So I was looking around at options to create a key combo to lock the screen on OS X Leopard. I came across several different options and none of them were really want I wanted. Some required running an apple script to start a screen saver, others require the key chain access application or having an icon on you menu bar or dock. All I wanted was a simple key combo to lock the screen. It’s as easy as 1-2-3…4-5-6-7-8.  This is how you do it:

1. Get Quicksilver if you dont already have it.  So many good things come from this app that it’s worth it if not for this, then for it’s pure awesomeness.
2. Enable fast user switching (System Preferences>Accounts>Login Options-last check box)
3. Go into Quicksilver Preferences (default is option+space>command+,) and make sure you have the Extra Scripts and User Accounts Module enabled under plugins.
4. Open the Quicksilver interface (option+space) and select “Fast Logout”, press ‘Tab’ then ‘right arrow’ to open up the command selections and select ‘Run: run a shell script’ and press enter.  This should bring you to the user login window.
5. If that worked, go back into Quicksilver Preferences (option+space>command+,) and select ‘Triggers’.
6. Add a new trigger by pressing the ‘+’ symbol at the bottom. Select ‘Add new hotkey’.  You should now see the default as the last command you picked (Fast Logout and ‘Run’).
7. Click Save
8. Now click on the ‘Trigger’ (it should say ‘none’) and select the hot key you wish to use.  I chose to use ‘command+option+L’ as command+L has other functions.

That’s it.  You can now lock your Mac to your heart’s content with a simple keystroke.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 1:35 am and is filed under Apple, How To, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “OSX: Finally, lock your screen”

1. FreelancerJ November 8th, 2011 at 2:28 am

   Something I’ve always had on my Macs, is using a hot corner.
   In Lion, go System Preferences, Mission Control (I’ve had it in Snow Leopard and Leopard too, under Exposè instead) and click Hot Corners and set one of them to “Start Screensaver” using the drop-down menus.
   Next, go to “Security & Privacy” and tick the box that says “Require Password [drop-down box] after sleep or screensaver begins”. You can set this to immediate, 5 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes and so on.
   When set to immediately, you actually get about 1 and a half seconds while the screensaver transitions in to move the mouse again to cancel it without having to enter your password, which is useful if you accidentally hit a corner

   I find it better than a key combo, since I always have a mouse or touchpad nearby that I can just quickly flick into the bottom left corner (nice and out of the way for me, since my dock is on the left of the screen, so my apps don’t go to close) as I walk away from my computer
   Just an alternate way of doing it for the users that might be useful

2. Gustavo November 8th, 2011 at 5:09 am

   While I agree that it’s easier to use a hot-corner (and thanks for the instructional post!), I personally wouldn’t do that. Again, this is IMHO, but I have a hot-corner to turn off my screen and I find myself hitting it by accident sometimes. If I had to type in a password every time that happened, I would be seriously annoyed.

   Maybe it’s just a question of tweaking my mouse acceleration…. but for me, the key combo works really well, especially since I use the keyboard more than I use the mouse. (QuickSilver or AlfredApp really help with this).