I installed the desktop task on this laptop, then switched it to postfix and installed a few other packages like nstxcd that also create users on install. The result: drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 4.0K Jun 2 08:22 ../ ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 07:49 BOGUS.joey.CY8W ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 07:37 Debian-exim ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 08:33 avahi ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 10:03 dictd ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 10:14 distccd ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 10:14 distmp3 ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 10:15 fetchmail ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 07:44 gdm ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 07:39 hal ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 07:37 identd -rw-rw---- 1 joey mail 3.2K Jun 2 11:42 joey ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 07:38 messagebus ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 10:17 mixmaster ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 10:21 nstxd ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 11:08 postfix ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 10:23 saned ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 08:35 sshd ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 07:37 statd ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 10:24 telnetd-ssl ---------- 1 root mail 0 Jun 2 10:24 uml-net I suspect that the BOGUS.joey.CY8W is from postfix moving the wrong owner and permissions joey file out of the way when delivering mail later. -- see shy jo