Inherited an IMAC! What do I do?

[Sillywan]

I have never used a Mac in my life. She left me no password. Her apple Id is confusing and does not seem to work. I got nothing from calling Apple but the same run around the machine sends me through. The pics they show look nothing like the screen I am looking at. They can't even tell me what machine I have. I would not know if it wasn't written across the back of it. I fired it off and it comes to a screen that says Mac OS X, so and so's computer Password: Do I stand a chance of getting this resolved by Apple, or do I just; or can I even just reinstall OS 10 and start over? I am at a loss. TIA for all the help.

 

[Nurgle2024]

if you have a friend with another iMac or Mac Powerbook, depending upon the IO ports your inherited Mac has, you can connect the two Mac together, god by firewire, start the other Mac first, and then hold down the T key on th inherited Mac as you start up, and hold it down till the firewire icon goes bouncing around the screen. this is then in Target mode.

you can then copy all files that may be on the hard disk of you inherited Mac to either the friend Mac or burn to disk or to a USB stick. it won't lt you recover any passwords, but saves the files.

you still would be forced to 'clean install' a new system & programs though..

if you don't know what ports from what, just post a pic here and we will tell you. similar you can post a pic of the name and model number, generally on the underside our the rear of the computer.

Regards, Sandy

 

[Nurgle2024]

sorry I forgot to explain, but in 'Target Disk mode' your inherited iMac will show up on the desktop of the other Mac as a simple external hard disk, which can then be searched through for files, etc. regards, Sandy'