Quickly locking your Windows PC

lock

Okay, I know you can press Windows Key + L but I really like to have an icon in my taskbar for this little task so every time I install a Windows OS I tend to add this as one of my first tweaks. Why? Well I learnt early on at Microsoft that leaving your PC unlocked when you walk off to get coffee can result in email being sent from your account that can be quite embarrassing :)

Here's how to create a quick lock app on your taskbar

  1. Right click on your deksotp and select New, Shortcut
  2. Paste this text in - rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
  3. Click next and type a name for the shortcut (e.g. Lock)
  4. Click finish
  5. You can right click on your new shortcut and change the icon (there is a lock icon as part of the collection in %SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll)
  6. Now drag the icon to your taskbar

Done :)

Comments

  • Anonymous
    February 02, 2008
    The LockWorkStation function was not designed to be called by rundll32. You're actually corrupting the stack. http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2004/01/15/58973.aspx

  • Anonymous
    February 02, 2008
    Isn't windows key + L simpler.

  • Anonymous
    February 02, 2008
    Here a few I use on my quick launch bar in addition to locking the computer. ** Shutdown ** Create a new shortcut  and paste the following: %windir%system32shutdown.exe -s -t 0 ** Reboot **  (No sarky comments please! %windir%system32shutdown.exe -r -t 0

  • Anonymous
    February 02, 2008
    It would be much more comfortable if the icon (or any clickable area) can be placed at a corner of the screen. This way I just push the mouse to the extreme and click, no need to locate the cursor anymore.

  • Anonymous
    February 03, 2008
    aaron - yep, definitely simpler but not always faster when I have the mouse in my hand

  • Anonymous
    February 03, 2008
    nice additions Jas. surely that reboot one is just restart after you've installed some new graphics drivers :P

  • Anonymous
    February 03, 2008
    raymond - is there a better way? Steve

  • Anonymous
    February 03, 2008
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 09, 2008
    I just saw a great tip on Steve Clayton's blog for quickly locking your Windows PC, so I just had

  • Anonymous
    February 11, 2008
    Hey Now Steve, Nice to know. thx, Catto

  • Anonymous
    February 11, 2008
    Hah, yes, always lock your PC regardless of how long you're away from it. I learned this from a very young age (on NT4) at school. The principle has carried over since then - and folks are often puzzled as to why I'm always locking my PC when I'm no longer paying attention to it. Even my home ones :)

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