Every recent Mac can be restarted in “Recovery Mode” by simply pressing the “Command” and “R” buttons together when the power is switched on.
Once your Mac is in Recovery Mode anyone with physical access to your Mac will also have unrestricted access to all your documents, emails, photos, etc.. However, this is easy to remedy by securing your computer with a Firmware password. Once it has been activated the password will be required to reboot your Mac in Recovery Mode (so keep it safe).
To set a Firmware password you must …
- Restart Your Mac in Recovery Mode by pressing the “Command” and “R” buttons when the power is switched on.
- When prompted select your preferred language.
- Click on the “Utilities” menu option and then select “Firmware Password Utility”
- Now click the “Turn on Firmware Password” button.
- Enter and verify a password in the appropriate boxes and press the “Set Password” button.
- Now press the “Quit Firmware Password Utility” button.
- To exit and restart you Mac, select “OS X Utilities” from the menu and then click “Quit OS X Utilities”.
- Now press the “Restart” button when prompted.
- That’s it!