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Level 1

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My 14 year-old cat has beaten iBook security. Please help.

I have this old cat that likes to sleep on my iBook while I'm not using it. I have set the screensaver to require a password in order to prevent her from entering random keystrokes into the documents I leave open while I'm away.

However, I've noticed that while the computer is still in the screensaver when I return, she has somehow managed to circumvent the password and, among other things, rename my hard drive, execute complex keystroke combinations changing my system settings and save over documents which I have minimized.

I mean, I'm not even smart enough to see what she's done without the password. How is this happening?

Any way to lock up my iBook so that the cat can't.. uh.. do this? Can't close the iBook, due to a cracked screen.. which I am dealing with. We all have our crosses to bear, right? I'm not complaining, I just want to stop the cat from trying to rewrite my novel.

Cheers.

iBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Posted on Mar 23, 2007 9:28 AM

85 replies

nilscrasher Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 23, 2007 2:48 PM in response to Antonio Rocco

Last time I tried to close my iBook, the crack spread a little. I'm working around the dead pixels while I'm waiting to afford a new MacBook. Anyway, I need this machine for work, so I'm trying to minimize moving the screen at all.

I'm less worried about the cat, more worried about the fact that I don't feel like my iBook is secure. I mean, the cat is 14 years old and could theoretically go at any time. That would also solve this little problem, I guess. The greater problem is that I just can't figure out how the cat it getting past my 13 character, fairly-random password.

I'm worried that, even locked, I can't be sure that somebody as smart as my cat won't be screwing with my stuff. I'll follow all suggestions, thanks a lot. If I wake in the morning and the cat has been up to it's tricks again, I'll let you know.

I should've just gotten a dog.

Jpfresno

Level 4

3,020 points

Mar 23, 2007 2:52 PM in response to nilscrasher

Outside the box.

How about a cardboard cover w top, back and sides. Put it over the keyboard when you go for coffee or ...

Mar 23, 2007 3:20 PM in response to Jpfresno

Hi Jpfresno

Thanks for the welcome! I’ve been on the forum for some time now, not this particular one, I’ve been plying my advice over on the Server Forums for what its worth. Sometimes it gets a bit stuffy and heavy over there so I cast around looking for a bit of light relief on the Client Forum. I read this one and could not resist a reply! Just thinking on, you could expand the drawer idea and put it into a wardrobe or cupboard, an ottoman would do nicely too. Putting a towel over it or a blanket would do as well. If the cat defeats that lot, then put the cat on the telly you’ll make a fortune!

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

Mar 23, 2007 3:49 PM in response to nilscrasher

What a refreshing thread!

My cat

and I are enjoying it!

I hate to be too serious, but very fine cat hairs can play havoc with your keyboard.

The obvious solution to your problem is of course to buy a new MacBook Pro, and donate your old iBook to the cat so she can finish her novel, win some more on online poker, charge your credit card for two tons of luxury cat food, order a hit job on the vet, etc etc.

Mar 23, 2007 3:56 PM in response to nilscrasher

Have you ever used Fast User Switching? It really is fast, much faster than shutting down.

I'd suggest setting up an account in the cat's name and switch to it before leaving the room.

Kitty wants to play with the computer? Pets are like children in more ways than one, I guess. Give her an account so she doesn't mess up yours.

Mar 23, 2007 4:04 PM in response to Klaus1

Hi klaus

Ha! ha! ha! Brilliant! I love it! Aren’t cats amazing creatures? Apple should release a new franchise and call it iCat, it will make them billions.

What do you think?

Mar 23, 2007 4:06 PM in response to Ronda Wilson

Hi Ronda

This is good! We ought to have more of these threads, far more interesting than the run of the mill stuff usually posted. It would be marvellous if somehow the cat knew all of this anyway and is quietly smirking to itself.

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

Mar 23, 2007 4:08 PM in response to Antonio Rocco

Nice idea Antonio!

As long as it is a security measure, akin to shark repellant.

My cat adores watching paper emerge from the printer and tries to catch it.

This does little for the print quality.....

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

Mar 23, 2007 4:32 PM in response to nilscrasher

A friend of mine has offered a possible solution:

Re-boot the cat. maybe twice...

nilscrasher Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 23, 2007 4:55 PM in response to Klaus1

All right. I've given the cat its own user account and I'm leaving Microsoft Word open to catch the stray typing, although I think her future as a novelist is limited. The prose she produces just lacks.. Well, her pacing? Off. And she seems to lack the vocabulary to fully express even simple ideas.

So nobody has any idea how she was able to do this without unlocking my screensaver? Not at all?

Bummer.

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

Mar 23, 2007 6:04 PM in response to nilscrasher

Cats have a sixth sense...

Mar 24, 2007 2:52 AM in response to nilscrasher

Hi nilscrasher

I like Klaus’s idea, resetting the cat’s PRAM is also good.

Personally I think the cat knows and is just messing with your mind. Now you know what a mouse feels like.

So nobody has any idea how she was able to do this
without unlocking my screensaver? Not at all?

The laws of the universe allow for such a random act. You could wait a very long time for such a random act to occur, then again it could happen this very second. Is that a reasonable answer?

nilscrasher Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 24, 2007 3:30 AM in response to nilscrasher

It's the aftermath that's random, not the occurence. Every time the cat sleeps on my keyboard, something happens. But, it's every time. And I'm not just talking about the Num Lock and Caps Lock being triggers. This morning, I awoke to find my International Settings activated on the menu bar.

Screensaver still locked. I typed in my password and found that the cat had gotten through security again.

This isn't a remote login thing, is it? Somebody screwing with me through my internet connection? I've disabled all that stuff in my security prefs, but.. still. If I sound naive about these things, you should understand that.. I am.

I'm not overly bright, manifest here primarily by the fact that I honestly believe that my cat is hacking my iBook.

By the way, I have a friend who used to be a Tier 2, Apple Support rep. He witnessed it first hand. Saw the cat sleeping on the keyboard, observed her wake of destruction while the screensaver was locked.

Quote him: "Weird."

Mar 24, 2007 6:01 AM in response to nilscrasher

Is it possible that your cat is upsetting your novel because she wants you to pay more attention to her!

"People have dogs, but cats have people"

Mar 24, 2007 6:55 AM in response to nilscrasher

It's really not good for the cat to be sleeping on the keyboard, you know. She could cause the iBook to overheat (heat is dissipated through the keyboard).

I'm not sure whether this could be contributing to the problem.

What happened to the idea of her having her own account? If you aren't logged into your account, I don't see how anything could happen within your account unless there is some two-legged skullduggery afoot.

My 14 year-old cat has beaten iBook security. Please help.