How to Become System Administrator on a MacBook

On the Macintosh computer platform, it's necessary to become system administrator to accomplish several tasks. If the Macintosh platform is used by several people, then only a select number of users will have administrator privileges. The reason is that certain system administration tasks could cause your Macintosh computer to crash if used incorrectly. However, don't let this stop you from performing Macintosh system administration when it's needed.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Add a new user to the Macintosh system. Click on the Apple menu in the upper left hand corner. Then go to the System Preferences and click on accounts. You will be prompted to enter the administrator password. Click on the Add button and type the new user's name and password.

2. Set parental controls for the user. It's possible to set parental control on any user account as the system administrator. The two most common parental controls are time limits and bedtimes. The time limits set a maximum amount of time allowed on a computer in a given day. Bedtimes establish off hours where access to the computer is prohibited.

3. Install new software on the Macintosh system. This task requires system administrator privileges. The most common method to install software on a Macintosh is done using fink. Simply type in the word "fink" on the command line and enter the system administrator password when prompted.

4. Perform backups of important computer data. This is done using "Time Machine." With Time Machine, you could schedule automated backups as the system administrator so that the computer can be restored if the hard drive fails.