How to Lock a Computer Desktop
If you often leave your computer unattended or multiple people in your household or office use a single computer, setting a certain level of privacy on the computer is easy. A lot of personal and/or private information and data can be easily accessed when you leave your desktop unprotected. This can be remedied by locking your computer's desktop.
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Instructions
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Locking a Computer Desktop
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Establish yourself as a user or as the administrator. If you did not already do this when initially installing your computer's operating system, you still can create individual accounts or "users" on one computer. This process differs slightly if you are using a Mac or a Windows PC operating system. On a Mac, go to "System Preferences" in the Apple menu, and then click on "Accounts" under "System." If you are using your own computer, you should make yourself the administrator. For PC users, go to "Control Panel" and click on "Add or remove user accounts" under the "User Accounts and Family Safety" heading. Similarly, choose to "Create a new account."
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Log out (Mac) or "lock" your desktop (PC). On a Mac, whenever you go to "Log Out (Your Account Name)" in the Apple menu, your computer will return to a screen prompting you to choose an account and enter a password. If you are the only person who knows your password, no one else should be able to access your private computer desktop workspace. Alternatively, on a PC, click on the picture of the lock from the Start menu, and it will bring your computer to a password-protected page from start up.
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Create more accounts or a guest account. This is especially important if there are one or more other frequent users of your computer. The administrator user has the capability to set up additional accounts that do not have the same administrative privileges, but can still store data like word processor files, music files and internet bookmarks. In the same process as creating your own account (both on a Mac and a PC), choose to create another account. A guest account will be created and will only need to be enabled by the administrator.
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