111. Log In from the Login Window  BEFORE YOU BEGIN 118 Add a New User 110 Enable and Disable Automatic Login
 SEE ALSO 109 Set Applications to Launch Automatically at Login 114 Automatically Log Out
With automatic login disabled, one screen that you will become very familiar with is the login window. This screen features a box in the middle with a list of all the available users in the system, each with a personalized picture. Any of these users can log in by clicking their name and entering their password when prompted. At the end of your session, when you log out from the Apple menu (or if you have Mac OS X set to log you out automatically), you return to the login window.  TIP Security-conscious administrators may choose a different style of login windowone that, instead of a list of available users, presents two text input boxes: a name and a password. You can enter either your full name or your short username, but without the list of users to choose from visually, someone trying to sneak into the system will have a much harder time trying to guess a valid username.
111. Log In from the Login Window 
You can even return to the login window without ending your session. If you enable Fast User Switching (see 112 Switch to Another User ), you can call up the login window at any time, log in as another user, or return to your session that's been running in the background. | 1. | Restart the Computer or Log Out
First make sure that automatic login is turned off (see 110 Enable and Disable Automatic Login ) to ensure that the computer will present the login window rather than booting automatically into a certain user's account.
Restart the computer; alternatively, select Log Out <Your Name> from the Apple menu and click Log Out to confirm the action. When the computer is ready for your input, it will display the login window.
| | 2. | Select the User to Log In As
From the list of users, scroll to the user you want to log in as, if necessary, and click on the user's name or picture. The window shifts slightly to give you a password box. Click Go Back if you have mistakenly selected the wrong user.
| | 3. | Enter Your Password
Type your password into the box and click Log In . You are logged in to your user environment; in a few moments, after your Dock and Desktop have been set up and any Startup Items you have configured have executed (see 109 Set Applications to Launch Automatically at Login for more information), you will be ready to use the computer normally.
| | 4. | Retrieve a Hint for a Forgotten Password It happens to the best of us: You might try to log in, but for the life of you you can't remember your password. Fortunately, Mac OS X has you covered. If you enter an incorrect password three times, you are automatically shown the "hint" that's associated with your account password, which you specified when you first set up your Mac or created the user account you're working with (see 118 Add a New User for more about password hints). This hint should remind you what password to use. NOTE If you can't remember your password even with the hint, you need to ask the primary user of the computer to reset your password for you, as shown in 121 Change a User's Password . (Any Admin user can change another user's password.) If you're the primary user and you've forgotten the password for the only Admin account on the computer, you can reset your password by booting the system from the Tiger installation CD or DVD and selecting the Reset Password option from the Utilities menu rather than going through the installation process. | | 5. | Log Out
When you're done using the computer, choose Log Out <Your Name> from the Apple menu. Click Log Out in the confirmation dialog box that appears to quit your applications and log out immediately; if you don't click that button, Mac OS X automatically shuts down all your applications and logs you out after two minutes (120 seconds). After you log out, the Mac returns to showing the login window.
| NOTE For privacy's sake, it's always a good idea to log out at the end of each user session if your Mac is in a multiuser environment. You don't want other people to be able to come along and mess around with your files, after all. Consider configuring Mac OS X to log you out automatically (see 114 Automatically Log Out ); or at the very least, make sure that the Mac requires a password if awakened from sleep or the screen saver ( 115 Require a Password When Reactivating the Computer ).
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