How to Instantly Lock Your Windows 10 PC When Not in Use

Windows Hello PIN Login - How to Instantly Lock Your Windows 10 PC When Not in Use 3

To avert your personal computer from being accessed by unauthorized parties, especially at home and office, it best to lock the device immediately. Under normal circumstances, Windows 10 will automatically lock itself when restarted or wake up from the Sleep mode.

But how about locking the computer on command?

Thanks to the newest security measure — Windows Hello, now you can lock the computer in an instant whenever you want to. Here, I will show you five different ways to quickly lock the device and preventing anyone from using your computer, let alone accessing its data.

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#1 Lock Windows 10 by pressing Windows+L buttons

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Press and hold the Windows button, then followed by the L button. It will quickly enter the logon screen and lock the computer.

#2 You can also ‘Lock’ it from the Start menu

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The same result can be done with a different approach. Just click Start, then click on the user picture, and select Lock.

#3 The ‘Lock’ function also available in the Ctrl+Alt+Del menu

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On Windows 10, the legendary Ctrl+Alt+Del combination will show you a few extra options and one of them is to Lock the computer.

#4 Let Windows 10 lock itself after idle for a specific duration

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Screen saver may no longer a thing these days, but its updated version allows you to lock the computer automatically after idling for a specific duration. To get that set up, follow the guide below.

  1. Go to the Start menu
  2. Type and run Change screen saver
  3. Adjust the Wait time
  4. Tick the One resume, display logon screen box
  5. Click Apply and then OK.

#5 Dynamic Lock will automatically lock the PC when you are away

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Dynamic Lock is a new feature that connects the computer with an Android phone to determine if you are away from it. When you bring the phone with you, leaving the desk, the computer will detect the connection loss and therefore, lock the device automatically.

The process to enable Dynamic Lock is rather long. I already made the guide to enable automatic lock with Dynamic Lock on Windows 10 here.