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Equivalent of Win-L on Mac

This has got to be an easy, trivial question but as a new Mac user, how can I lock my Mac when I walk away?

On Windows this is dead simple - Win+L. Or hit Ctrl-Alt-Del and select "Lock this Computer"

The best thing I've found for the Mac is to rig the screensaver to require password on wake, set a hot corner to fire off the screen saver, and do that as I leave. Which feels really "Windows 3.1" to me.

Is there a Win+L-style method to quickly lock my Mac when I walk away?

2 Answers 2

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Take a look at this site to have the same windows hotkey to lock your mac.

It's simple and easy:

http://www.tuaw.com/2009/06/19/mac-101-locking-your-mac-with-a-hotkey-like-you-can-with-window/

One of the things that confused me the most when I switched to the Mac platform was the fact that there's no built-in way to lock the computer manually with a hotkey when walking away from it. This is something that was drilled into me from working in an office full of pranksters where leaving your computer unlocked was virtually a guaran

It turns out that this is an oversight in Mac OS X, and a 3rd party utility is required to be able to lock your computer with a hotkey. For a simple solution I would suggest installing a very basic preferences pane called LockTight.tee that you would be hosting a party for all of your co-workers that coming weekend.

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From this hint at MacOSXHints (no 3d-party software required).

First, check the General tab on the Security System Preferences panel to ensure that the Require password [some period] after sleep or screen saver begins box is checked.

Then, open Automator in the Applications folder, and select Service from the screen that appears. At the top of the new Service's actions, in the Service receives drop-down, select no input from the options. Make sure that any application is selected in the second drop-down.

Add the Start Screensaver action (in the Utilities group of actions) to the Service by dragging it to the right. Save the Service (Automator does not ask you where to save it, just to name it). Next, open System Preferences and select the Keyboard preference pane. Select the Keyboard Shortcuts tab at the top, then the Services group on the left. The service you created should be near the bottom of the list of Services under the General disclosure triangle.

Double-click on the right side of the entry for the Service you created and assign a keyboard shortcut. This was a bit unintuitive, because the shortcut column is not distinctly visible, so it is not obvious that you can double-click in the assigned shortcut column to add a shortcut.

I had difficulty picking a keyboard shortcut that would work in 10.6.0. Command-L did not work for me, because it is assigned the Show All Preferences menu item in System Preferences. Control-L also did not work for me. Command-Shift-L did work once I reassigned the Search with Google Service a different shortcut.

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