{"id":3039,"date":"2011-07-25T12:37:57","date_gmt":"2011-07-25T11:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.intego.com\/?p=3039"},"modified":"2015-03-16T09:26:46","modified_gmt":"2015-03-16T16:26:46","slug":"mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/","title":{"rendered":"Mac Security Tip: Disable Automatic Login"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you first set up a new Mac, or when you do a clean installation of a new version of OS X, you create a user account, and that account is set, by default, to log in automatically at startup. This isn&#8217;t a problem when you&#8217;re at home, but if you use a laptop, and travel, this is a serious risk. This automatic login means that anyone who finds your Mac only needs to start it up to have access to your files.<\/p>\n<p>You can change this, and tell OS X to display a login screen on boot. There are two ways to do this.<\/p>\n<p>First, if you go to the Users &amp; Groups pane of System Preferences, and click on Login Options, you&#8217;ll see a menu that lets you choose which user logs in automatically at startup, or you can choose <b>Off<\/b> from this menu to turn off automatic login.<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3040\" title=\"auto-login-users-pref-pane\" src=\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/auto-login-users-pref-pane.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"426\" height=\"261\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/auto-login-users-pref-pane.jpg 426w, https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/auto-login-users-pref-pane-300x183.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/auto-login-users-pref-pane-100x61.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 426px) 100vw, 426px\" \/><\/center>The second way to change this is in the Security &amp; Privacy preferences, again in System Preferences. If you click on the General tab, you&#8217;ll see an option to <b>Disable Automatic Login<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3041\" title=\"security-prefs\" src=\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/security-prefs.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"580\" height=\"465\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/security-prefs.jpg 580w, https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/security-prefs-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/security-prefs-100x80.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" \/><\/center>Either way, turning off automatic login protects your data, and is only a slight encumbrance when you start up your Mac. You merely have to choose your user and enter your password to get to work. Think about making this change to protect your data from easily being grabbed by anyone who finds or steals your Mac.<\/p>\n<div class=\"blog-download\">\n<p class=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/demo?blog2\">Download 30-day free trial<\/a><\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/demo?blog2\">Protect your Mac from malware<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/demo?blog2\">Download a free 30-day trial version of VirusBarrier X6 and save $5<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Turning off automatic login on OS X is essential to protect your data, especially if your Mac gets lost or stolen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[78,82,3154],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Turning off automatic login on OS X is essential to protect your data, especially if your Mac gets lost or stolen.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mac Security Tip: Disable Automatic Login  - The Mac Security Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Turning off automatic login on OS X is essential to protect your data, especially if your Mac gets lost or stolen.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Mac Security Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-25T11:37:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-16T16:26:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Warning.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"128\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"128\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter James\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Intego\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/\",\"sameAs\":[],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/intego-organization-logo-for-google-knowledge-graph-875x875-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/intego-organization-logo-for-google-knowledge-graph-875x875-1.png\",\"width\":875,\"height\":875,\"caption\":\"Intego\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Mac Security Blog\",\"description\":\"Keep Macs safe from the dangers of the Internet\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Warning.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Warning.jpg\",\"width\":\"128\",\"height\":\"128\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/\",\"name\":\"Mac Security Tip: Disable Automatic Login - The Mac Security Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-25T11:37:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-16T16:26:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"Turning off automatic login on OS X is essential to protect your data, especially if your Mac gets lost or stolen.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mac Security Tip: Disable Automatic Login\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0c16bd0a4dd8f82d91204f400c8d116\"},\"headline\":\"Mac Security Tip: Disable Automatic Login\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-25T11:37:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-16T16:26:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#webpage\"},\"wordCount\":266,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Warning.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"login\",\"Mac Security Tips\",\"Security &amp; Privacy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"How To\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0c16bd0a4dd8f82d91204f400c8d116\",\"name\":\"Peter James\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0626bfb4ada576ba5aa775322329ad47?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0626bfb4ada576ba5aa775322329ad47?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Peter James\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/author\/peter\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"description":"Turning off automatic login on OS X is essential to protect your data, especially if your Mac gets lost or stolen.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mac Security Tip: Disable Automatic Login  - The Mac Security Blog","og_description":"Turning off automatic login on OS X is essential to protect your data, especially if your Mac gets lost or stolen.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/","og_site_name":"The Mac Security Blog","article_published_time":"2011-07-25T11:37:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-16T16:26:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"128","height":"128","url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Warning.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter James","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#organization","name":"Intego","url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/","sameAs":[],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/intego-organization-logo-for-google-knowledge-graph-875x875-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/intego-organization-logo-for-google-knowledge-graph-875x875-1.png","width":875,"height":875,"caption":"Intego"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/","name":"The Mac Security Blog","description":"Keep Macs safe from the dangers of the Internet","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Warning.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Warning.jpg","width":"128","height":"128"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/","name":"Mac Security Tip: Disable Automatic Login - The Mac Security Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2011-07-25T11:37:57+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-16T16:26:46+00:00","description":"Turning off automatic login on OS X is essential to protect your data, especially if your Mac gets lost or stolen.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mac Security Tip: Disable Automatic Login"}]},{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#webpage"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0c16bd0a4dd8f82d91204f400c8d116"},"headline":"Mac Security Tip: Disable Automatic Login","datePublished":"2011-07-25T11:37:57+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-16T16:26:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#webpage"},"wordCount":266,"commentCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Warning.jpg","keywords":["login","Mac Security Tips","Security &amp; Privacy"],"articleSection":["How To"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/mac-security-tip-disable-automatic-login\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0c16bd0a4dd8f82d91204f400c8d116","name":"Peter James","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0626bfb4ada576ba5aa775322329ad47?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0626bfb4ada576ba5aa775322329ad47?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Peter James"},"url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/author\/peter\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Warning.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4VAYd-N1","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/origin.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3039"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/origin.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/origin.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3039"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/origin.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38425,"href":"https:\/\/origin.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3039\/revisions\/38425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/origin.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}