If your Windows based computer is turned on and there is no user activity for some time, i.e., keyboard and mouse are not used, your computer may start displaying a screen saver. And, after that, when you again start some new activity by moving the mouse or pressing a key, it may display the “Welcome screen” or the login screen and may ask for your password again to access the computer. Depending upon your screen saver settings as to in how much time the screen saver will appear if no user activity is detected, sometimes it can be very frustrating to keep entering the password again and again when the screen saver appears after say every 2 minutes or so. Let’s see how we can disable (or enable) this password feature when we want to resume work after the screen saver has set in.
The password-protection on the screen saver, and in fact the screen saver itself, is basically a security feature to help protect your data / documents from prying eyes. If you’re using your computer in a place which has several people around (such as in an office), and if you leave your computer unattended for some time due to some sudden urgent work (say, the boss has called you), other persons can look at your computer and view the current screen and the data displayed on it. They can also check other files on your computer in your absence if your computer is on and left unattended for some time. The screen saver is intended to take care of such situations. It will automatically appear after the pre-set time if there is no user activity (such as keyboard or mouse) during that time. And, this pre-set time can be set from 1 minute to 9999 minutes. Yes, 9999 minutes, that is about 166 hours or about a little less than 7 days! Though I wonder who will use a screen saver that appears if there is no activity for about 7 days while the computer is still turned on!! Anyway, when the screen saver appears on the screen automatically, it hides the contents of your screen. This will be useful when you’re absent from your place for some time or when you’re very much available but you’re talking to someone standing near you who is trying to have a look at your screen.
But, if a screen saver, if not protected by password, can be removed by just moving the mouse or pressing any key. Therefore, it would be useless if someone can bypass your screen saver by just moving the mouse in your absence and still view the contents of your screen or other files. That is where the concept of password-protected screen saver comes in. So, if your screen saver is password-protected, any effort by a person (including you) to remove the screen saver or resume the work by moving mouse or pressing a key will display the “Welcome screen” or the login screen. This welcome screen can be removed only by entering the correct Windows user account password. Thus, now your data and files are secure from prying eyes.
So, the benefit of a password-protected screen saver is the enhanced security of the contents of your currently displayed screen and other contents on your computer / laptop in your absence and to hide them from other people who may have access to your computer or who may have a look at your computer in your absence. It can be useful if you’ve sensitive data on your computer (more so, if such sensitive data is generally displayed on the screen) and your computer is in a place where other people have access such as an office; in these situations, depending upon your requirements, you can use the password-protected screen saver with a short pre-set time to automatically launch the screen saver (it can be 1 minute or 10 minutes, as per your requirements). Now, if you’ve to suddenly leave your computer / laptop unattended for some time, the screen saver will start automatically and it can be removed only by entering your password. So, your sensitive data and files are safe now.
However, there are situations when your computer is in some isolated or safe place, where hardly any outsider would come (such as in your home), in such situations, having a short time set for screen saver, and that too with password protection, can be a big irritant and frustrating. This is so because after every few minutes, you may have to enter your password to access your computer if meanwhile the screen saver appears on the screen. Therefore, in such a situation, you’d like to disable the password-protection from the screen saver and moreover, you may also like to keep the screen saver launch time to some higher value.
To do it, proceed as under:
(1) Right click anywhere in the empty area of your Windows desktop. A popup menu appears. Click on Properties if you’re using Windows XP, or on Personalize if you’re using Windows Vista.
(2) Display Properties dialog box will appear on the screen. Select the Screen Saver tab. Now, it appears as under:
(3) To change the time after which screen saver will automatically start, change the time setting in Wait field (the time is in minutes).
(4) If you want to enable the password-protection for the screen saver, select the “On resume, display Welcome screen” check box in Windows XP; in Windows Vista, select the “On resume display logon screen”; i.e., this check box should have a check mark in it.
On the other hand, if you want to disable the password-protection for the screen saver, unselect the “On resume, display Welcome screen” check box in Windows XP; and in Windows Vista, unselect the “On resume display logon screen”; i.e., this check box should NOT have a check mark in it or it should be unchecked.
(5) Click OK to save your changed settings.
Your desired settings for screen saver are now in place.
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