Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!iuvax!pur-ee!pur-phy!cca
From: cca@pur-phy (Charles C. Allen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Simple "password" application?
Message-ID: <3055@pur-phy>
Date: 1 Feb 90 23:17:15 GMT
Organization: Purdue Univ. Phys Dept, W.Lafayette, IN
Lines: 40

I'm looking for a "password" application.  I want to be able to invoke
a password dialog on demand, after an idle period, and at startup to
discourage unwanted people from diddling with a Mac at work.  Extreme
security is not the point.  Booting off a floppy to bypass the
password scheme is OK, since the people I want to discourage aren't
malicious, they just don't know I want them to see me before using the
Mac.  Features I'm looking for:

    *	Runs as an application.  This would allow me to simply include
	it in the startup application set as well as run it on demand.
	I am of the opinion that INIT's are evil and to be avoided if
	possible.

    *	No extra bells & whistles.  Looking at the MacPassword
	documentation, I'm amazed at how cluttered it is (screen
	saver, virus detection, ack!).  Doesn't anyone follow the KISS
	principle these days?

    *	Ability to kick in after a (settable) time period.  This isn't
	absolutely necessary, but it would be nice.  The Darkness
	screen saver does this w/o resorting to INITness.

    *	The dialog should have a place to put in a "custom" PICT (or
	just static text) to tell the user who to talk to about
	getting the password (or whatever).

This certainly sounds simple to me.  Just pop up a modal dialog box
asking for the password, then exit (or switch yourself out?) when it's
given.  The password could be set in a resource in ResEdit (again, no
extreme security measures are necessary).  Any takers?

I've looked at MacPassword 3.5.1 and Password 1.2.  Both only check
for a password at startup, and since I prefer to keep the Mac on all
the time, that's not adequate.  MacPassword is also incredibly
cluttered with things I don't want.

Charles Allen			Internet: cca@newton.physics.purdue.edu
Department of Physics		HEPnet:   purdnu::allen, fnal::cca
Purdue University		talknet:  317/494-9776
West Lafayette, IN  47907