounts. Male then Logged into Male's account and seen that Avast isn't showing up as an active task or showing up under Applications like it does under Female's Account.

So hopefully you can see what I'm getting at - there are certain programs that I would like to install and have run the same exact way regardless of who's logged in(Obviously if certain shares are required I would set them up ahead of time but regardless - doesn't seem like an option) I know on Windows some programs will actually prompt (Install for "All User's or Just Me")
Am I missing something? If I want an application to run all the time would that mean I would have to leave Male Account Logged on all the time and when Female wants to use the iMac she'll just "SWITCH TO FEMALE" instead of logging Male off then logging on???? Is there a way to install applications so that all User's have access to the applications, and for APPS like Plex or any other type of Media Server - is there a way to have it running on Mountain Lion like a Service - so that it runs a certain way all the time no matter who is logged on (The term run as a service is a MS Windows Term - sorry)

Any options or suggestions would be greatly apprecatied - I'm usually don't get stuck on such problems like this because what I'm trying to do is quite common and would think others would run into the same issue and have already posted - but No (or I'm not searching correctly)

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Why not just install said Apps on each Account ??

Installing an app and setting it to autorun in one account is not going to make it autorun in another users account. That's the whole purpose of separate user accounts - so they each have their account set up the way they want.

Personally, would remove Avast from the machine and get ClamXav if you insist on having an av app at all.

Have you looked in the Applications folder of the other account to see if the apps are available there? If not, then as TM suggested, install them in the other account or you can try moving the app from the Users/User/Applications folder to the root Applications folder. Just moving it in this way, won't work for apps that install stuff into system folders (like your av), but most Mac apps do not.

bobtomay said:

Installing an app and setting it to autorun in one account is not going to make it autorun in another users account. That's the whole purpose of separate user accounts - so they each have their account set up the way they want.

Personally, would remove Avast from the machine and get ClamXav if you insist on having an av app at all.

Have you looked in the Applications folder of the other account to see if the apps are available there? If not, then as TM suggested, install them in the other account or you can try moving the app from the Users/User/Applications folder to the root Applications folder. Just moving it in this way, won't work for apps that install stuff into system folders (like your av), but most Mac apps do not.

Click to expand...

Thank you for responding so quickly to my thread - I understand completely the reason for having separate accounts for personalization and such, but I always thought it was more for Customization to personalize the OS user interface (Wallpaper, Dock Layouts, Program Settings and themes).

I think what I realized last night was that everything installed from the Mac App store does automatically installs into all user's accounts (just like normal, except any personalization settings are held in each account such as Themes or whatever)

More along the lines of what I'm kinda stuck on are the certain type of programs that are installed into the OS as a system program - Like the Anti-Virus - Usually installing an Anti-Virus installs on the entire OS with minor settings changeable from each account. If i remember correctly when I installed Avast the first time (Before I decided to wipe my system and install Mountain Lion fresh) It did just what I expected it too - installed itself into the OS and ran on all accounts. I think when I made a copy of my USER Folders - then formatted the Drive and did a fresh install - then copied the user folders back something just isn't right. I think I'm just going to delete both accounts and recreate them but only copy over the (Music, Documents, Photo's, Video's) folders instead of the entire user folder.

Thanks again - BTW I'm going to check out CalmxAV and give it a shot - since I'm completely on the wall about an AV in the first place - Mine as well give go...thanks again!
-Craig