From the course: Help Yourself: Tech Tips Weekly

Locking the PC

From the course: Help Yourself: Tech Tips Weekly

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Locking the PC

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- [Instructor] Even with a secure Windows password, your computer can be vulnerable. And just like this one, it doesn't look vulnerable. But if I step away, someone can sit right down and use this system. I have a password, but they can still use it because, well, it's unlocked, it's open. To prevent such a thing from happening, lock Windows. Press the Windows + l keyboard shortcut, and here you see the lock screen. Now your programs are still running, your data is there, but the system is locked, you're no longer signed in. No one else can access the computer unless they have an account, and they know the password. By locking the computer, your stuff is safe while you take a break. To regain access, I'll press the enter key just like I normally would to start my computer day, type the pin or password, and there's all your stuff just as you left it. If you have a screensaver applied, it can also lock the computer after a given timeout. To ensure that this setting is properly configured, open the Settings app, press the Windows + i keyboard shortcut, and choose Personalization, Lock screen. Scroll down and click this link, Screen saver settings. And ensure that this item, On resume, display log-on screen, is checked. This means that after a given duration, 15 minutes of inactivity, the computer automatically locks. Click OK to confirm any changes. And while you're here in the settings app, check this item, the Screen timeout settings. For the screen, there are two options because this is a laptop. On battery power is never, and When plugged in is never. This is good for automatically locking using the screen saver settings. Otherwise, ensure that any value set here is less than when the screensaver kicks in. Otherwise what's going to happen, is the computer will go to sleep and it will turn off the monitor, in which case someone could still theoretically get access to the computer. You don't want that to happen, so ensure this setting is either never, as shown here, or some value greater than the screen saver time out. Either way, when you step away from the computer, use the Windows + l keyboard shortcut to lock your computer and keep the system safe.

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