Forcing computer to idle

[honj90]

I know this might seem like a curious question, but is there a way to actually force your computer to go to idle mode (with hotkeys for example), if you know your going to leave it for some time anyway? It would save me some time not having to lock it, close the screen and all that.

If a built-in option in windows 7 exists, even better

Thank you very much for your time.

 

[Matt1970]

I assume you are on a laptop. In power options set the power button options to go to sleep and require password protection on wakeup.

 

[honj90]

I assume you are on a laptop. In power options set the power button options to go to sleep and require password protection on wakeup.

Nope, I'm actually on a desktop.
I don't want to leave my computer unlocked even for a few minutes, as there are other people around who could easily get access. So I don't want to wait for the automatic idle/sleep mode to kick off, although I've set it to only 3 mins
Right now, when I want to go away from the computer, I lock it (ctrl-alt-delete+lock) and then manually turn the screen off (screen button, not very comfortably placed).
So I wondered if there was an option to perform both this actions in one or two clicks.

 

[lxskllr]

Laptop directions should still apply. You pick what pushing the power button does, and set the computer to lock on standby.

 

[Nothinman]

You could just hit Win+L and then set the monitor shut off time lower I suppose.

 

[honj90]

I actually prefer to turn the monitor off instead of standby, as I often have some applications still running in the background. I also like to have the power key shut down the computer, as I sometimes use it for that.

You could just hit Win+L and then set the monitor shut off time lower I suppose.

Thanks for the short-cut, it helps a lot.
I didn't really want to set the monitor time much lower, as it might hinder me when making for example phone calls, but I think the lock thing was more annoying, I'll see what I can do about the monitor now.
Thank you very much again 🙂

 

[Nothinman]

I had a Bluetooh program/script for Linux that would lock my computer whenever I walked away with my phone but stopped using it when the novelty wore off and I can't remember what it was called.

 

[honj90]

I had a Bluetooh program/script for Linux that would lock my computer whenever I walked away with my phone but stopped using it when the novelty wore off and I can't remember what it was called.

Sounds interesting, although I guess it's really something you set-up only for the fun of it and end up using it once in a month 🙂

Anyway the short-cut solved most of my problems and I've set my monitor to turn off after one minute, so I should be fine now, thanks again for your help 🙂

 

[Binky]

Make a desktop or menu shortcut:

rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation

 

[Nothinman]

Make a desktop or menu shortcut:

rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation

That will just do the same thing as Win+L and won't automatically shut the monitor off as well, right?

 

[honj90]

Sorry for the late reply, I thought this thread wouldn't be followed up any more and didnt' really check.

Thanks Binky for this trick, I'm currently trying it out.

Nothinman is right, writing this command in notepad and saving it as a bat file will lock the computer each time it's executed, but I don't mind the short time for monitor auto-shut off so much after all.

I'm experimenting a bit right now to create a task through task scheduler that will execute it after 1min idle, although it seems to never work correctly (works when I run the task manually, but task doesn't trigger automatically).

 

[quikah]

Not sure why you would need a task, you can just set your screen saver to blank (or anything else) with a 1 minute idle time and check the box to display logon screen.

 

[Fear No Evil]

If you create shortcut to this your computer will go to sleep as soon as you click it:

%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState

Not sure if that is what you are looking for. Works in XP I assume it will work in other OS's..

 

[honj90]

Not sure why you would need a task, you can just set your screen saver to blank (or anything else) with a 1 minute idle time and check the box to display logon screen.

I actually also want to set a task/another programs event (it has this option) to trigger on lock. The problem with screensaver is it that the computer is locked after screensaver is exited and not when it is entered, so my task would actually trigger when I come back to the computer (tried this on vista machine, but assume it's the same on windows7).

Unfortunately I think the whole task thing is impossible anyway, as task scheduler only checks idle state once every 15 minutes (just found that out).

I guess I'll have to stick to locking my computer manualy (thanks for the win-L short cut 🙂), although at the moment I have a lot of spare time and having fun experimenting to find other options 🙂

 

[honj90]

If you create shortcut to this your computer will go to sleep as soon as you click it:

%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState

Not sure if that is what you are looking for. Works in XP I assume it will work in other OS's..

I actually prefer to only have the monitor turn off, as I have some background programs I still want to run. Still, thanks for the tip, I may find some use for it soon 😉

 

[tomt4535]

Control Panel > Power Options > Choose when to turn off the display. Set that to 1Min. When you come back, just move the mouse or hit a key and the monitor will turn on. Once you lock the screen, nobody can see what was on the desktop. Turning off the monitor isn't going to stop someone from getting into your computer anyway if they really want to get in.

 

[fire400]

you want gov. sensor technology?

when you leave, your computer automatically locks.

go figure if you're being so damn picky.

 

[honj90]

Control Panel > Power Options > Choose when to turn off the display. Set that to 1Min. When you come back, just move the mouse or hit a key and the monitor will turn on. Once you lock the screen, nobody can see what was on the desktop. Turning off the monitor isn't going to stop someone from getting into your computer anyway if they really want to get in.

I've already done that as stated above and I know that turning off the monitor won't stop anyone from accessing the computer, that's why I wanted something that locks the computer the same time the monitro turns off.

 

[honj90]

you want gov. sensor technology?

when you leave, your computer automatically locks.

go figure if you're being so damn picky.

It would need to include body/face recognition to make sure that the computer locks even if someone enters the room while I'm leaving it 😛

Joke aside, I think I already mentioned that my problem was mostly solved, the win-L shortcut and the 1min monitor turn off time is fine for me:

"I guess I'll have to stick to locking my computer manualy (thanks for the win-L short cut ), although at the moment I have a lot of spare time and having fun experimenting to find other options"

What I was doing lately was only experimenting for fun in my spare time to find other optimizing/maximizing options (it's obviously for fun, as the invested time in research outweights the benefits of not having to press the win-L hotkey each time).

I just came back to the thread to reply to a post which I hadn't seen 2 weeks ago. I'm sorry if this offended you, but it seems to me that you don't really have a reason to become so irritable, as it was not you who spend his time helping me in the first place anyway (thanks to Nothinman and Binky btw).