WinLock

When working in a crowded environment, it’s best to lock your workstation when leaving your desk, just to avoid pranks, or even leaking personal data. However, light security can also be added with applications like WinLock which put a lock on multiple active windows, making them unusable until the proper password is provided.

A cool advantage is that the application can be used right after download, because it requires no installation in order to properly function. This also enables you to carry it around on a thumb drive to use on multiple computers, without having to worry about the stability of the target system, since registries are not modified in the process.

The application quietly sits in the tray area at all times, and is managed from the corresponding menu. The first time it’s launched, you’re asked to provide a master password, which is best remembered, because it’s the only way to unlock target windows. On the other hand, a prompt message shows up when quitting the application, and windows are still locked.

You’re free to target any kind of window. Once the lock options is selected, you simply need to click a window of interest, with a tooltip following your cursor showing the current status. What’s more, the application allows you to lock the desktop as well, which comes in handy to prevent accidental movement of shortcuts, or launching files by mistake.

All windows you lock are shows in a list in the corresponding tray icon menu. Unlocking can either be done by selecting the one of interest from the list, or choosing to unlock all of them at a time, by simply writing down the password.

In conclusion, WinLock is not just a simple security option to make specific windows inactive, but can also come in handy if you don’t want to accidentally move specific windows from their place, desktop icons, or launch desktop shortcuts by mistake. It requires no installation, and works with most types of windows, including web browsers.