Every so often, I hear from readers who have mistyped their short name when first configuring OS X — entering “chirs” when they wanted “chris,” for example. Understandably enough, this drives them to distraction. Dan Frakes and James Bucanek have devised a way to put things right.
I’ll let Dan and James’ blurb do the talking:
ChangeShortName is a script and helper application that do the dirty work involved in changing the short name of a user’s account in Mac OS X (versions 10.3.x and 10.2.x). It can also repair some problems that occur when a user has attempted to change their short username manually and done so incorrectly. For safety, it even backs up the NetInfo database beforehand. Changing your short username is a serious procedure, but ChangeShortName makes doing so easier and safer.ChangeShortName is “donationware,” and can be downloaded from Dan’s Mac OS X PowerTools site. Be sure to read the included documentation before using it.
I might also mention that Dan’s Mac OS X PowerTools, second edition, is an extremely useful book if you’re ready to go beyond the basics of Mac OS X. I recommend it highly.