Expert’s Rating
Our Verdict
Over the years , one of the most frequent reader requests I ’ve experience has been for a mode to lock away your Mac — in other words , to start the password - protected screensaver , or to put the display to sleep and require a password to wake it up — using a keyboard shortcut . This feature of speech request is especially popular among “ whipper ” move to the Mac from other platforms . you’re able to enable OS X ’s Keychain Access menu ( from within the preferences window of the Keychain Access utility program , found in / Applications / Utilities ) , which lets you interlock the blind using your mouse . likewise , you may configure OS X ’s screensaver to demand a parole , and then enable a hot recess for the screensaver ; whenever you want to lock the screen , you just move the pointer to that corner of the screenland . But some people really want to use the keyboard .
If you ’re using a rocket launcher utility such asLaunchBar , Butler , or Alfred , you may localise up a keyboard shortcut that opens the program / System / Library / Frameworks / Screensaver.framework / Versions / A / Resources / ScreenSaverEngine.app — the program that runs OS X ’s screensaver . But that ’s a circuitous method , and you may sometimes want to lock the screenwithoutrunning the screensaver . You could use this old hint for setting up a keyboard shortcut for the Keychain Access bill of fare ’s Lock Screen command , but in my experience , the crosscut seldom function . There ’s alsothis jot for creating an OS X armed service to set forth the screensaver using the keyboard , but it relies on OS X ’s less - than - reliable Services feature — and , again , what if you require to just catch some Z’s the screen rather than start the screensaver ?
you may press - hold Control - Eject ( or , on a laptop , the power clitoris ) to bring up OS X ’s Restart / Sleep / Cancel / Shut Down dialogue , and then press S for the Sleep option ( or , on some Macs , insistency transformation - mastery - Eject or Command - selection - Eject to catch some Z’s right away ) , but that puts your Mac completely to sleep — it takes time to come alive it up again , and you may have process running that you do n’t want to stop . Another selection is to press Shift - Command - Option - Q , which immediately lumber you out of your account , expect your account password to log back in . Thanks to Lion ’s auto - resume feature , when you sign in again , most of your programs and window will be restore right where you allow them . Still , this also takes prison term and interrupt unconscious process , and it ’s a bit of an extreme solution when you just want to lock your screen while you grab a potable or use the facilities .
All of this is a circuitous — but , I hope , educational — room of saying that OS X does n’t supply a simple , easy - to - economic consumption way to lock your silver screen using the keyboard . Which is wherePadlock(Mac App Store inter-group communication ) come in . This neat public utility hold up in your menu bar , just like the Keychain Access menu , but Padlock ’s menu let you cursorily start up the screensaverorsleep your screen ( without sleeping your integral Mac ) . Even better , Padlock ’s preference window lets you configure keyboard cutoff for either or both of these actions .
pick out either of Padlock ’s lock command ( I habituate Control - Option - Command - L to lock the screen door ) , and a translucent padlock icon seem on the screenland as confirmation . A few seconds subsequently , the screensaver starts or your display(s ) eternal rest , respectively . This confirmation graphic also serves a second purpose : get you jazz that you could cancel the ringlet action — say , if you unintentionally press one of your Padlock shortcut — by constrict Escape before the lock occurs . One drawback here is that you ca n’t adjust the length of time you get to offset . Padlock gives you only three instant , which , in the slip of an accidental curl , often is n’t enough clock time to process the ringlet computer graphic and realize you need to press Escape .
Padlock can also mechanically lock your concealment when Padlock launch . This can be useful if you opt to start Padlock automatically when you lumber in : you may lumber in to your Mac in the morning and then go get a cup of coffee berry ; as presently as OS X starts adulterate your Login Items , your screen door is lock . It ’s not bulletproof security , but it ’s better than nothing .
Padlock ’s other standout feature is that each clock time it launches , it confirms that your drug user account has a word ( so the screen lock is in reality alock ) and that your Mac is n’t configured to automatically access to an business relationship at startup ( which would permit someone to access your account by simply force - restarting your Mac ) . If either of these conditions are n’t met , Padlock ’s Security Assistant windowpane admonish you of the job and present a supporter Me Fix It button . Click this push button and OS hug drug helper is launched to the particular Help Sir Frederick Handley Page explaining how to set an account watchword or to turn off automatic login , severally . Once you ’ve fixed the trouble , penetrate the Check Again release and Padlock should give you an all - exculpated message . Once you ’ve confirmed your Mac is set up decently , you could stop the Security Assistant substantiation so it does n’t appear each time you launch Padlock .
I wish Padlock ’s onscreen ratification graphic indicate which of its two locks — screensaver or screenland sleep — you’ve just activated . But it ’s otherwise a great utility program for those of us who want to lock our Mac ’s screen when we step off but who favor pressing a keyboard shortcut to displace the mouse .
Updated 9/23/11 , 9:45am , to clarify a couple keyboard shortcuts ; 9/24/11 , 3:25pm , to correct erroneousness about Padlock ’s carte - taproom ikon .
