The problem lies with Mac OS X’s Guest Account functionality, and was first reported at the beginning of September on Apple’s Support Discussions forum. Specifically, some Mac owners have found that after using the Guest account, and later logging-in to their usual primary account, all their personal data has been wiped clean. Everything. Documents, pictures, movies, music. The whole lot.

More worryingly, some users report that they didn’t even use their Guest account first — simply booting up their Mac normally resulted in an “out of the box” experience — default wallpaper, dock configuration and, again, a loss of all personal data.

It seems just about every technology or Apple-focused website is reporting the issue this morning. At a time when Microsoft is suffering the humiliation of having permanently lost customer’s data, Apple is in similar hot water. It’s not a competition, boys!

From what the user community has managed to figure out, the bug occurs only in Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) with a Guest Account that was created in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). After upgrading to Snow Leopard, the Guest Account settings retain Leopard’s older spots, to coin a phrase. And there the problem lies.

Thankfully, and in a break from its usual behavior (that is, stubborn refusal to admit anything is wrong with their products) Apple yesterday delivered a statement to CNET that reads, “We are aware of the issue which occurs only in extremely rare cases and we are working on a fix.” OK, a few plus-points for finally admitting there’s a problem. Minus a few points for it taking over a month to do so. (Seriously, do we really think it took Apple this long to reproduce the problem? No. Of course not.) And minus a few hundred more for Apple not putting that crucial statement on its own support pages, which I would modestly suggest is vastly more professional and helpful to Mac owners who aren’t CNET or tech-press readers. But oh well — at least we got something.

Thankfully there are some steps everyone can take to minimize the risks of falling foul to this hugely worrying bug.

First off, have a recent and complete Time Machine backup of your personal account and all your data (but think twice if you’re using a Time Capsule that’s a little more than 17 months old).

Next, if the Guest Account was enabled before you upgraded to Snow Leopard, pop in to your System Preferences and disable it. To do so, follow the steps below.

In System Preferences, choose Accounts

Click the padlock icon to make changes - you may be prompted for your password

The icon will now indicate you can make changes

Click on the Guest Account icon

Un-check the box labeled "Allow guests to log in to this computer"

That’s it. Close System Preferences and restart your computer. When you next log in, you can choose whether or not you want to re-enable the Guest Account. Doing so after following these steps ought to be safe, since the Guest Account will be recreated with all-new Snow Leopard settings which, it’s assumed, won’t delete all your valuable personal data. But please note carefully — this is a community-generated ‘fix’ and not officially recommended or endorsed by Apple. It might work. It might not. Your mileage, as they say, may vary.

Anecdotal Evidence Alert: I had my Guest account disabled on all my machines prior to upgrading to SL. In an heroic act of self sacrifice I’ve courageously enabled the Guest account on all of my Macs, then logged back in to my usual personal account. I haven’t lost a thing. Hardly a scientific test of the theory this problem occurs only with 10.5/Leopard flavoured Guest accounts, but encouraging, nonetheless.

Have you been hit by this bug? Can you offer a more technically sound workaround? Please share in the comments below.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Sometimes you just can’t go back in time

Time Machine makes backups automatic, but your Time Machine drive is probably right next to the computer. You might have a problem with a magnetic disturbance, or you might simply face more mundane issues like floods or electrical storms while you are gone. Before you leave town, make a manual backup of your critical data and take your backup offsite. I keep mine in the glove compartment of my car parked at the airport (password-protected, of course).

If traveling with a laptop, don’t bring your primary Time Machine drive with you. It defeats the purpose of having your computer and backup in the same place; just ask Ed Baig from US Airways Flight 1549 — or some of the passengers of Oceanic Air…They always face disaster.

Be very afraid if Dennis Haysbert shows up on your doorstep

When the unforeseen occurs, are you sure you’re covered? What’s your deductible? Is data recovery included? Will it be excluded because of business purposes? Is it covered when it’s stolen from the car? Spend a few minutes and call your insurance agent so you know how to handle these things should disaster strike. Personally, I have all my computers “scheduled” on my homeowner’s policy. Juliet thought she’d be gone for a few weeks, and it turned out to be much longer. Her agent said it should have been on the business policy and not homeowner’s policy. Ouch. Good to know what your coverage is before disaster.

4 8 15 16 23 42

Some numbers are easy to remember; others are harder. If the police call saying they’ve retrieved your MacBook, can you prove ownership? It’s hard to even make a police report without the serial number. Time is of the essence, because you never know when you might slip away. Choose “About this Mac” from the Apple Menu and click on the operating system version twice to get your serial number. Keep it in your wallet or at least tell it to a friend you can easily reach, if you can reach them.

Because sometimes having a working phone is vital

If your iPhone dies while out of town, is destroyed by “other” people, or just flakes out on you, do you have time to go to an Apple Store? Is there even one around? No phone while traveling is rough, especially for people like doctors and other professionals. Pop out the SIM card of your iPhone, put it in a disposable GoPhone, and you are, pardon the pun, good to go. I travel with a GoPhone for just this reason. You may not have all your data from your iPhone, but you do have a phone, and can hold tight until you get home.

Can you go back to the beginning?

You are on the road, and now your Mac is acting wonky. Unfortunately, you don’t have a software toolkit. What one disk would you take to a deserted island? Your Mac OS installer DVD. As long as the problem is software and not hardware, you can solve a multitude of woes with this DVD. You can boot off the DVD, repair the hard drive, get online, and even run a backup. In a worst-case scenario ,you do an Archive and Reinstall. You might need to reinstall applications, but on the road, you’ll at least be up and running. Think of it as a do-over without the bright flash of light.

Gosh, I really guess I’m missing TV over this summer break. I might be “lost,” but my Apple stuff isn’t. What tips do you have for traveling with your Mac and iPhone, besides avoiding Oceanic Airline flights over the South Pacific and paying attention to your fellow passengers?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Green IT Wrap-up: Q1 2009
• The Smart Energy Home
• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era

Boxee is telling their Mac users to get LOST — that is, they are telling them that they can watch the hit show on their Mac.

Boxee is releasing a new update for their Mac version today that allows users to stream content from ABC. The release is timed to coincide with the season premier of LOST, which will be available through ABC.com the day following the broadcast. The Apple TV, Windows, and Linux updates are in the works. I’m not-so-secretly pleased to see this update out on the Mac platform first.

I had a chance to ask the boxee team for a quick response on why support for ABC is coming to the Mac before all those other guys. If you are a regular visitor to TheAppleBlog, you will not be shocked to see that the team at boxee just likes the Mac. And I say, why shouldn’t they?
 Here are the four reasons that they said Mac people are getting the ABC love first…

1. Consistent hardware – The Mac is the easiest to program for because they know exactly what kind of hardware people are on.
2. Macs work well with (and often come with) remotes.
3. Half of boxee users are using boxee in conjunction with their big screen TV and an AppleTV. Since the majority of their users are on Mac, that was the platform they decided to launch ABC with (and the platform they initially launched boxee on back in June).
4. Last, but not least, they’re all on Mac and they like Apple products.

We have been encouraging people to try out boxee on their Mac or AppleTV, but I am pleasantly surprised to learn that half or more of their users are on an Apple product. Now if we could just get Apple to sit up and notice that boxee is the perfect reason to buy a Mac mini, maybe they would get around to updating the graphics chip after three whole pickin’ years with the GMA950.

Of course, adding more streaming media isn’t all that boxee has been up to lately. They received a lot of recognition at CES and have started receiving coverage at major news outlets like the New York Times.  There’s been some interest in getting boxee onto a specialized media player device that would be easier to set up than hacking your AppleTV. Even if the patchstick procedure is pretty straightforward for the technically literate, it’s certainly not something my parents would ever do.

You can sign up to join the public alpha test at boxee.tv.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• A 2011 Connected Consumer Forecast
• Connected Consumer Q4: New Platforms and OTT’s Dynamic Duo Dominated
• Report: A Mobile Video Market Overview

In his talk, he discusses the element of mystery behind his shows as well as the impact of the digital age on filmmaking. The real takeaway from his talk is (mind you, I’m paraphrasing) “He loves him some Apple.” My favorite quote from him: “This Powerbook challenges me. What are you going to write worthy of me?”

This complete, self-proclaimed Apple fan watches Stevenotes and uses his Powerbook on stage. For the record, he was just as surprised as the rest of us to see Lost behind Steve Jobs when they announced TV Shows on iTunes.

Apple ‘Heart’ image from Insanely Great Tees.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks