Laptop auto locking
By Brian Burgess
Last Updated on August 10, 2021 When you walk away from your PC, you should always lock it. But sometimes you forget. Here is how to make Windows 10 automatically lock when you want it to. Show
When you walk away from your computer, you want to make sure to lock it so other people cant access your machine and its data. You can, of course, manually lock your Windows 10 PC down by hitting Windows Key + L or Ctrl + Alt + Del. But sometimes you forget. The cool thing is you can make Windows 10 lock automatically after a set time of inactivity. Here is a look at a few ways you can set this up. Lock Windows 10 Automatically Using Your Screen SaverThis is probably the simplest method and an old trick. Open Start and type: change screen saver and click on the Best Match result. Next, the Screen Saver Setting windows will come up. Set your screen saver to something from the dropdown list. Personally, I use the Blank option. But the important thing to do is make sure to check the On resume, display logon screen box and set the Wait time to however many minutes you want, and click OK. Thats all there is to it. After the period of inactivity that you set up, your screen saver will come up and require you to enter your PIN or password to unlock it. Make Windows 10 Lock Automatically Using SecPolNow, time to get geekier. If youre running the Pro version of Windows, you can use the Local Security Policy feature. Hit Windows Key + R and type: secpol.msc and click OK or hit Enter to launch it. Open Local Policies > Security Options and then scroll down and double-click Interactive Logon: Machine inactivity limit from the list. Enter the amount of time you want Windows 10 to shut down after no activity on the machine. When the Limit Properties window opens, you can type in an inactivity limit between one to 599940 seconds. Keep in mind that the max is 166 hours, and you wont want the number of seconds too low as it would get annoying to have your PC lock all the time. When youre finished, you need to sign out of your session or restart your PC for the changes to take place. When it comes to figuring out the number of seconds to use, here, its good to use some time unit conversions with your favorite search engine. For example, 10 minutes would be 600 seconds. Enable Windows 10 Auto Lock Using the RegistryIf you are running Windows 10 Home, you dont have access to the Local Security Policy tool. However, you can do the same thing by hacking the Registry. But this is a method only experienced users can try. If youre on Windows 10 Home, you might want to use the Screen Saver trick. Important: Remember that tweaking settings in the Registry isnt for inexperienced users. Changing the wrong thing can take down your whole computer. Before making any tweaks to the Registry, make sure toback it upfirst,create a System Restore Pointand have afull backup image ready if you need to recover your system. To get started, hit Windows Key + R and type: regedit and click OK or hit Enter to launch the Registry. Then head to the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\SystemNow create a new 32-bit DWORD Value called InactivityTimeoutSecs and give it a value between 0 or 599940 again, that is the number of seconds of inactivity you want to pass before locking your system. Then sign out of your session or restart your PC for the settings to go into effect. If you want to change the time, go back to the InactivityTimeoutSecs key and change it. Whether you go the simple route or get geekier by digging into your system, this is a good thing to have set up if you walk away from your machine and forget to lock it down. You will need to change the time values depending on your situation, but having the auto-lock backup will provide extra peace of mind. How-To How to Find Your Windows 11 Product KeyIf you need to transfer your Windows 11 product key or just need it to do a clean install of the OS,... How-To Backblaze Cloud Backup Review Updated 2021Backing up your data to the cloud via an automated service is critical. Backblaze is the solution I use and recommend. Here's... How-To How to Clear Google Chrome Cache, Cookies, and Browsing HistoryChrome does an excellent job of storing your browsing history, cache, and cookies to optimize your browser performance online. Hers's how to... Deals In-Store Price Matching: How to Get Online Prices while Shopping in the StoreBuying in-store doesn't mean you have to pay higher prices. Thanks to price-matching guarantees, you can get online discounts while shopping in... How-To How to Gift a Disney Plus Subscription with a Digital Gift CardIf you've been enjoying Disney Plus and want to share it with others, here's how to buy a Disney+ Gift subscription for...
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