What’s the problem with trying to make a product completely foolproof? It can’t be done. Why not? Fools are just so ingenious.
Alright, you have a Mac, and you have children. See a problem there? How can you baby proof a Mac so those younger than you cannot muck up what you’ve worked hard to setup and protect? Passwords help, yes, but those can be copied by the sponge-like absorbent qualities in the eyes of children. What to do? What to do?
Stop! Who Goes There?
Most children under 20 are curious creatures. Somehow when they become adults they also become less curious so don’t usually mess around with your expensive Apple toys.
To keep teenagers and toddlers away from your Mac all you need is 99-cents and BabyProof, the clever Mac utility which kinda sorta mostly locks down your Mac from itchy fingers.
BabyProof locks the screen, shuts off the mouse or trackpad, and prevents most– but not all– the keys on the keyboard from working. The advantage here is that you can setup a specific Mac app to run, then switch to BabyProof which prevents younger ones from switching from the movie or YouTube video you want them to see to something you don’t want them to see.
There’s not much to setup and use BabyProof, either. Preferences are obvious and fully customizable.
Special keyboard combos can be used to exit BabyProof. Setup takes a moment, though, as you’re required to ‘Enable Access for Assistive Devices’ in the Mac’s System Preferences. Otherwise, BabyProof is, well, baby proof– an inexpensive and elegant way to keep babies occupied with a video or book on the Mac’s screen, but unable to muck with OS X itself.