cca@pur-phy (Charles C. Allen) (02/02/90)
I'm looking for a "password" application. I want to be able to invoke a password dialog on demand, after an idle period, and at startup to discourage unwanted people from diddling with a Mac at work. Extreme security is not the point. Booting off a floppy to bypass the password scheme is OK, since the people I want to discourage aren't malicious, they just don't know I want them to see me before using the Mac. Features I'm looking for: * Runs as an application. This would allow me to simply include it in the startup application set as well as run it on demand. I am of the opinion that INIT's are evil and to be avoided if possible. * No extra bells & whistles. Looking at the MacPassword documentation, I'm amazed at how cluttered it is (screen saver, virus detection, ack!). Doesn't anyone follow the KISS principle these days? * Ability to kick in after a (settable) time period. This isn't absolutely necessary, but it would be nice. The Darkness screen saver does this w/o resorting to INITness. * The dialog should have a place to put in a "custom" PICT (or just static text) to tell the user who to talk to about getting the password (or whatever). This certainly sounds simple to me. Just pop up a modal dialog box asking for the password, then exit (or switch yourself out?) when it's given. The password could be set in a resource in ResEdit (again, no extreme security measures are necessary). Any takers? I've looked at MacPassword 3.5.1 and Password 1.2. Both only check for a password at startup, and since I prefer to keep the Mac on all the time, that's not adequate. MacPassword is also incredibly cluttered with things I don't want. Charles Allen Internet: cca@newton.physics.purdue.edu Department of Physics HEPnet: purdnu::allen, fnal::cca Purdue University talknet: 317/494-9776 West Lafayette, IN 47907
dixon@sagittarius.crd.ge.com (walt dixon) (02/02/90)
In a previous posting Charles Allen writes: >I'm looking for a "password" application. I want to be able to invoke >a password dialog on demand, after an idle period, and at startup to >discourage unwanted people from diddling with a Mac at work. Extreme >security is not the point. [some text deleted] >This certainly sounds simple to me. Just pop up a modal dialog box >asking for the password, then exit (or switch yourself out?) when it's >given. The password could be set in a resource in ResEdit (again, no >extreme security measures are necessary). Any takers? I'm not quite sure what extreme security is, but I would classify any protection program that can be circumvented using the programmers switch as insecure. Walt Dixon {arpa: dixon@crd.ge.com } {us mail: ge crd } { po box 8 } { schenectady, ny 12301 } {phone: 518-387-5798 } Walt Dixon dixon@crd.ge.com
kovar@popvax.harvard.edu (David C. Kovar) (02/03/90)
Sorry to clutter the net but "pur-phy" isn't enough of a hostname to send mail back. If you're interested in something like this, please drop me a line and I'd be happy to discuss it with you. I know something that suits most of your needs. -David Kovar -David C. Kovar Consultant ARPA: kovar@popvax.harvard.edu Eclectic Associates BITNET: corwin@harvarda.bitnet Ma Bell: 617-646-0428 MacNET: DKovar "It is easier to get forgiveness than permission." [All opinions expressed are my own. Noone else assumes responsibility for me.]
ebert@arisia.Xerox.COM (Robert Ebert) (02/03/90)
In article <3055@pur-phy> cca@pur-phy (Charles C. Allen) writes: >I'm looking for a "password" application. > * Runs as an application. You're not looking for a "password" application at all. The security you talk about is so minimal it's hardly worth the trouble to even ask the user to type something. A simple solution would be to put a Scotch Post-It(tm) on your Mac, asking people to see you before using it. Simple, complete, and no bells or whistles. (The things you can do with post-its are really amazing!) As an alternative, create a document with your favorite word processing application. Put it someplace useful. Have it opened on startup. This is an electronic analog of a Post-It. You might also want to check out StartScrn, an init that puts a 'message of the day' on your screen at start time. You've got to click to make it go away. I think you can find it at sumex-aim... it was posted to comp.binaries.mac a couple of months ago. --Bob
brian@padouk.ima.isc.com (Brian R. Holt) (02/03/90)
In a previous posting Charles Allen writes: >I'm looking for a "password" application. I want to be able to invoke >a password dialog on demand, after an idle period, and at startup to >discourage unwanted people from diddling with a Mac at work. Extreme >security is not the point. Sounds like you just want to put a Post-it note on your screen that says: Please don't use my Mac without asking me. This will give you the level of security you described, with no bells and whistles. I do it all the time. =brian P.S. Post-it is a trademark of 3M brian@ima.isc.com US 617-661-7474 x206 near the last bend in the Charles River