Change Security & Privacy General preferences on
Mac
Use the General pane of Security & Privacy preferences to protect your Mac from
malware and tampering.
To change these preferences on your Mac, choose Apple menu
click Security & Privacy, then click General.
Note: If the lock at the bottom left of the pane is locked
preference pane.
> System Preferences,
, click it to unlock the
Open the General pane for me
Option
Description
Change Password
Click to change the login password for the
current user.
See Ways to remember passwords and If you
forget your login password.
Require password... after sleep or screen saver Use this setting to lock your Mac when it’s left
begins
in an idle state. When the Mac wakes, a user
login password must be entered before the
Mac can be used. You can select the amount
of time after the screen saver or sleep begins
before a password is required.
Show a message when the screen is locked
Select to display a short message in the login
window when your Mac is locked. The
message is shown to any users who attempt to
log in. It can also be used to provide contact
information for a lost Mac.
Disable automatic login
Select to require users to log in with a
password after restarting the Mac. This
feature isn’t available if FileVault is turned on.
Allow your Apple Watch to unlock apps and
your Mac
Use your Apple Watch (instead of entering
your password) to unlock apps when they
require a password and unlock your Mac when
you wake it from an idle state. See Unlock your
Mac and approve requests with Apple Watch.
This option is available only if your Mac
supports Auto Unlock.
Allow apps downloaded from
You can protect your Mac from malware by
only allowing apps that come from the App
Store or from identified developers.
App Store: Select to allow only apps that
have been downloaded from the App Store.
App Store and identified developers:
Select to allow apps only from the App
Store, and from developers identified by
Apple.
System software blocked
If you recently installed new software, it may
attempt to load system extensions. Click Allow
to load system extensions from the developer
of the software.
Advanced
Click to increase the security on your Mac by
adjusting settings in Change Advanced
preferences.
See also
Apple Support article: Report a security or privacy vulnerability
Apple Support article: Security and your Apple ID
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