Recently my Mac laptop has started resetting it's name to "localhost". On system preferences I have it set to Pismo-OS-X. This is both in the Network section for DHCP client name and in the Sharing section for computer name and rendevous name. These control panel settings remain the same, however when I bring up a terminal window the prompt says "localhost" and when I check out my router's "DHCP Clients table" my computer shows up as "localhost". Unfortunately I started noticing this about a month after it was happening... (I have a linux fileserver and it shows my last login as Pismo-OS-X as being a month ago, localhost logins since then), but I don't install new software frequently and certainly none about a month ago. Any ideas? Thanks Mike

"localhost" is just a computer's way of referring to itself. It means "me" or "myself" and always resolves to the machine you are sitting at. Other people on the network will always see your computer as the name listed in the sharing preferences. It's a convenient shorthand way to connect to your own computer without entering your own IP or domain name.

Thanks, I knew that, omitted it to keep bandwidth down... all I need are 2 or more folks who's machines default to localhost and ... I'm confused, though I'm sure the machines will do just fine. I am aware of the /etc/config files that I can change to "fix" my problem, but that seems like overkill on a mac... Whatever I do to hard code my machine name will not be changeable through the normal Mac System Preferences settings. Any ideas on more graceful ways to address my problem? Thanks Mike

The settings in the "Sharing" pane of System Preferences are for your Apple Filing Protocol, Windows SMB, and Renezvous networking, not IP networking. Since "localhost" is a Unix/IP networking convention, the System Preferences settings will naturally not have any affect on it, and vice versa.