Stardust Desktop Lock

When leaving your work computer unsecured it sooner or alter falls pray to your colleagues' pranks. This can also be the case for home computers when left unattended. However, besides securing your desktop with default password protection settings provided by your operating system, an abundance of applications such as Stardust Desktop Lock promise to deliver a little more comfort.

The application does not require an installation process so you can easily store it on a removable device to use on multiple computers. The amount of system resources used is also not something to worry about, since the application automatically closes after settings are applied.

What the application actually claims to do is provide a much more quicker way to lock your desktop with tools provided by Windows. In other words, it acts like a trigger to your default screensaver and in case it is password protected, that's where security comes from.

The only time you get to see the main window is when no screensaver is active, the application unable to fulfill its core function without it. Available choices are only screensavers installed on your computer, hitting either the “Settings” or “Preview” buttons accessing Windows features. Once a selection is made, running the application again only triggers the default screensaver.

Unfortunately, if you don't set a password for the screensaver itself from system settings, your desktop is only protected until a key is pressed or the mouse moved. The application does not provide any means of forcing the lock-screen to appear before disabling the screensaver, nor any other security measures.

All things considered, Stardust Desktop Lock is nothing more than a desktop icon that triggers your default screensaver. Don't be fooled by the name, because if you're looking for a method of keeping prying eyes away and predators at bay, you might want to look for a different solution.