Macbook questions.

[dddave]

I've always been a Windows user, I've never had an Apple computer.

My sister just gave me her late husbands Macbook Pro 14" laptop, purchased in 2012. She asked me to go through it and put all the photo files on a thumb drive and to go through his Email files and other files looking for anything important that needed tending to. She found it too painful to do herself.

She has no idea of what his password or user ID was. There is no worry of finding illicit activity or secret relationships...he was a very straight forward and principled individual.

I don't know Apple or Safari at all. Today, I couldn't even figure out how to copy and paste.

My biggest fear is the machine currently opens directly into his user account, no password requested. I worry I'll accidentally sign out of his account and because I do not know what his user ID or password is, be locked out and never be able to access it again. If the FBI had such trouble with an I-Phone, what chance have I?

I also want to start using this computer for my own use and set up my own user account but as before, fear that once I am out of his account, not being able to get back in and continue the work my sister needs to have done.

Is there a way to set up my own user account without closing his?

Are there any specific actions that could cause me to accidentally sign out of his account?

Can anybody recommend a good tutorial for basic apple commands and navigation?

[Lammbock]

Since you have access to his email account may I suggest to "forget password" and get a new one.

Check first if this email address is used for the Apple ID.

[Kered]

You can download a Macbook manual from Apple support which will supply much of the information that you require. In addition you can just ask a question on Safari and you will normally be presented with a number of answers many are Apple support documents.

[dddave]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

I believe with Windows, to re-set the administrative or primary password, you have to enter the current password to initiate the process. Is this also true with Apple? I believe even Google requires the initial password or some form of user verification to change passwords.

[SoiBiker]

I'd suggest making a full backup of his user account folder whilst you have access to it, as insurance against anything that might prevent you accessing it in the future.

[sometimewoodworker]

My biggest fear is the machine currently opens directly into his user account, no password requested. I worry I'll accidentally sign out of his account and because I do not know what his user ID or password is, be locked out and never be able to access it again. If the FBI had such trouble with an I-Phone, what chance have I?

I also want to start using this computer for my own use and set up my own user account but as before, fear that once I am out of his account, not being able to get back in and continue the work my sister needs to have done.

if when you turn the computer on it opens in his account then he had automatic login enabled, this means that any time you cycle the power his account will open.

however what you should do to be safe is copy everything from his home directory onto some external storage just incase you do manage to get logged out of the account and can’t get back in easily.

lammbock suggested that

Since you have access to his email account may I suggest to "forget password" and get a new one.

Check first if this email address is used for the Apple ID.

however that will be of little use as far as the password for the machine is concerned.It will permit updates to software but will probably cause significant problems in the short term. There is a way to reset the user password for his account using the terminal and the recovery partition, but at the moment you probably don’t need that.

The simplest information that will help you is that keyboard shortcuts on windows use the control key while on the mac they use the command key. most are the same.

there area few other points to considerr, one is that the computer may be registered with apple under his apple ID and you will absolutely want to de register it in the medium term.

if you want more information I will be happy to help.

As a Mac neophite I would strongly suggest recovering all the data before trying to set up a new user account.

One last point. once you do get used to the Mac you may never want to go back to windows

Edited June 10, 2016 by sometimewoodworker

[sometimewoodworker]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

I believe with Windows, to re-set the administrative or primary password, you have to enter the current password to initiate the process. Is this also true with Apple? I believe even Google requires the initial password or some form of user verification to change passwords.

There is a way around the need for the current password