December 2019 • Macworld 79De-authorizing iTunes on a Mac is easy
With the activation lock turned on, you won’t be
able to erase the Mac and reinstall macOS from
scratch. Check for the activation by logging into
the main or sole account and looking at the iCloud
preference pane – is Find My Mac enabled?
If it is, that’s bad from a couple fronts, because it
means the seller is sharing other iCloud information
with you, too, as well as the Mac being locked
against future erasure. The seller should be
amenable to making sure activation lock is disabled.Deauthorize iTunes
As a courtesy when buying remind the buyer to
deauthorize iTunes on a Mac before they erase
it or pass it on to you. The iTunes Store has a
five-computer limit for use with a single account,
and you can’t de-authorize individual computers
after they’ve had their drives wiped, even after