If you work with sensitive documents, or you simply don’t want anyone messing around with your stuff, you’ll want to lock your computer when you’ve stepped away. In OS X, there are a couple of different ways that you can accomplish this so that you can quickly and easily lock your computer down at a moment’s notice. Read on after the jump to learn how.
http://d5kh2btv85w9n.cloudfront.net/f/fa/Lock a Mac Computer Step 1.360p.mp4
1
Open Keychain Access. Enabling the Keychain Access menu bar shortcut will allow you to quickly lock your screen at any time. You can open the Keychain Access utility in the Utilities subfolder in the Applications folder.
http://d5kh2btv85w9n.cloudfront.net/a/a9/Lock a Mac Computer Step 2.360p.mp4
2
Open "Preferences" option in Keychain Access menu and check the “Show Status in Menu Bar” option. This will display the Keychain icon in the menu bar, near your network connection icon. It looks like a padlock.
http://d5kh2btv85w9n.cloudfront.net/0/0c/Lock a Mac Computer Step 3.360p.mp4
3
Lock your screen. Click the padlock icon and select “Lock Screen” from the menu. This will immediately lock your screen, and you will need to enter your user password to unlock it.[1]
http://d5kh2btv85w9n.cloudfront.net/7/73/Lock a Mac Computer Step 6.360p.mp4
3
Check the box labeled “Require password” followed by a menu option. Set the menu to “immediately” to have the password required once the screen saver turns on or the computer goes to sleep.
http://d5kh2btv85w9n.cloudfront.net/5/5b/Lock a Mac Computer Step 8.360p.mp4
5
Lock your screen. To lock your screen but keep your computer running, press Control + Shift + Eject/Power. Older Macs have an Eject key, while newer Macs use the Power button instead. This will immediately lock your screen but keep your computer running in the background, which is useful if you have a program that you need to keep open.
Meet Neon Heart, a New Article Booster and Featured Author who has been active in the wikiHow community for over a year. She has started 19 articles and enjoys voting on NFDs and fixing grammatical errors. Her proudest accomplishments on wikiHow have been becoming a Booster and Featured Author, and her favorite article she’s worked on is How to Make an Allied Map in Starcraft. Her favorite article on wikiHow is How to Make Blended Pink and Purple Eyes. She says that the potential knowledge base of wikiHow being practically infinite makes her stick around, since there’s always more to update and correct to help readers. She says the community is really down to earth, and she feels a connection to everyone here. To newer editors, she advises: “Edit and write articles about topics that you’re passionate about!”
1Open Keychain Access. Enabling the Keychain Access menu bar shortcut will allow you to quickly lock your screen at any time. You can open the Keychain Access utility in the Utilities subfolder in the Applications folder.Ad
2Open "Preferences" option in Keychain Access menu and check the “Show Status in Menu Bar” option. This will display the Keychain icon in the menu bar, near your network connection icon. It looks like a padlock.
3Lock your screen. Click the padlock icon and select “Lock Screen” from the menu. This will immediately lock your screen, and you will need to enter your user password to unlock it.[1]
1Open the System Preferences. You can find this in the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen.
2Click the Security & Privacy option. This will open a new box. The General tab should be open, but if isn’t, click the General tab.
3Check the box labeled “Require password” followed by a menu option. Set the menu to “immediately” to have the password required once the screen saver turns on or the computer goes to sleep.
4Disable the automatic login. Check the box labeled “Disable automatic login” to require a password when the computer is turned on.
5Lock your screen. To lock your screen but keep your computer running, press Control + Shift + Eject/Power. Older Macs have an Eject key, while newer Macs use the Power button instead. This will immediately lock your screen but keep your computer running in the background, which is useful if you have a program that you need to keep open.
6Unlock your screen. Once your screen is asleep, you will need to enter your password in order to access it again.[2]Ad
About this wikiHow