Looking for a program that I can use to lock my PC while I'm

[Odon]

Away, I've found a few buy they all require you to buy them, anyone know of any free ones?

[Killgannon]

you can require a password with windows by itself

or if you plan to leave your pc completely off you can set a password for boot in most bios so that it wont boot past that w/o the password

[The Stig]

Take the power supply cable with you.

(assuming the you're leaving your PC with a bunch of people that aren't IT literate, so they will never go through the hassle of finding a power cable to plug into your PC)

Alternatively, just disconnect a thing or 2 from inside, once again, assuming no one will have the knowledge to open it inside to reconnect it back up again.

[Robert]

just loosen something to where it won't post, its what I used to do when I had to stop my fuckwit sister from getting on my PC, unless the people you're trying to stop are wise to that..on top of a bios password and a windows password, I don't think people will go through that much trouble just for your PC..lol

[Fallso]

Take power cord with you, disconnect mobo power connecter from board, disconnect graphics card power connecter (if applicable), disconnect CPU fan connector. Once that's done only people dedicated into getting into your computer will fix all of that sooooo you could get Truecrypt and encrypt your boot volume.

Then they will have to put in a password of your choice to boot up. Combine this with bios password and windows password and your computer will be a mini-fucking-fort knox.

[Isiolia]

Find a way to lock your case. Put a BIOS password on. Put a password on Windows. Whenever you leave, CTRL-ALT-DEL, Lock Computer. You may need to go into the Users control panel and turn off the Welcome Screen.

Depends on the level of dedication someone has to getting into your PC. Really, if they have the machine in-hand, most all security is for naught. If they can get to the motherboard, they can reset the BIOS and get by that. If they can boot the computer, they can use a CD to change the Windows password, or just pull the HD and copy your data onto another machine.

About the only thing you can do if that's the case is start using encryption, but that assumes that you have data you want people not to get into, not simply that you don't want family members/roommates using your computer without your permission.

[levish]

locking the computer case and bios password is about as far as you need to go imo

not that its foolproof but its probably beyond the scope of most people to take it further

[Fallso]

Find a way to lock your case. Put a BIOS password on. Put a password on Windows. Whenever you leave, CTRL-ALT-DEL, Lock Computer. You may need to go into the Users control panel and turn off the Welcome Screen.

Depends on the level of dedication someone has to getting into your PC. Really, if they have the machine in-hand, most all security is for naught. If they can get to the motherboard, they can reset the BIOS and get by that. If they can boot the computer, they can use a CD to change the Windows password, or just pull the HD and copy your data onto another machine.

About the only thing you can do if that's the case is start using encryption, but that assumes that you have data you want people not to get into, not simply that you don't want family members/roommates using your computer without your permission.

If you encrypt the drives with Truecrypt, it's not as simple as pulling the data off the HDD when it's plugged into another machine, you either have to be able to decrypt a whole volume, or have the password (which, iirc, can't be changed until the volume is mounted with truecrypt).

[Isiolia]

If you encrypt the drives with Truecrypt, it's not as simple as pulling the data off the HDD when it's plugged into another machine, you either have to be able to decrypt a whole volume, or have the password (which, iirc, can't be changed until the volume is mounted with truecrypt).

Yeah, that's why I went on to say that if someone has full access to your hardware, encryption is about the only route to go. But, like I said, that's only worth doing if it's your -data- that you're trying to keep people out of.

It'd just be unnecessary if you're trying to keep a younger brother from commandeering your PC while you're at work or something.

[Izzy]

If you have a logon password, just hit the windows key + L. It locks the workstation.

[Shuemue]

Remove your hard drive, package it carefully, UPS it to yourself, open the package when you get home, reinstall.

[alt]

yeah lol, disconnect your hard drive and take it with you (be careful with it). or stick it in a safe if you have one lol

[Fallso]

If you encrypt the drives with Truecrypt, it's not as simple as pulling the data off the HDD when it's plugged into another machine, you either have to be able to decrypt a whole volume, or have the password (which, iirc, can't be changed until the volume is mounted with truecrypt).

Yeah, that's why I went on to say that if someone has full access to your hardware, encryption is about the only route to go. But, like I said, that's only worth doing if it's your -data- that you're trying to keep people out of.

It'd just be unnecessary if you're trying to keep a younger brother from commandeering your PC while you're at work or something.

Ah, my bad.