A lock screen policy is a basic computer concept, but some individuals might not understand it or how it works. Lock screen policies are critical, though, so it’s helpful for you to know at least a little bit about them. This article will serve as a lock screen policy crash course.
What is a Lock Screen Policy?
We’ll start with a simple concept breakdown. The lock screen policy on your laptop, desktop, phone, or tablet is the amount of time the system stays idle before your screensaver engages. When this happens, the system locks itself down.
After the screen locks, the system user must log in again to regain access. Virtually every computer system has a preinstalled lock screen policy. You will notice one for Windows, Mac, or any other popular operating system you might encounter while working from home or in an office. For instance, Linux has a lock screen policy that allows consistent device governance.
Why Do Device Users Need Lock Screen Policies?
The reason why lock screen policies exist is that if you’re using a device, it makes sense to have some basic security measures to protect it. A lock screen is one of those.
Let’s say that you’re working in an office, and you have a computer your company issued you to use. You might also bring in a laptop from home and work on that if your boss lets you do it.
In either of those scenarios, maybe there’s a sudden fire drill, and you have to leave your desk in a hurry. Perhaps you have to go to the restroom instead, or you leave your workspace for some other reason. When you do, you forget to lock your screen.
The lock screen goes to work after a certain amount of time, and the idea is that it’s preventing anyone unauthorized from sitting down at your workstation and stealing your sensitive data. Lock screen idle timeouts are standard issue with computers these days. You will even notice that your smartphone has a lock screen feature to turn away hackers, thieves, and even law enforcement members.
Can You Change Your Lock Screen Time?
With any device, whether it’s a laptop, desktop, tablet, smartphone, or something else, you should have a preset lock screen time. That might range anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. What you might not necessarily realize is that you can probably change that preset time if you want to.
How you would do that depends on what device you are trying to modify. Many times, if you go to the “Settings” section of your device, you will find lock screen time prominently featured.
Maybe you’re worried about someone stealing your data, and you want to reduce your lock screen time. You can probably do that. However, understand that once you do, if you sit at your desk to ponder something for a moment, your screen might lock before you have a chance to resume your activity. Then, you must log back in again, which will eat up some additional time.
Can You Disable a Lock Screen Feature?
It’s also possible with most devices to disable or suspend a lock screen feature if you want to. You can Google how to do that with most devices, or you might find directions in an instruction manual if one comes with the device.
If you do that, understand that if you walk away from your device without logging out, someone can walk by and start accessing any program or file on that device. You probably don’t want this to happen, so the only time it might make sense to disable a lock screen function might be if you’re working at home and your housemates using your computer or phone does not bother you.
There is one other reason why you might want to keep your lock screen active, though, even if logging back in after a few inactive moments might annoy you sometimes. A lock screen on something like a smartphone can prevent you from accidentally sending your phone a command while it’s still in your pocket.
You don’t want to accidentally call someone or shoot off a text. That is part of what a lock screen on a portable device prevents.
Now that you know what a lock screen is and what it does, you’ll probably want to keep yours in place. Modifying it makes it more likely someone unauthorized might access your device.
