Forum member ClockWork brings us this handy tutorial.

Sometimes, if things don’t work the way they’re supposed to in Mac OS X, you can check if the problem is inside your User folder, or if the problem is System wide, or a Hardware problem.

An easy way to check this is to create a new User Account and then test the problem in there.

Although creating a new User Account is very fast and simple, if you don’t know how to do it, follow this fully visual guide.

Note: All red circles and green arrows shown in this article are purely for diagramatical purposes and you will not see them on your screen.

1. Click on your top-left Apple menu and scroll down to System Preferences…

2. In the System Preferences window, click once on: Accounts – as shown here circled in red.

3. In the Accounts window, click once on the lower-left Padlock icon, as shown here circled in red.

4. A new window will appear asking you for your Name and Password. Your Name should already be there, so simply type in your Password (if you have a Password) and then click the OKbutton, as circled here in red.

5. Back in the Accounts window, click once on the [+] button, just above the Padlock, as shown here circled in red.

6. This drop down window will appear. Click on the top button marked: Standard, next to New Account, as circled here in red…

7. … and scroll up to Administrator, as shown here.

8. Where it says Name: simply type in a new Name for your new account, as shown here by the top green arrow. The Name can be anything you like. I’ve used New Test Account just so I don’t get mixed up with my original Account Name.

Then simply click once in the Short Name panel, as shown here by second green arrow, and your computer will automatically create a Short Name for you.

Then simply click once on the OK button, as circled here in red.

9. This window will appear as I did not enter a Password for my New Test Account, yet as it is just a test, I don’t want the added complexity of having a password, so in this window, simply click once on the OK button, as shown here circled in red.

10. In the next alert window, click once on the Keep Automatic Login, as shown here circled in red.

11. Back in the Accounts window, click once on the area just above the [+] button with the black outline of a home, called Login Options, as circled here in red.

12. Next, click once to “tick” the Enable fast user switching box, as shown here circled in red.
Click it to put a blue tick inside it.

13. When this drop down Warning appears, don’t be alarmed and simply click the OK button, as shown here circled in red.

14. Then click once on the top-left menu item: System Preferences, and scroll down to: Quit System Preferences.

15. If you now look to the top-right of your screen, you’ll see that your main User Account Name is up there next to the Time.
Click once on your Name and scroll down to the New Test Account.

16. Your screen will do the big 3D Cube swing around and reveal an entirely new screen….

In fact, the kind of screen you saw when you turned on your Apple Mac computer for the very first time.

It is here, in this utterly new and fresh Account, that you can test the Application or the function that wasn’t working properly in your primary User Account.

If it “whatever-it-is-that-is-causing-a-problem-in-your-primary-user-account” works perfectly here, in this New Test Account, then it’s definitely not a Hardware problem, nor is it a general Mac OS X System problem, thus it must have something to do with a problem in your original User Account and this is the simplest way to test it and see it.

If the problem still occurs here in this New Test Account, then yes, it is either a Hardware problem, or an overall problem with Mac OS X, yet either way, it is here that you can determine which kind of problem it is.

And having the User Account Name up in the top-right corner of your screen, as shown back in Step 15, means you can always click on it and switch User Accounts to compare the problem.

After using this Test Account to see if the problem is only isolated to your original User Account, here are the instruction on returning back to your original Account:

17. Click on the top-left Apple menu and scroll down to: Log Out New Test Account…

18. …and click once on the Log Out button in this window, as shown here circled in red.

19. All menus will fade away and this Login window will appear.
Enter your Name and your Password, and then click once upon the fourth blue round button with a black lined image of a home in it, called: Log In.

You will be returned to your original User Account and familiar screen.

Now, the New Test Account can remain on-board, as it’s a good way of testing if any particular problem is solely to do with your original Account, or if it is a far more serious Hardware problem, or a general OS X System problem, yet if you wish to make it go away, here’s how:

20. Click once on your Apple Menu and scroll down to System Preferences…

21. In your System Preferences window, click once on Accounts once again, as shown here circled in red.

22. In your Accounts window, click once on the Padlock icon, as shown here circled in red.

23. Enter your Password and click once on the OK button, shown here circled in red.

24. And back in the Accounts window, click once on the New Test Account, as shown here circled in red.

25. And click once on the lower-left [-] minus button, as shown here circled in red.

26. A drop down window will appear. Click once on the Delete the home folder radio button, as shown here circled in red.

27. And then click the OK button, as shown here circled in red.

28. Next, click once on the area marked: Login Options, as shown here circled in red.

29. And “untick” the Enable fast user switching box, as shown here circled in red. It should be left empty.

30. Quit System Preferences.

31. And if you now look to the top-right of your screen, you will see that your Account User Name has vanished, along with the New Test Account.

Note that one needn’t delete New User Accounts, and one can create as many as one likes, especially useful if there’s only one Apple Mac computer running Mac OS X, yet more than one person who wishes to use the machine.

Creating New User Accounts doesn’t take up vast amounts of space, and each person’s User Account will be quite separate and different from everyone else’s User Account.