Securing Your Workstation

• NOTE: Lab machines may not be left unattended for more than 10 minutes, without prior approval from the Mosaic Technical Assistant on duty.
• Under Windows there are two ways to secure your workstation.

  1. Press Ctrl, Alt, Del. When the dialog box appears select "Lock Computer." This method is simple and easy but should not be used in the Mosaic computer labs.
  2. Password Protected Screen Saver. To access screen saver options right click on your Windows background and select "Properties." The "Display Properties" dialog box will appear as shown below in Figure1. Select "Screen Saver." Choose the screen saver you prefer to use from the pull down list. Clicking on the box "On resume, password protect" will turn the password protection on. Finally select an appropriate time limit for the screen saver to come on. (We suggest no more than 10 minutes idle time.)
     
     Using a password protected screen saver gives the added security of automatically locking your workstation if you forget to.

  1. 
     Figure 1

• Important note: If you are running an Exceed session through Windows the Windows screen locking will prevent access to your Exceed session.

   

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• Under Unix, there are three different ways to secure your workstation.

  1. Password Protected Screen Saver. To access the screen saver option Right Click on the unix background then select Applications--> Application Manager... Select the icon "Desktop Controls" then "Screen." In the "Style Manager - Screen" dialogue box (Figure 2 below) set the Screen Saver and the Screen Lock buttons to "ON," set the appropriate times and select your choice of animations. Press "Ok" when you are finished to apply your settings.
     
     Using a password protected screen saver gives the added security of automatically locking your workstation if you forget to.

  1. 
     Figure 2

  2. Another method to secure your Unix workstation is to click the small lock icon (shown below in Figure 3) in the Unix toolbar.

     
     Figure 3

  3. Xlock Program You may also secure your Unix workstation by typing "xlock" into any Terminal command window. Although you cannot choose an animation the "xlock" program automatically renews your unix login/token every time you unlock the screen. Other methods for locking your workstation will not do this.
• Under Linux, there are two different ways to secure your workstation.

  1. XScreenSaver Display Lock Click on the Linux Main Menu (located in the lower left-hand corner) and select Lock Screen.
     
     
     Figure 1
     
  2. XScreenSaver Lock Click on the Linux Main Menu (located in the lower left-hand corner), select Preferences and then select Screensaver. Now select the Lock Screen After option and set the minutes to 0.
     
     
     Figure 2
     

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