Mail's annoying lack of password security - where ??

R

redkite

Registered
Is it possible to set up Mail so that people using the same Mac OSX computer that have seperate email addresses from the same ISP cannot access the e-mail of any other user (on the same internet account?) This would be a common situation for most home users where a few people share an internet account.

I have found that seperate user identities on the Mac do not help as anyone knowing the other persons e-mail address can easily access their mail by using the main internet account password. I am used to using Outlook Express on PC's on which LOCAL passwords can protect the e-mail of seperate e-mail addresses on one computer.

Am I alone in missing this feature; maybe there is a way of doing it I'm not aware of. I can also add that Outlook Express for Mac also appears to be missing this feature.
 
I'm pretty sure Mail doesn't offer this.

But if you want to keep your stuff nice 'n' private, just create another user account for whoever and then you both have totally separate spaces to do your thang...
 
Also, if you do setup another user account, you can set up fast user switching.

That should take all of the hassle out of jumping from one person to another...
 
I find this frustrating as well. Fortunetly for me I have no kids that would "pry" into my email, just a wife. Really the only thing I find Apples mail useful for is organization. But doesnt every other mail program offer that as well....Luckly all I use it for is to send and receive emails, dont really care about the extras...
 
You mean that, by creating two different users, one logs in to their own account and can access the other user's mail? That doesn't sound right... even if both users use the same ISP internet account and have email addresses from the same domain, Mail shouldn't let one user access another user's email.

I suspect that perhaps one of your user's email accounts has the same password as the main internet access account. If so, then yes, any person knowing that person's email address and internet password can access their email, but it's not because they know the password to the internet account -- it's because they know the password to the email account.

All the email accounts should have different passwords, and they should be different from the main internet password. If they don't, then it's not a problem with Mail -- it's a lack of security by the ISP. The only local password should be the password to the user accounts for OS X, and people should not be accessing others' OS X accounts. If they can, then yes, they'll be able to read each other's email.
 
cory1848 said:
Luckly all I use it for is to send and receive emails, dont really care about the extras...
Click to expand...

Now before you go and get the wrong idea, I say this without _any_ sarcastic intent: what else would you use Mail for? And what extras?..
 
octane said:
Now before you go and get the wrong idea, I say this without _any_ sarcastic intent: what else would you use Mail for? And what extras?..
Click to expand...
LOL.....no wrong ideas taken....At my work we use Lotus Notes (I do not recommend this program, I hate it with a passion) it does have a lot of extra features believe it or not. Built in calendar, Stationary, Discussion threads, setting up of groups to send multiple emails using shortcuts, Archiving emails, etc.....signatures, still havent figured that out in apples mail, can one even use sigs in Mail?
 
Sure, you can use sigs in Mail -- open up the Preferences and you should see the "Signatures" section. I believe that you can select default sigs for different accounts, and I also believe you can select which sig to use other than the default at the time of composition. I don't use sigs, but I believe those statements are accurate...
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
Sure, you can use sigs in Mail -- open up the Preferences and you should see the "Signatures" section. I believe that you can select default sigs for different accounts, and I also believe you can select which sig to use other than the default at the time of composition. I don't use sigs, but I believe those statements are accurate...
Click to expand...

It is indeed correct.

You can have multiple signatures: go into the Preferences in Mail, select the Signatures icon in the button bar and then check the Show Signature... check box...
 
octane said:
It is indeed correct.

You can have multiple signatures: go into the Preferences in Mail, select the Signatures icon in the button bar and then check the Show Signature... check box...
Click to expand...

Hey thanks, you know I guess I never really looked that hard for it at my home email.
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
You mean that, by creating two different users, one logs in to their own account and can access the other user's mail? That doesn't sound right... even if both users use the same ISP internet account and have email addresses from the same domain, Mail shouldn't let one user access another user's email.

I suspect that perhaps one of your user's email accounts has the same password as the main internet access account. If so, then yes, any person knowing that person's email address and internet password can access their email, but it's not because they know the password to the internet account -- it's because they know the password to the email account.

All the email accounts should have different passwords, and they should be different from the main internet password. If they don't, then it's not a problem with Mail -- it's a lack of security by the ISP. The only local password should be the password to the user accounts for OS X, and people should not be accessing others' OS X accounts. If they can, then yes, they'll be able to read each other's email.
Click to expand...

You have to fill in the password for your e-mail account in email preferences but that is obviously the main one as its the one you need to log into the server to receive e-mail. There is no way to add a LOCAL password on the actual computer for each user of the same internet account. This is a serious ommission. I can't believe that apple has not thought of this problem.

What your saying is that each member of a family needs a seperate internet account with their own passwords etc and therefore would have too pay seperately - to maintain private e-mail.
 
Ah, I see... you may want to contact the ISP and ask them if it's possible to have different passwords for each email account, and if you can make the main one different as well.

In addition, you're not required to enter the email password in the preferences -- if you don't, then Mail will ask you to enter the password for the account when you check for mail or send mail.
 
I'll ask my ISP if I can have seperate passwords. This has been bugging me for ages as I can do this on a PC ! thanks
 
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