[X4U] Advice sought on a Mac book for an elderly beginner-level user.

[David R. Boag, DDS]

I'm definitely feeling your pain.

Years ago, when the G4 was brand new, my father and I bought identical  
350MHz G45 Sawtooths. I think it was 1999. Well, I've moved on to a  
Mini and now a brand spanking new 15" MBP. Problem is that the reason  
we bought the 2 machines identically was to make it easy for me to  
walk them through things while doing it myself on my machine. Well,  
you can't install Leopard on a Sawtooth.

Oh how much I want them to upgrade to a Mini! If for nothing else than  
Back to My Mac for taking over their machine when it's clear I'm  
better off doing it that way. But they aren't willing to pony up $600.  
<sigh> And then when I can't remember where something is in Tiger,  
they get upset with me!

OK. Vent over. I'm done.

On May 2, 2008, at 8:03 PM, Jamie Kahn Genet wrote:

> Heh, well I'm damn certain that's not the case here. I'm the admin
> user on the Mac in question and know exactly what's going on there.
> That said I'd LOVE to cede admin access, but it's just too dangerous
> in the hands of someone who randomly tries things like setting prefs,
> forgets she ever did that or fails to connect her actions with the
> sudden change in her workspace. It makes me almost want to use the
> parental controls on these elderly Mac user's accounts ( if it
> wouldn't create more troubles than it solves in these cases)...
>
> What was that simple Apple UI for kids that locked the user out of the
> Classic OS? It replaced icons with giant one-click-to-open buttons and
> you could select what programs the user had access to. That's what I
> think I need for OSX! :-D
>
> Regards,
> Jamie Kahn Genet