I am giving my iMac to a friend. There are a couple applications he wants me to keep on it. I want to know if there is a way to erase everything except the applications. I am thinking I can erase my account and just make a new account for him. I do not want any personal data left on it (including keychains and other personal info). Thanks!
What you're asking us to help you do sounds
extremely unethical. If he wants those applications, either you need to give him the original install disks and purge them from any other system you own, or he needs to buy a copy of his own. The same applies to any system installed on the machine... if the machine shipped with Leopard but now has Snow Leopard (for example), then you need to revert to Leopard. If you don't, not only are you violating the license agreement, but you're doing your friend a disservice by robbing him of a system disk matching the installed system with which to troubleshoot when necessary.
What I'd advise is to erase the hard drive, reinstall the system from the gray disk that came with the machine, then install any applications you plan on giving your friend. Then give him the machine, the gray system disk (which wouldn't be any good to you anyway) and the application install disks. That will give him not only the cleanest possible system, but also the tools he'll need to repair/restore that system if he ever needs to.
What you're asking us to help you do sounds
extremely unethical. If he wants those applications, either you need to give him the original install disks and purge them from any other system you own, or he needs to buy a copy of his own. The same applies to any system installed on the machine... if the machine shipped with Leopard but now has Snow Leopard (for example), then you need to revert to Leopard. If you don't, not only are you violating the license agreement, but you're doing your friend a disservice by robbing him of a system disk matching the installed system with which to troubleshoot when necessary.
What I'd advise is to erase the hard drive, reinstall the system from the gray disk that came with the machine, then install any applications you plan on giving your friend. Then give him the machine, the gray system disk (which wouldn't be any good to you anyway) and the application install disks. That will give him not only the cleanest possible system, but also the tools he'll need to repair/restore that system if he ever needs to.
Deleting your Home folder should suffice although that will also remove all applications preferences including possible registration numbers as well as any Applications Support folders the applications may require. It would be a good idea to locate any relevant files/folders and save them beforehand.
Be sure to create a new admin account for your friend, then log into that account in order to delete your old account. You should consult with your friend about the short name to use because changing the account's short name is a lot of work.
yes, you can make a new account and delete the old one. but keep in mind that any 3rd party software you give him should either be free or you should provide the original install disks for that software or the license keys if it was a paid download. you can not simply give away copies of commercial software. therefore, it's best to do a wipe and install and provide him with the install disks so that he can install those apps himself onto a clean system.
The software programs are 3rd party programs that are free. I would do a clean install but there are about 100 programs and would take a while. And I am putting the original operating system on there.
