password protected screensaver for free?

Darren21

Any1 know where i can get one from?

newfoundglory

Windows already comes with the ability to password-protect a screensaver when resuming... see the control panel...

If you are using a unix desktop environment such as kde, that does too.

Rex_Mundi

Right click any blank area on your desktop. Select properties. Select screensaver, then put a tick in the box password. Select change. It will ask you to set the password. Click apply then OK.

sra

I use Matrix screen locker which someone here recommended to me

single click on tray icon to lock the desktop and it opens very fast after the password

I think you can get it here if you click download - but the main site where it comes from is down right now



EDIT: Backflip suggested it first - thanks again Backflip

Kazza242

If you want to lock your computer to stop it being accessed by other people at the workplace, then the best thing to do is lock your machine yourself before you leave your PC. If you use a screensaver to do this, then it may not come on quick enough to stop someone accessing your computer.

A shortcut way of locking your computer is to press the Windows Logo key + L on your keyboard. After you've locked it, your screensaver can then kick in, but your computer will already be secure.

sra

The problem with window L is that it's rather slow. It also used to stop some things that I wanted to keep running.

the screen locker looks like a screensaver but you really activate it by clicking a tray icon - so you don't have to wait for it to come on

Kazza242

Clicking on the tray icon to activate the screensaver is a good way of protecting your PC. Unbelievably, some people at my workplace don't do this, they leave the office and leave their screensaver to come on. This sometimes doesn't happen until 5 or 10 mins after they've popped out. One person had their e-mail account used to send a derogatory message to company top brass :eek: . This is why I ALWAYS lock my machine before I leave the office.

ManAtHome

Kazza242 wrote:

One person had their e-mail account used to send a derogatory message to company top brass :eek: .

Not nice.... I used to send derogatory messages to themselves to try encourage them to lock/sign off, but biggest problem was the name/password post-its stuck on the monitor.

Kazza242

ManAtHome wrote:

Not nice.... I used to send derogatory messages to themselves to try encourage them to lock/sign off, but biggest problem was the name/password post-its stuck on the monitor.

Yep, tell me about it :wall: . Some people only have 3 character passwords and yet they still write them down and pin them to their office noticeboard! How on earth can these people remember their debit/credit card PINS, but not be able to remember a 3 character password?

Debt_Free_Chick

Kazza242 wrote:

Yep, tell me about it :wall: . Some people only have 3 character passwords and yet they still write them down and pin them to their office noticeboard! How on earth can these people remember their debit/credit card PINS, but not be able to remember a 3 character password?

I blame your IT people.

They should disable the password protected screensaver as it's not "secure". Instead, they should enforce a local security policy that locks the user account after x minutes of inactivity and force the Ctrl+Alt+Del to enable the user to log on again. Oh, and when doing so they should enforce the policy that means that the user has to enter their username AND their password - enforcing the password only gives a hacker one less thing to guess.

To go the whole hog, they should also enforce a rigid password policy. One that requires the user to enter a new password every 30 or so days. And one that requires a mix of alpha/numeric/symbol characters. And one that is at least 8 characters long. And one that cannot be a repetition of a previously used password.

All this is easy in W2k or XP

scheming_gypsy

but no use if most of your client pc's use Windows 98 and you're on 24 hour call out where people forget passwords and think you're going to sort it out at 11pm.
IT departments can only work with the resources (and idiots) that surround them so please leave us alone