No option to lock computer at home?

[Nate-X]

I am running Windows XP Pro at work and home.. just wondering why I'm unable to ctrl-alt-del while at the desktop to lock windows.. do I have to enable some option?

I can do it on my work machine =/

[DimViesel]

Hey Nate-X. (Any relation to techno producer Richard X by any chance? )

I do not use Pro, but Home @ home (no pun intended).
I do not see any option for 'locking Windows' by goint to Task Manger ctrl-alt-del. (Perhaps your machine at work is designed to go to the log out to the login screen if anyone attempts to acces the Task Manager? It would make sense in some coroporate scenarios.
However if you press & Hold down the 'windows' key & then press 'L' key you go to the login screen which essentially 'locks' Windows out to anyone but those who have an account & psswd on the machine...
Is this what you mean?

[Nate-X]

It's like Windows 2000 meaning I just hit crtl-alt-del and it gives a lock account option =/

[DimViesel]

Lock or log out? What is the result you want from locking? What does it achieve?
(I'm not being funny just trying to ascertain what functionality it provides for you)

[Toro]

press the "windows key" + "L" and that should lock your pc


locking the PC makes it so that only the user that locked it, or the admin, can unlock it

[DimViesel]

Someone else who understands this the way I have.

[Toro]

no probs Dim

[Aedan]

Originally Posted by DimViesel

However if you press & Hold down the 'windows' key & then press 'L' key you go to the login screen which essentially 'locks' Windows out to anyone but those who have an account & psswd on the machine...

And for those who don't have a Windows key?

[Aedan]

Nate-X, it is my understanding that if you have fast user switching enabled, then you lose that C+A+D option to lock the workstation. If you disable fast user switching, then you should regain that C+A+D option.

[DimViesel]

Originally Posted by Áedán

And for those who don't have a Windows key?

Er .. then I am uncertain... good point Aedan.
Though frankly if you don't have the windows key & your employer does provide your hardware.. then you would do well to stop buying IBM .
Save the premium that such harware entails. I suppose that point is for another thread though...
Don't know - what is the alternative to the windows key? Is there one.. I mean I dislike the windows key idea - but M$ has associated all the most immediate useful shortcuts with that key.

[Aedan]

The IBMs I've had exposure to seem to run both Windows and Linux pretty well, which is more than I can stay for one or two manufactuers products. When you look at things from a support point of view, that premium isn't really very big!

Not having to ship a machine back to where it was bought from when you're trying to work on a client's site is really handy too!

I want to know how much Microsoft gets paid each time the Windows logo is printed on a key!

[danrok]

Under XP, if you don't have the windows key just click on log-off. But, choose switch user in the next dialogue box, not log-off.

This amounts to the same thing as windows key + L.

[Aedan]

Actually, I just turned off fast user switching so I can continue hitting C+A+D followed by <K> to lock the machine. Doing things with the mouse is too slow!

[DimViesel]

Originally Posted by Áedán

I want to know how much Microsoft gets paid each time the Windows logo is printed on a key!

I would hope that knowing an M$ logo in infront of a users face for most of the time they use a machine is prize enough, that they would put it down as free marketing rather than expect royalties.. I think judging by the prices of keyboards this is a reasonable assumption - else how could manufacturers get keyboards with Win Keys on shelves for £2.50 inc VAT!

Originally Posted by Áedán

Doing things with the mouse is too slow!

Absolutely. Casual users need not apply . I am not overly amazed that there is not an alternative key combo that gives access to the win-key shortcuts; though it does vex me when I have to work on a system where I cannot proceed as I would if the keys were available.. Speaking of imposed slowness, I use the fact I can call up all sorts of things by winkey combos. I mean Win+F for find is great (if it worked! - now have to resort to a Command 'console' ..sorry 'Prompt'.
I got that on Alt+Ctrl+O so that's pretty simple to run too.. if only the searching were faster.. but then I pressume that would require a whole layer of meta-data for indexing, making general filesystem operations slower since everyone would have to update the metadata as it changed).
I also had great hopes for blinkx client to do presicely this to my repository of text info, index it & make it searchable in a flash.. no luck. It indexed 695 files out of 10K & then stopped & I am not blown away buy the relevance of the info found. I think I would do better with a file search tool that allowed me to dictate the search string a-la ebay search box or google.
Anyone know of any of these..?
Put out new thread for this one me thinks ...just a tad off topic

[Nate-X]

Originally Posted by Áedán

Nate-X, it is my understanding that if you have fast user switching enabled, then you lose that C+A+D option to lock the workstation. If you disable fast user switching, then you should regain that C+A+D option.

Woah I leave the thread for a few days and find tons of responses I'll give this a try as soon as I get home thanks Aedan!

[Toro]

Originally Posted by DimViesel

I use the fact I can call up all sorts of things by winkey combos. I mean Win+F for find is great (if it worked! - now have to resort to a Command 'console' ..sorry 'Prompt'.

doesnt 'F3' work for bringing up the find dialogue?

[DimViesel]

Originally Posted by Toro

doesnt 'F3' work for bringing up the find dialogue?

Find within the current window? Sure.
I mean local folders search, which in XP was famously 'broken' - if you have to find a file on your system & rely on the XP interface you likely to find it returns no matches erroneously. The only working search is from the console - using the venrable 'dir' command & the /s switch to search all subdirectories.
Change the path to the root you wish to begin the search from.. if anyone could post the syntax to search all partitions at once that could be useful

[cadaveca]

if you have XP home, you should be able to go to the run line and type "gina"
this will bring about an interface that sets all of the log-in variables...even passwords.....for all of windows. through this utility, you can change even the administrator's password from safemode.(think of msconfig versus services.msc for controlling windows services)

this utility is used for large places like hospitals and libraries to ensure that someone canno t come, sit down, enable a pswd on a screensaver, and effectively lock the machine from ANYONE else.

for those of you that are unable to find it in your system folder, google gina_x86

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by DimViesel

Find within the current window? Sure.
I mean local folders search, which in XP was famously 'broken' - if you have to find a file on your system & rely on the XP interface you likely to find it returns no matches erroneously. The only working search is from the console - using the venrable 'dir' command & the /s switch to search all subdirectories.
Change the path to the root you wish to begin the search from.. if anyone could post the syntax to search all partitions at once that could be useful

i can find any file in XP...use the search option for the start menu, and make sure to go to advanced options. of course you have to enable systemfolders and such viewable with a folder first by changing the view properties of the folder.

[DimViesel]

This was pointed out to me by a consultant who gets paid rather more than the average person.. I cannot remember what he was attempting that led him to realise/conclude this.
Not that I say that because to place more value his opinion, but just so you know that my comment was not merely something I subjectively arrived at one lazy afternoon.
I think I also recollect that there was an objection to the speed of the routine... go figure.

BTW I found lots of visual applications 'gina' via google. Though it makes a naughty word when abbreviated so I won't *fnarr fnarr*