Deleting pervious owner's account

G

gator_grabber

Registered
My girlfriend just purchased a 1 year old Mac with OS X 10.5.2. Incredible as this seems, the previous owner mistakenly left all of her old information on the computer! We would like to delete this, but have been unable to contact her and get her password. Is there another way we can erase/delete this information? Thanks!
 
Assuming you have the setup disks you could boot to those and change the password on that account and login and delete the stuff that way.

Alternatively use the Directory Utility to sett he root password and login with that and delete it. Be very careful if you use tis method as root has the rights to delete any file on the system including the system ones.
 
or a fresh install. I would be inclined to do that if there is nothing on there you want, that way you get a fresh working mac without any used data floating around that you won't need
 
jameister said:
or a fresh install. I would be inclined to do that if there is nothing on there you want, that way you get a fresh working mac without any used data floating around that you won't need
Click to expand...

I second this, especially since you have no idea what the previous owner did to the system, either intentionally or not, or, maliciously or not.
 
I agree, a complete reinstall makes the most sense. The problem is that the setup disks were lost in the fire that the computer somehow escaped with only a bit of soot covering it. It looks like it's time to get new disks...
 
Hi gator_grabber & welcome :)

What Mac OS version is currently installed? You can find out if you click the apple icon in the upper left of the menubar and choose "About This Mac". You'll see info about the Mac and if you click on "More Info" you'll be directed to System Profiler for a complete rundown.

If you see a window like mine, click and hold on the info I've placed a red box around and you'll see additional info like the Build Info & if you release the mouse and click on the Build Info, you'll see the Macs Serial number :)

20081014-ccw7xqhgqf9rhi45kpjpjphbky.png



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Ok, you have Leopard which is the latest Mac OS release. AFAIK, they are up to 10.5.5 at the moment.

So you can buy the disc for Leopard, either from Apple, maybe even Amazon or an auction site like eBay ... just make sure you pick up a 'Full Retail Version' which is basically a universal install that will work on all Macs that meet the Leopard Minimum System Requirements (which your mac must already meet, of course ;) ):

  • Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor
  • 512MB of physical RAM
  • DVD drive for installation
​

You could also decide to go for the previous OS version; Tiger, which you may be able to pick up a bit cheaper from the same sources as above (except the Apple Store)

Whatever you decide on, make sure you read the fine print very carefully and that you are buying a Full Retail Version (Universal Install) as some auction sellers can claim this without realising that the disc/s they're selling require a *certain* version of Mac OS to *already* be installed on the Mac. This type of Installation disc/s is called an "Upgrade" set and I'm sure there are plenty of people who have mistakenly fallen for this ....
 
No probs, hang around as there are some fine folk here at macosx and if you need any help and can't find anything after a search, feel free to ask any questions you may have ... ;)
 
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