Most doors have locks on them. Shocking, I know, but they are there for a good reason: to keep people out. It would be nice if we all lived in a Norman Rockwellian world where our doors would never be locked and we would all be busy painting self portraits, but that's not the world we live in.Sadly, in our world your Mac might get stolen. When this happens bad guys have the potential to get their hands on lots of your information. One easy way to thwart them is by disabling automatic login for all accounts on your Mac. This means that when your Mac boots up you will be prompted by a dialog asking for a password (at the very least, you can change the settings on this dialog, but that is a matter for a follow up post). Not the most comprehensive way to Secure your Mac, but it is a start.
Read on to learn how to do this.
To tell the unvarnished truth, I have to admit that I'm pretty lax on security for my computers. I don't do anything crazy like open email attachments from people I don't know, and I always 
As we recently 
TUAW has lately been trying to help you 
It is a sad fact of life that your Mac is only as secure as your password is strong. A good password is complex enough to thwart both idle hands ('I wonder if Scott is as dumb as he looks. I bet his password is 12345. Let me try it and find out') and dastardly hackers out to steal your personal information ('Ah, some fool has left his Mac unattended, let me try some brute force dictionary attacks in hopes that I will gain entrance into his digital domain and clear out his bank account AND delete all his iPhoto pictures'). Sadly, passwords that make security conscious paranoid freaks like myself happy are both difficult to remember and to type (it is all part of their charm). Luckily, Apple has included a small utility that can help you find a password both complex and memorable.
Victor's 
Occasionally, someone will ask me, "May I quickly check my email on your computer? Just real quick..." (often these are Windows users who need an excuse to play with the MacBook Pro). "Sure," I say, but before I hand over the reigns, I switch to my guest user account. Here's how you can create one.
So how do you access that folder from the Finder? Navigate to your Home folder (open a new window and click the little house in the left sidebar). Now, select "Go to folder..." from the menu bar. Enter the name of the folder you created, including the period (in my case, .MyPrivateStuff). Presto! Your hidden folder appears in the Finder window. Now populate it with your "secret" stuff (financial in nature, of course). 
