password protected programs

[Icarus]

so I don't really trust my room mate. And so I've come into the habit of password protecting my computer in general - things that I thought were a waste of time at home, I really use now. (authenticate from screensaver ect) but in the event that I forget to close the lid, he could get into my computer.

So now I'm looking for a way that makes selected programs useless without a password -

how do I do this? I'd like to password protected word, excel and ichat - how do I do this?

I already looked on versiontracker, there wasn't anything there worth getting that I found...

so any suggestions?

 

[LClark1L]

How about telling your roomate not to use your computer, first. The simplest things are sometimes the most effective.

 

[Icarus]

but see, I don't KNOW he's using the computer - I only have theories.

Besides, that's no fun!

 

[LClark1L]

I'm just sayin'...

 

[Padawan]

I don't know whether there's a way to password-protect individual applications, but you can easily set up your machine so that it requires a password at login, when waking from sleep, and to deactivate the screen saver. You could then simply log out, or put the machine to sleep when you leave it, and you could also set the screen saver to activate after a few minutes as added security.

I actually just checked out MacUpdate, and there are a number of programs on there that might be useful for you. Search for "password", and you should find them.

 

[witeshark]

One thing you can do is make a user that has no permissions to the apps you want protected, and use that account when you do things not involving those apps in times when you know the book will be exposed to your room mate

 

[vuschejan]

One thing you can do is make a user that has no permissions to the apps you want protected, and use that account when you do things not involving those apps in times when you know the book will be exposed to your room mate

A camera hidden in like the room...

 

[Icarus]

I would make a different account that doesn't let you use certain programs and files except that the programs I wouldn't want him to open are the same programs that I use the most - Proteus and Safari.

 

[gort]

Why doesn't your roommate have his own computer? Just password the screensaver and set a hot corner.

 

[Icarus]

oh, he does have his own computer - though I feel that he's extra nosy. (though perhaps I am just paranoid and bored.)

 

[Aptmunich]

Right, you'll need an isight, a large harddrive and some sort of laser beam,...
*oops, I always get a bit carried away with this sort of thing...

 

[Icarus]

so this is how I solved it - I made a password protected disk image and put the program that I want to protect in there - and then when I click on 'safari' on the dock, (assuming that the disk image isn't already open) it asks for my password.

Anybody have a more efficent way?

 

[iSheep]

Put your apps into your Home folder and use FileFault?

 

[Padawan]

Just password the screensaver and set a hot corner.

Exactly. This seems like the easiest and most logical way. Why bother moving around applications and creating hidden/protected folders? Set the machine to require a password when starting up, waking from sleep, and returning from the screen saver. Extremely simple, and then the entire computer is protected, no just a few select applications.

 

[Icarus]

I'm am such randomly paranoid that I have the programs passworded, the start up passworded, the screen saver password AND I have a hot corner set for the screensaver. AND the passwords are all different. Sheesh...I make myself work way to hard for such little gratifucation...

 

[Joeytpg]

listen....it doesn't seem like your roommate has a problem..........to me it seems more like YOU have the problem..............stop being paranoid dude............just talk to him and tell him you don't want him to touch your computer and that's it.............and stop being a paranoid psycho. that's what you seem like.

 

[vuschejan]

listen....it doesn't seem like your roommate has a problem..........to me it seems more like YOU have the problem..............stop being paranoid dude............just talk to him and tell him you don't want him to touch your computer and that's it.............and stop being a paranoid psycho. that's what you seem like.

So did you ever find a password protection program? If you do id like to know it for reference

 

[Icarus]

listen....it doesn't seem like your roommate has a problem..........to me it seems more like YOU have the problem..............stop being paranoid dude............just talk to him and tell him you don't want him to touch your computer and that's it.............and stop being a paranoid psycho. that's what you seem like.

'Psycho' is a bad term.

chances are I will take majority of this stuff off tomorrow because I'll get bored of putting passwords in...and I'm liking the screensaver idea...

 

[Joeytpg]

cool, best thing.........just talk to him, like humans do....

 

[Murlyn]

Yeah pretty easy to just set a password and that's that. And maybe if you're feeling good spirited create an account for him.. people have a tendency to gravitate to things that are hands off.. so by giving him an account and saying.. if you want to play around.. here have an account, although you'll need to remember that when I need it, you'll need to get off. He might not even take you up on it.. and it's not hands off so he doesnt have that temptation and when you give him an account, you can control exactly what program he can or can not use, in the user preferences.