Lock Your Desktop When You're Away

Why Should You Lock Your Desktop?

If you walk away from your computer and do not lock it or log off, it poses a security risk to you and the college. Someone can use your computer in an unauthorized way even if you are away for a few minutes, such as:

Send email from your account
Tamper and delete your files
Access and download Confidential data

The easiest way to prevent unauthorized access to your desktop is to lock it when you are away, because you will not shut down any program is close any files you are working on. All you have to do to get back in is enter your CWID password and you can pick up where you left off.

There are two ways locking can be accomplished: through a password-protected screensaver, and by locking it manually when you leave your desk.

Locking Your Desktop Is Easy!

To lock your desktop in Windows, Simply hold the Start (Flag) button and hit the L button. In Mac OS X, set up a hot corner to activate a password-protected screensaver.

Lock Your Desktop With a Password-protected Screensaver

Windows 7

Right-click on your desktop.
Select Personalize.
At the bottom of the window that opens, click Screen Saver.
In the Wait box, set the amount of time your computer can be inactive before the screen saver turns on. For security reasons, a short amount of time, like 5 minutes, is best.
Check the box that says On resume, display logon screen.
Click OK.

Mac OS X

Click the Apple menu.
Click System Preferences.
Click on Desktop & Screensaver.
Click the Screen Saver tab, and set the amount of time your computer can be inactive before the screen saver turns on. For security reasons, a short amount of time, like 5 minutes, is best.
Click Security and Privacy.
In the General tab, check the box Require password to wake this computer from sleep or screen saver. For security reasons, set it to a short time, 5 seconds or less.

Lock Your Desktop Manually