boowebb

Problem

You want to lock your computer when you get up from it. You don't like hot corners for whatever reason (you're a keyboard junkie, they are used for other tasks, you are used to Win-L on Windows).

Solution

Use Quicksilver to start the screen saver application with a keystroke.

Discussion

I live in a dual world and one nice thing about Windows is you can Win-L to lock your computer when you get up from it (See here why you might want to do this).

The Macintosh solution is to first change your security preferences to "require a password to wake the computer from sleep or screen saver" (same think with the Windows screen saver).

Many people like to then set a "hot corner" to start their screen saver (screen saver preferences, hot corner button). This means you have to drag your mouse into one of the four screen corners to start the screen saver. There are two reasons why I personally don't like this:

1. I love Quicksilver which is a launching program for Macintosh (and much more). I love my keyboard and I prefer not to use my mouse. So it makes sense for me to be able to launch the screen saver from the keyboard and Quicksilver should be able to help me do this.

2. I run Parallels in full screen mode and for some reason the hot corners tend to be less reliable when Parallels is running.

To do this you first need Quicksilver - a quick download and easy setup will have you up and running quickly. Quick tutorial - CTRL-SPACE will open the QS launcher then you start typing in the names of apps you want to launch or control. Certain apps - like iTunes - can be controlled through QS to fine detail. Play. Have fun.

Back to this screen saver issue....

By default QS will scan your Applications directory for ... well apps to launch. You can either have it scan all applications or you can create a custom link directly to the screen saver application. I chose the latter because the former added an additional 300+ applications to the QS catalog.

Here's how:

1. Open QS preferences.
2. Click the catalog button on the top bar.
3. Click the Custom button on the left sidebar.
4. Click the + sign on the lower status bar to add a new custom catalog entry - File and Folder Scanner type.
5. Browse to /System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app and open it.

That's it. Now I don't get all fancy with QS - I just CTRL-SPACE and type screen and this comes up for me. Easy-peasy.