Is there a way to lock up my PC so that no one else can use it when I walk away?
Of course there is!
Windows XP Professional
If the Welcome Screen is turned on, hold the Windows key (the one with the Windows logo) and press L. If the Welcome screen is turned off, press CTRL+ALT+DEL and hit the “Lock Computer” button. A message will display on the screen stating that the computer is locked and that only you or and administrator may unlock it.
By the way, the friendly blue screen with a list of users and their icons is the Welcome Screen. If that’s what you see when your computer boots up, the Welcome Screen is turned on. If it’s turned off, you’ll see a username/password dialog box when your computer starts.
Windows XP Home
Press the Win + L key combination described above.
There is also a third method to lock an XP Pro or Home computer – create a desktop shortcut that does the job. Right click in an empty space on your desktop and select “Create Shortcut”. The target of this shortcut should be “%windir%\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation”. Give it any name you want and try it out.
