Filed under: Software, Cool tools, Hacks
ChangeShortName updated to 1.3
A few weeks ago, in discussing some things not to do with your Mac, one of our commenters asked why changing the shortname (the abbreviated version of your username you see in Terminal, as the name of your 'home folder' or in Get Info windows) is such a nasty bit of business on Mac OS X. Shouldn't it be easy as pie, on the 'computer for the rest of us,' to make this quick and trivial modification? Well... it isn't. In part due to Mac OS X's UNIX heritage and in part due to NetInfo (a chunk of the NeXT operating system that hopefully won't be around forever), the shortname gets tucked away in a lot of tricky wee places, and getting them all updated manually is a path to disaster.Fortunately, as Scott mentioned way back in ought-five, there's a somewhat easier way: James Bucanek & Dan Frakes' handy-dandy and free ChangeShortName utility. This tool, now updated to version 1.3 and featuring an all-new Cocoa interface, will give timid people the strength to do what must be done and change your shortname for you, as an absolute last resort. Seriously, you are not allowed to use this program without reading the included (and well-written) manual, and you should heed the FAQ that asks "Q: Should I be scared of ChangeShortName? A: YES."
The authors suggest learning to live with your hella lame shortname, or creating a new account and migrating your data instead of changing the name; if something goes wrong in the process, your efforts at account aesthetics might render your machine unusable. You've been warned!
Thanks Dan & James
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