TOPIC As a multi-user operating system, Mac OS X Public Beta requires users to save documents to locations within their individual Home directories. DISCUSSION What is a Home directory? Mac OS X Public Beta is a multi-user operating system designed to keep the documents and preferences of a computer's users separated and properly arranged. To do this, Mac OS X Public Beta creates a Users folder on the Mac OS X volume. Folders bearing the names of each of the computer's users reside in the Users folder. The folder named after a user is that user's Home directory. Why are Home directories important? The Home directory is the area of the file system to which a particular user has read-write access. Only the administrative user of the computer has access to areas outside the Home directory. Each Home directory includes a Documents folder. A home directory also contains the items that a user sees on the desktop when logged in to the computer. Each user only sees the contents of his or her desktop. You can view the contents of your Home directory by clicking the Home button in the Finder window's toolbar. Having Home directories allows a computer's administrator to maintain security and prevent unwanted changes to the computer's software. How does this affect opening and saving documents? Dialogs in Mac OS X Public Beta default to a user's Documents folder for opening and saving files. It is a good idea to keep your files in the Documents folder so the correct access privileges are enforced. This also prevents other users from having the ability to read your files or make changes to them without your knowledge. |
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| Document Information | |
| Product Area: | Mac OS System Software |
| Category: | Mac OS X |
| Sub Category: | General Topics |
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