Remove old user from app store

I have just purchased a used mac from somebody. When i run updates through the app store, it says "You have updates available for other accounts. Sign in to [email protected] to run updates for that account". I am signed into my app store account and not his. The computer was formated when I received it so I had to enter all of my details when first booting.

How can i remove the [email protected] account from app store?

When im in the Store, and click "Store" along the top bar, I can only see my account details under "View my Account"

Thanks for any advice

He apparently has apps of his own still installed, and OS X is picking up on those. If he got that version of OS X off the App Store, then updates to the OS may be available only under his Apple id also. Honestly, it's best to just reinstall OS X from scratch. That's out standing recommendation anytime you buy a used Mac. You just don't know what the old owner left behind.

How would I go about re-installing Mountain Lion?

Personally, I recommend spending the $20 to purchase it using your own Apple ID. Yeah I know, it sucks. Apple is tying ownership of the OS to an individual now instead of to the machine as most of us came to know in years past. I've read there is a way to get the OS that shipped with a Mac transferred to the new owner, but it was a pitb and took more time than the $20 was worth to me.

After you've downloaded it, create a installable/backup copy on a flash drive with LionDiskMaker.
Plenty of tutorials online for a clean install once you're ready with a quick google.

Thanks for your help guys, im going to wait until the next OS is released and purchase that, then wipe. If i create time machine backups on Mountain Lion, and then try to use them in whatever the new OS is, will they work?

Sorry for my lack of mac knowledge, im a 2 week old user

Mountain Lion is £14, there's no saying when 10.9 or 11 will be released and in the interim you making it more difficult to get updates for yourself. Not to mention that if the hard disk dies you may find it tricky to recover you Mac without a copy of OSX. It's a pretty sound investment in opinion......

As for TM backups, there's no way of knowing if they'll work on future OSs but it's very likely they will unless there's some huge overhaul and u-turn of the Apple backup system.

imfromwales said:

Thanks for your help guys, im going to wait until the next OS is released and purchase that, then wipe. If i create time machine backups on Mountain Lion, and then try to use them in whatever the new OS is, will they work?

Click to expand...

Besides what MrPlow mentioned, the problem you will have is that your Time Machine backups will contain the "stuff" left behind by the other guy. By "stuff", I mean any apps he left on there, settings, preferences, perhaps personal files. Even spyware for all you really know.

I'm fairly certain that the OS updates aren't tied to the Apple id, now that I think about it. I get update notifications on my wife's user account on this Mac, but her Apple id didn't buy the Mountain Lion upgrade. Honestly... bite the bullet and just reinstall Mountain Lion now while it's easier. Do a proper clean install so you have a fresh slate.

See, I thought I did a clean install when i first booted up because it was asking me my preferences and create a user, but I dont know what fresh installs boot like for mac...

I dont want to brick my mac by messing up a fresh install of OSX though, although all the benefits listed above do make me want to.

Are OS upgrades usualy around the $30 mark?

They've been $20 of late.

Thanks very much for all the info everyone Ive ordered a usb flash drive, and going to purchase Mountain Lion when it arrives in the post.

I cant seem to find any instructions on how to use LionDiskMaker on their website, can somebody please point me in the right direction?

imfromwales said:

See, I thought I did a clean install when i first booted up because it was asking me my preferences and create a user, but I dont know what fresh installs boot like for mac...

Click to expand...

A proper clean install will give you those prompts. That's what I did before selling my previous Macs... do the install, then power off when time to create a user. However, if I recall correctly, there's a certain file you can remove that will force the OS to "think" it's a new install and prompt you to create a user. The old owner could have done that and removed the existing user accounts while booted off another drive. *shrug* We just don't know. You do have me curious though. Next time Apple releases a Mountain Lion update, I'm going to try to see if I'm forced to use my Apple id that I purchased it with to apply it.

Im going to DL ML tonight from the app store, and my USB drive should be arriving tomorrow.

When I put ML on the USB stick, can I still use the remaining space on the stick for general use? Or is it once ML is put on the stick, I cant use the remaining space?

You can still use it. I'd just create a folder to put everything else in just for your own clarity.

gracias

lifeisabeach said:

You do have me curious though. Next time Apple releases a Mountain Lion update, I'm going to try to see if I'm forced to use my Apple id that I purchased it with to apply it.

Click to expand...

Alrighty, here's the final word on this. I had updates available for an app I had off the Mac App Store and an OS update for Mountain Lion... 10.8.4. I tried to update the application from my wife's user account, but I was immediately prompted for my Apple id and password so I ignored it for the time being. I then selected the option to update the OS, again from my wife's user account on the iMac. No Apple id or password was required and it updated without a hitch. So... the OS is absolutely NOT tied to an Apple id as far as updating it goes. Re-downloading the installer obviously is, but that's as far as it goes.