Ways to Lock a Mac
There are a number of ways to lock a Mac, but they all require you to set up user passwords for all the accounts on your Mac first. Once that’s done, you have these options:
Automatic inactivity timer: This is an important method, because it kicks in if you are called away from your Mac unexpectedly or just forget to lock it. Whenever your Mac enters sleep mode, or the screen saver activates, the screen will either lock immediately or after the amount of time you choose.Keyboard shortcut: This method is essential, as it’s extremely fast and you can activate it at any time. The downside is you have to memorize a key combination.Apple menu: This is a good fallback method, as you don’t need to memorize a key combination. The option to lock your screen is always located conveniently in the Apple menu.Hot corners: This method allows you to set it so that your screen locks when you move your mouse cursor into one of the four corners of your screen. If you’re already using all four hot corners for other things, then you won’t be able to use this method.
Check Your Password and Login Settings First
Before you can lock your Mac, you need to make sure it’s actually possible to lock it. If your Mac is set to log in automatically, or your account has no password set, then you won’t be able to lock your Mac until these issues have been addressed. Follow these steps to check and verify your password and login settings, and then enable an inactivity-based lock if you so desire:
How to Lock a Mac Using Shortcut Keys
If your user account has a password associated with it, and your Mac doesn’t have automatic login turned on, then you can instantly lock your Mac at any time using an easy key combination. When you press these keys together, the lock screen will appear, and nobody will be able to access your Mac without putting in the correct password. To instantly lock your Mac, simply press and hold Control + Command + Q, and release the keys after the lock screen appears. This is the fastest an easiest way to lock your Mac as long as you can remember the combination.
Lock Your Mac Using the Apple Menu
If you have trouble remembering shortcut combinations, you can also lock your Mac quite easily from the Apple menu.
Lock Your Mac Using Hot Corners
The other way to easily lock any Mac is to set up your hot corners. This feature allows you to set an action to occur whenever you move your mouse cursor into one of the four corners of your screen. There are a lot of options, and one is to immediately lock the screen.
