Malarky Workstation Locker

Whenever you leave your computer unattended, there’s a chance that other individuals snoop through your files, or even pull a prank on you, which can be pretty frustrating. Windows already comes with a solution to lock your PC while away, but you can enforce this with third-party applications such as Malarky Workstation Locker.

First of all, the application doesn’t need to be installed in order to function, so you can check it out from the moment download is done. More than this, it means you can have it deployed on a thumb drive to serve as a personal computer lock tool wherever you go. Registry entries are not affected, thus the health status remains intact.

As far as the visual design is concerned, the application doesn’t really show signs of inspiration, and looks like it’s pretty much in the first steps of development. A large window shows up on the desktop with a lock function, turning into an unlock button when pressed. Needless to say that a prompt shows up which asks for the password to provide desktop functionality again.

Whenever you lock your computer, a prompt is displayed to let you know what the password is. Unfortunately, there’s no possibility to have it changed, not even after the first run, having a huge impact on overall practicality.

However, the lack of option to change the password isn’t the only downside to this operation. It’s a good idea to minimize every window before locking the desktop, because the application only hides the taskbar, while leaving the desktop usable. Sadly, using the task switcher is an easy way to bypass this lock method.

Malarky Workstation Locker can quickly make you look for alternatives, or even stick to the default method of keeping your desktop safe. The password can’t be changed, and locking the desktop doesn’t mean it can’t still be used, since only the taskbar gets hidden.