Protect Yourself and Others - Lock Your Computer
Do you walk away from your desk or your office without locking your computer? It only takes a few seconds for someone to do serious damage to your computer or your files or to access information on the computer. It takes only a few seconds to secure your computer. Take the time to lock your computer when you leave your desk. Not sure how to do it? There are two methods to do this: one to lock down the computer and one to set a password protected screensaver. You should use both methods outlined below for your operating system.
To Quickly Lock a Windows Based Computer
- Hold the Windows Key on the keyboard and press L
- To Log back in, press any key or move your mouse to bring up your login screen
To Quickly Lock an Apple Computer
- Hold Ctrl + Shift +
- Power - If your Apple computer has no optical drive
To unlock the computer tap any key or move the mouse to bring up your login screen
To Quickly Lock Most Linux Distributions
- Click your user name in the upper right
- Select Lock Screen
- To unlock press any key or move your mouse to get your login screen back
- The Windows Key and L will also lock most Linux distributions
- One can also Hold down the Windows Key and press L like the Windows computer.
Set a Password Protected Screen Saver for Windows Computers
- Click the Start button
- Click Settings
- Click System
- Click Power and sleep
- Make sure that screen is set to turn off after 10 minutes
- Close the Window to save
To Set a Password Protected Screensaver for the Macintosh OSX
- Click the Apple logo in the upper left.
- Select System Settings.
- Select Lock Screen
- Set Require password after screen saver begins or display is turned off to 5 minutes or less
- Enter your password at the Lock Screen window
- Select Modify Settings