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Thread: Good free program to lock my computer without obscuring media that is playing?

  1. #1
    ZaO
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    Good free program to lock my computer without obscuring media that is playing?

    My computer is in the living room so it is everything round here when it comes to media. I constantly find this annoying situation when friends come over and they want to go on my computer and do stuff on it everytime I leave the room. They may know how to use a computer to some extent, but they are not up to my standards of what is acceptable to be using this rig which I have put a lot of money into. They're the sort who just click ok, ok ,ok , yes, yes, yes on every single thing that pops up. Be it firewall or antivirus warnings. They're not very clued up on security and I find myself always sorting their computers out because of these careless actions. They get caught by phishing scams all the time and then say "I got hacked" *facepalm*. So basically I don't want to let them loose on my computer without me being there.

    I would like a way of locking the computer so no one can do anything on it without the password to unlock it. But, I would like to be able to put this lock on and still have music or a video running without it being interrupted. So the built in Windows security isn't going to cut it as far as I'm aware. As all I've been able to do with that is get it to go on the login screen which requires a password to get in, but is completely in the way if there was a video playing.

    I hope I've explained that well enough and someone can help!

    Cheers

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    Re: Good free program to lock my computer without obscuring media that is playing?

    Couldn't, you just make a new account and give it limited admin rights in which that user cannot alter any settings or delete any files. I have friends who do this with their children, and even if they delete something from their account its never deleted until the main user deletes it from their recycle bin.

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    Re: Good free program to lock my computer without obscuring media that is playing?

    Assuming you want video to actually be visible, do you mean something like this? http://www.e-motional.com/TScreenLock.htm

    Otherwise, music & video should still continue playing in the background when a PC is locked.

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  6. #4
    ZaO
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    Re: Good free program to lock my computer without obscuring media that is playing?

    Quote Originally Posted by technodean View Post
    Couldn't, you just make a new account and give it limited admin rights in which that user cannot alter any settings or delete any files. I have friends who do this with their children, and even if they delete something from their account its never deleted until the main user deletes it from their recycle bin.
    Well I could use a guest account or something but what I'm really looking for is just a lock that I can simply turn on without having to switch accounts all the time. Cheers.

    Quote Originally Posted by smargh View Post
    Assuming you want video to actually be visible, do you mean something like this? http://www.e-motional.com/TScreenLock.htm

    Otherwise, music & video should still continue playing in the background when a PC is locked.
    That sounds like the kind of thing I'm talking about yeh. But I want something that's free Thanks.

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    Re: Good free program to lock my computer without obscuring media that is playing?

    Googling "TScreen Lock free alternative" brought this up:
    http://www.softpedia.com/get/Securit...learLock.shtml

    Have a read see if it'll meet your needs, may also give it a try (after your review).

    Edit: Link edited on ZaO's post/advice.
    Last edited by UseItNow; 20-10-2012 at 06:18 PM.

  8. #6
    ZaO
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    Re: Good free program to lock my computer without obscuring media that is playing?

    Quote Originally Posted by UseItNow View Post
    Googling "TScreen Lock free alternative" brought this up:
    http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/clearlo...-lock-windows/

    Have a read see if it'll meet your needs, may also give it a try (after your review).
    Well first of all the link to it on that page makes Firefox give me a warning so I didn't get it from there just incase! But I found it here (http://www.softpedia.com/get/Securit...learLock.shtml) instead and scanned it with avast, emsisoft and malwarebytes which didn't show any positives. It's not asking for internet access either so it should be alright.

    This is exactly what I'm looking for bar one problem - It keeps a little window in the middle of the screen when it's locked which is right in the way if I have a video playing. But you can configure a few things with the config file. I can't figure out how to make the lock window transparent.
    Does anyone know how?

    Here's what the readme says about commands:

    Commandline Switches:
    ----------------------
    clearlock.exe /setpassword [password] - display a dialog to configure a password or if [password] is
    supplied by command line no dialog is shown.

    Note: If no password is configured you will be asked to configure one upon running
    ClearLock for the fist time. You must make sure ClearLock is in a writable location!

    clearlock.exe /config - opens a dialog for configuring options

    ----------------------
    You can also customize ClearLock by creating/editing
    ClearLock.ini located in the same directory as ClearLock.exe
    All fields are optional.

    Sample:

    [ClearLock]
    ;Password hash generated by clearlock.exe /setpassword or /config
    Password=

    ;Change message displayed on the lock screen
    DispMsg=

    ;Change color of solid lock screen or tint of transparent lock screen [RGB hex color in the form of 0x000000 (default)]
    Color=

    ; set to 0 to allow screen saver [default 1]
    DisableScreenSaver=

    ;Adjust transparency Value:0-255; 255 = Solid, 0 = Invisible [default is 100]
    Opacity=

    ;set to 1 to show a background image set with BackgroundImage parameter. [default 0]
    ShowBackgroundImage=

    ;full path to background image to be displayed if ShowBackgroundImage=1 You may use environment variables (ex. %SystemRoot%\myImage.bmp)
    BackgroundImage=

    ;number of invalid password attempts before lockout [default 3]
    LockoutTrys=

    ;duration in minutes for lockout [default 5]
    LockoutDuration=

    ;Turn sound effects on/off [default 1]
    Sound=



    I tried Opacity=0 btw and it didn't work.

    Thanks

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