Nifty Trick: Lock Workstation Shortcut

around lunchtime on Wednesday, the 12th of April 2006 by Anarchy

OK… I know this is nothing new, but I felt it needed posting. I’ve been getting tired of people coming up to me going… “Neat! Show me how you did that!”. So I’m going to tell you… if only so I don’t have to repeat myself yet again.

For those Windows users out there who (like myself) are too damn lazy to press [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Del] + [Space Bar] to lock thier workstation up before walking away… you should know that there is an easier way. Just create yourself a clickable shortcut to lock it for you. Here’s how…

Right-click on your desktop, and select New –> Shortcut
In the “location of the item” field, browse to: C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe
Click [Next].
In the “name” field, enter “Lock Workstation”… or “Lock”… or “Hot, Sweaty Monkey Loving”… or whatever.
Click [Finish].
Right-click on the new Shortcut, and select Properties.
Edit the “Target” field to read as follows (and please note that the “LockWorkStation” part is CASE-SENSITIVE)
* Target : C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe User32.dll,LockWorkStation
Click the [Change Icon] button.
In the “Look for icons in this file” field, browse to: C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll
Choose an appropriate icon… like the “Lock” icon… or whatever.

Now when you’re about to walk away… just click your little shortcut. Happy now? Mmmm, K?