Section 12.7. Fast User Switching

12.7. Fast User Switching

The account system described so far in this chapter has its charms. It keeps everyone's stuff separate, it keeps your files safe, and, most importantly, it lets you have the desktop picture of your choice.

Unfortunately, it can go from handy to hassle in one split second. That's when you're logged in, and someone else wants to duck in for just a secondto check email or a calendar, for example. What are you supposed to dolog out completely, closing all of your documents and quitting all of your programs, just so the interloper can look something up? Even Windows doesn't make you do that.

Figure 12-13. Top: The existence of the Accounts menulet lets you know that Fast User Switching is turned on. The circled checkmark indicates a person who has already logged in. The dimmed account name shows who's logged in right now.
Bottom: Fast User Switching lets one account holder "cut in" without requiring someone else to log out first. When the screen changes from your account to someone else's, your entire world slides visibly offscreen although it's mounted on the side of a rotating cubea spectacular feature made available by the Quartz Extreme graphics software available on new Macs.

Luckily, Apple took a cue from Microsoft and added Fast User Switching to Mac OS X. Now Person B can log in and use the Mac for a little while, while all of your stuff, Person A, simply slides into the background (Figure 12-13).

When Person B is finished working, you can bring your whole work environment back to the screen without having to reopen anything. All your windows and programs are still open , just as you left them.

To turn on this feature, open the Accounts panel of System Preferences (and click the padlock, if necessary, to unlock the pane). Click Login Options, and turn on "Enable fast user switching."

The only change you notice immediately is the appearance of your own account name in the upper-right corner of the screen (Figure 12-13, top). (You can change what this menu looks like by using the "View as" pop-up menu, also shown in Figure 12-13.)

That's all there is to it. Next time you need a fellow account holder to relinquish control so that you can duck in for a little work, just choose your name from the Accounts menu. Type your password, if one is required, and feel guiltless about the interruption.