Desktop Shortcut To Lock PC
In yesterday’s article, I covered the common ways to password protect your computer. I showed you how to use the standard Windows user account password in different instances, all of them resulting in the computer being locked. If you don’t care for screensavers or the keyboard shortcut to lock your screen, creating a desktop shortcut presents an alternative way to lock your screen.
To create the shortcut, right-click on your desktop and select > New > Shortcut from the menu.
In the Create Shortcut window, set this as the location of the item:
%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
When you’re done click > Next, in the following window type a name for your shortcut, then click > Finish.
From now on, whenever you want to lock your computer, you can double-click this desktop shortcut, rather than hitting the [Windows]+[L] keyboard shortcut. For more convenience, you can drag the shortcut to your QuickLaunch bar, which will allow you to lock your computer with only a single click.
Use USB Flash Drive As Lock
Predator is a software that allows you to use a USB flash drive to lock and unlock your computer. When the flash drive is removed, mouse and keyboard are locked and the screen turns dark. If the flash drive isn’t handy, you can hit the space bar several times and unlock the computer using a custom password. Entering the wrong password, however, will result in a nasty alarm.
I have described how to use Predator in The Office Worker’s 101 Guide to a USB Thumb Drive and you can also read up on how to use it in the article Secure Your Computer From Intrusion With Your USB Drive and Predator.
Set BIOS Password
Setting a BIOS password is not necessarily very creative, but it’s impossible to circumvent without physical access to the machine. To set a BIOS password, you first need to figure out how to get into your BIOS. Usually, this is done by clicking the DEL or F1 key during startup; the correct key should be indicated when you boot your computer. Once you have entered the BIOS, navigate to the Security tab or a similar option and set a password.
Note that your BIOS may look completely different from the screenshot above.
Set Hard Disk Password
This password is almost impossible to circumvent. The hard disk password can also be set in the BIOS. On some computers, it may automatically be set together with the BIOS password.
Warning: there is no way you can personally reset or remove a hard disk password. Forgetting the hard disk password will render the drive completely and utterly useless!
The hard disk password is saved both on the drive platter itself and on a chip on the hard drive controller. There is no backdoor to resetting or accessing the drive if the password was set and forgotten. The only way to recover data from such a drive is to send it to a professional data recovery company, who will read extract data from the platter.
Alternative Options
If you don’t want to lock your entire computer, but would rather concentrate forces, check out these tools:
- How To Lock Windows Folders With MyLockbox
- How to Lock Or Hide A Folder, A File Or A Drive On The Computer
- How To Password Protect Any Windows Program
- Quick Tip: How To Add Password to Word Documents
A better way to secure your confidential data is to use encryption and set an ultra strong password for the decryption step. Now remember, whatever you do, do not forget your passwords! Finally, you will want to be able To Catch A Snoop: How To Tell If Someone Has Been On Your Computer [Windows].
Where do you set passwords and how do you create strong passwords you can remember?
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