How To Lock Computer With Pattern Lock
Siri Vonbank
One issue that I've run into in the past with desktops and automation is: how to I leave a long-running test that's using some form of user input automation (mouse, keyboard simulation), but still lock my PC so that someone can't just walk by and interfere with it. Once you lock the PC, the desktop is inactive, and so the automation stops working. A similar issue happens if the screensaver kicks in: the desktop switches, and the automation fails.
One solution is to use two PCs: let's call them Main and Test: from Main, open a remote terminal services client onto the Test machine, and then run the automated test on the test machine, but from a terminal services client window on the Main machine. Now the cool part: you can minimize that TSC window, or even lock the Main machine (or let the screensaver kick in), and that virtual session will continue working, thinking that it is still active - it's just that nobody is paying it any attention. This is one way to create a "connected" session with an active desktop, but one that no-one can interfere with, because it's protected behind the locked desktop of the Main machine.
I don't know the details, but I believe the lock screen constitutes a separate "desktop" and maybe also a separate "window station" (as I understand it a window station is merely a container for desktops). The MSDN section on window stations should hopefully be useful: -us/library/windows/desktop/ms687098%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
Whenever you leave your computer unattended, you should either turn it off or manually activate the screen lock that requires you to enter your password to resume working. You should manually lock your screen even if your device is configured for an automatic screenlock after a set number of minutes. Locking your display screen will protect the information stored on or accessible from your device.
When you manually lock your screen, the computer is continuing to run in the background, so you don't need to close out of documents or apps. You are just putting the display to sleep. You'll be able to quickly unlock the screen when you return, without restarting your computer.
In Windows 8.0 there was an option in "Change PC settings" (the metro-style modern mode settings) to lock the screen after the screen has been off a certain amount of time. If you turn the screen on before the time expires, you could simply swipe up without requiring a password.
If I understand it correctly, you want to be able to 'quickly react to' the screen going blank due to timeout WITHOUT having to reenter your password, but at the same time have the security of a locked screen after further inactivity.
You must turn ON the option "Play a slide show on the lock screen" in order to see the two controls "Show the lock screen after my PC is inactive for [1 hour]" and "Turn off screen after slide show has played for [Don't turn off]"
You can set your PC to lock automatically when the screen saver pops up. Go to Control Panel > Appearance & Personalization > Change screen saver and then check the box for On resume, display logon screen. You can also set a time for how long your PC should wait before starting the screen saver. Now, when you exit out of the screensaver, you'll need to enter your system password to get back in.
How do you make Ubuntu lock the computer but leave what's on the screen visible? I don't care if people see what's on my screen, in fact, it's my work, so I want people to see it, but I don't want them to be able to use the keyboard or mouse until I unlock it with my password.
While xtrlock is running, the mouse and keyboard are grabbed and the mouse cursor becomes a padlock. Output displayed by X programs, and windows put up by new X clients, continue to be visible, and any new output is displayed normally.
Now, click "save as" and set the file type to "all" before saving the file as "lock.cs". Make sure to save it to the folder you created. Finally, open the CMD.exe from the folder and type in the following command:
**Note: This will simply launch your set screensaver as if the timer ran out. If you do not have it set to display logon screen at resume, it will not lock. There is also a delay of about five seconds before it locks since this is the default behavior of screensaver so that the user has time to cancel it from locking.
Another program is -dev/blueproximity which is based on bluetooth. It works by detecting if my phone (or another bluetooth device) is close enough to the computer, but that's not a suitable solution, because then I need to remember taking the phone with me.
I want it to be automated: I walk away and the screen should lock. No additional action should be required. Keyboard shortcuts, special mouse movements or unplugging devices from USB are not valid solutions.
Sorry, no Arduino required, but you probably already have a web cam on your desktop. If you don't mind being observed like Schrodinger's Cat, you can use a small utility like YawCam in Windows or Motion on Linux to trigger the screen lock when you are no longer visible at your console.
RFID (NFC) might be the way to go. Have an RFID tag in a wristband and an RFID reader by the side of (or under) your keyboard. As long as you keep your hands close to the keyboard the RFID reader should detect your wristband. When it doesn't sense it for a pre-defined period of time send a signal to the PC to trigger it to lock. It could then trigger the unlock when your wristband is back in range again.
You could have the reed switch turn on/wake up a micro like an ESP8266, which uses ESP-NOW to talk to another ESP plugged into a usb serial on the desktop. Once the message is sent, the micro can go into deep sleep. The desktop's serial port is read by the lang of your choice; node.js, python, c#, etc, and runs a command or fires a key combo to lock the workstation.
The easiest and cheapest method is to just use Win+L. After you buy pizza for everybody for a few times, and have to endure their jokes / sarcasm at the same time, you will never forget to lock it again.
Example: configure the screensaver to kick in and lock the screen after 5 seconds of inactivity (that is roughly the time you need to stand up and walk away, before any colleague has a chance to start typing without you noticing). It will create some trouble for you also, but you are sure that the computer will never remain unlocked. No additional software, hardware or work required - besides moving the mouse and hitting buttons on the keyboard. At the same time, you will become the most productive employee in the company. :)
On a more serious note, the purpose of that rule is to make people more aware of the security needs, and the need of them being involved in the process. Usually, locking the screen is the least one can do towards security, even before choosing good passwords - screen not locked, password not needed at all.
Place a ultrasonic distance sensor HC-05 close to your monitor, facing towards your chest. Check the distance measured against a defined threshold (potentiometer?) and send a key press to your PC to lock it if it is exceeded.
I use i3 and like to deliberately leave my workstation unlocked, because it's funny when I come back and find people pressing various key combinations to try and activate the group chat window (sending a funny message in my name is how they would prove they've 'hacked me') which I put into a hidden buffer.
Before you lock your screen, you can create a PIN to unlock your screen. If you use an account for work or school, your admin might require you to enter your password occasionally. On some Chromebooks, you can also use your PIN instead of your Google Account password to sign in.
Unless your computer is in a secure space that is accessible ONLY BY YOU, you must run a screen saver that will automatically lock your screen after 15 minutes of inactivity and require a password to unlock it.
On Ubuntu 22.04 on my laptop (Lenovo Yoga 710-14IKB with latest firmware), when I lock the screen, the machine becomes completely unresponsive to any input except to closing and reopening the lid to trigger a sleep-wake cycle.
If I leave the machine running with automatic screen blanking enabled, but automatic screen locking disabled, my desktop session does not get terminated. My previous desktop session was running for at least 2 or 3 weeks until I locked the screen this morning.
This behaviour only started not too many weeks ago. Before that, screen lock behaved normally. However, this may not be the first time that I have had this problem. I previously posted this help request about the machine becoming unresponsive after screen lock. That time round, the problem seemed to resolve itself after I disabled and re-enabled automatic screen lock, but that trick doesn't seem to work anymore.
In computer science, a lock or mutex (from mutual exclusion) is a synchronization primitive that prevents state from being modified or accessed by multiple threads of execution at once. Locks enforce mutual exclusion concurrency control policies, and with a variety of possible methods there exists multiple unique implementations for different applications.
Generally, locks are advisory locks, where each thread cooperates by acquiring the lock before accessing the corresponding data. Some systems also implement mandatory locks, where attempting unauthorized access to a locked resource will force an exception in the entity attempting to make the access.
The simplest type of lock is a binary semaphore. It provides exclusive access to the locked data. Other schemes also provide shared access for reading data. Other widely implemented access modes are exclusive, intend-to-exclude and intend-to-upgrade.
Another way to classify locks is by what happens when the lock strategy prevents the progress of a thread. Most locking designs block the execution of the thread requesting the lock until it is allowed to access the locked resource. With a spinlock, the thread simply waits ("spins") until the lock becomes available. This is efficient if threads are blocked for a short time, because it avoids the overhead of operating system process re-scheduling. It is inefficient if the lock is held for a long time, or if the progress of the thread that is holding the lock depends on preemption of the locked thread.
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