I work in an office where we are big on "locking our screens" when we walk away from our desks.
If we forget, we inevitably find someone has sent an embarrassing email in our name from our email account to teach us a lesson.
What I've been trying to find is a fast way to start the screensaver on my iBook.
I know about the ability to use the Hot Corners to start the screensaver -- but I often find that I "miss" the hot corner by a little bit -- and sometimes I wiggle the mouse by accident after hitting the hot corner -- which cancels having the screensaver start.
To my horror, I've become increasingly envious of the quick Ctrl-Alt-Del keyboard shortcut that I can use on the Windows PC that is also on my desk, to lock it's screen.
Without resorting to some shareware keyboard shortcut app, is there any way to start the screen saver in OS X with a quick keyboard shortcut?
I've looked in System Preferences, in the Keyboard shortcuts area, to no avail, although I could be missing something.
Why not just close the lid on your iBook, that will put it to sleep and secure it. Of course, you have to have your preferences set for that option. "Security" in OS 10.4.x.
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Why not just close the lid on your iBook, that will put it to sleep and secure it. Of course, you have to have your preferences set for that option. "Security" in OS 10.4.x.
That's a good point, and in fact, I do have my iBook configured in exactly that way.
However, my Windows machine still "wins", which makes me sad.
To quickly lock the XP beast, I just have to hit Ctrl-Alt-Del, then the spacebar, which when using muscle memory, takes all of half a second.
To quickly lock the iBook, I have to physically close it? That takes more time. This sounds like a lame complaint, I know, but I walk away from my desk literally many dozen times during a day. It takes even more time to fumble with the latch and open it again when I return to my desk. As well, I may not want the iBook to sleep (which will happen when I close the lid). Just looking for a quick way to lock the machine and start the screen saver.
I appreciate the suggestion, but it's still not as good as the equivalent on the Windows box.
Anyone else have other ideas? Just need a quick keyboard shortcut that I can use to start the screen saver in OS X.
Ok ...
Why not press the 'power button" and then click on sleep?
That's the thing -- I don't want the iBook to sleep -- I just want it to lock the screen.
In other words, I'm looking for the OS X equivalent of the Ctrl-Alt-Del + Spacebar shortcut in Windows that immediately locks the computer but leaves all the apps running in the background.
That's the thing -- I don't want the iBook to sleep -- I just want it to lock the screen.
In other words, I'm looking for the OS X equivalent of the Ctrl-Alt-Del + Spacebar shortcut in Windows that immediately locks the computer but leaves all the apps running in the background.
I think I may have something for you. I'll start by saying that I am NOT a programmer and so I am not entirely certain as to this works. Scared yet? No? Okay I'll also assume you are using 10.3.x as I don't believe this works in older OSs (warning to anyone else looking to use this).
- Download and unzip <a href="http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Screensavers/bgscreensaver.shtml"> bgscreensaver 1.1</a> (<a href="http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Screensavers/bgscreensaver.shtml">extra link</a>). It's a small program and you only need one small part of it.
- Locate the program "bgscreensaver 1.1" and then choose to "Show package contents"
- Click through to "Contents" then "MacOS" and you will see something called "ss". Copy it (it must be copied or MacOS thinks it's a Classic App ) to wherever you want and rename "ss" to "[something].app". Feel free to drag it to the dock. (This is the bit that runs the screen saver.)
- Check the "Require password" option in the "Security" section of "System Preferences".
All of that will make an easy to access screen saver. I'll keep looking for a hotkey combo to make it faster and more like what you're actually looking for.
I'll also assume you are using 10.3.x as I don't believe this works in older OSs (warning to anyone else looking to use this).
) to wherever you want and rename "ss" to "[something].app". Feel free to drag it to the dock. (This is the bit that runs the screen saver.)
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