The World According to Mitch

One of my pet peeves when walking through organizations that I consult for is seeing unlocked and unattended workstations.  I hate seeing this, knowing that anyone can sit down at their desk and do… whatever.  I know people who would sit down at these unlocked workstations, and send an e-mail to the entire organization (in the name of whoever’s workstation they was at), saying that they were buying beer, dinner, vacations, whatever.  Of course, *I* would never do that… it might be considered unethical.  But someone out there does it, and did it at a few companies I have worked at.  Funny, the behaviour seemed to stop when I left the company.  A weird coincidence, I know.

I have been saying for years that it would be a great feature if Microsoft could allow users to have a token – a key card or something – that would automatically lock their computers if the token were removed.  In Windows 10 Edition 1703 they have finally done it.

Dynamic Lock is a feature that is enabled in the Sign-in options, and is one of those great new features that I have not heard too many people talking about.  If you carry your smartphone around with you, and really, who doesn’t these days, then it is easy to implement and use.  Here’s how:

1. Pair your smartphone to your desktop or laptop.  Oh, did I mention?  This will only work if both devices have Bluetooth enabled.
2. Open Windows Settings, then select the Accounts option.
3. On the left side of the window click Sign-in options.
4. Click the check box under Dynamic lock.

That’s it… as simple as that.  Walk away with your phone (out of Bluetooth range), and within a minute your computer will lock down.  For those of us who are used to locking every time we walk away, this may not be an issue.  For the rest of you out there… set this up today!