Terminal Question

[pigoo3]

I have a question for you folks who are Terminal experts.

If someone (me for example) purchases a used Macintosh computer. And the previous owner made a bunch of modifications to how the computer looks, operates, or both. Will all of these changes be "undone"...if the hard drive is erased, reformatted, and a fresh copy of the OS installed? Or do/can the changes made with Terminal go deeper than the OS?

I did some internet searching on this...and couldn't really find a clear answer.

Thanks,

- Nick

 

[chscag]

No, unless the firmware of the machine was updated, when you erase, format, and install clean, all terminal modifications are gone.

 

[pigoo3]

Thanks Charlie. That is what I thought...and what some of the webpages I was reading seemed to allude to. But none of them actually came out & said a fresh reinstall of the OS would wipe out all Terminal changes.

I purchased a used Mac recently...and the previous owner was telling me all sorts of things they were trying to do, or did, or were thinking of doing to the computer. So I just wanted to make sure all "previous owner" Terminal modifications were eliminated.

I always do an HD erase & reformat...and then a fresh OS install on any used computer I purchase. Don't need any previous owner "baggage" or problems!

Thanks again,

- Nick