Time Lock

With the possibility to create multiple accounts on a single computer, an operating system gives you the possibility to lock your desktop so nobody else has access to it. Based on a similar method, specialized applications such as Time Lock promise to offer enhanced security in order to keep pranksters at bay if you leave your desk.

The application comes in a small package and the installation process is done in the blink of an eye. Depending on how you want to use it, you are asked whether or not to have the lockdown automatically triggered at startup or take care of this yourself.

One thing that needs to be mentioned is that its core function is to protect other accounts used on one computer, except the administrator. What's more, once installed from the admin account, it is deployed and usable only by all other accounts that don't have admin rights.

Once in lockdown state, nothing other than your wallpaper and a few controls are displayed. The computer's power options can be accessed, which isn't really useful because if your work is not saved, everything is lost if these are triggered.

Attempting to unlock the computer asks for the password you set in the setup process. You also need to specify a time period after which your desktop is automatically locked again, with an additional option to cut off the Internet connection.

Unfortunately, there is no possibility to modify the password so you need to pay extra attention when providing the initial master password. What's more, the application also has its own interface which displays time limit, as well as time passed, with a button to manually locked your desktop.

However, this makes practicality questionable, because if the admin is the only one capable of unlocking the computer, it's difficult to understand why you'd want to lock down your station without the possibility to unlock it.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that Time Lock does a pretty good job at locking the desktop, blocking virtually all shortcuts and preventing system functions from being used. However, it's rather confusing, without the possibility to use it on an admin account and no option to deploy it on your local network, since it's dedicated to accounts without admin privileges.