Screensavers - Do they even work anymore?

[jamwatn]

Ridiculously the site that I manage, does not have a policy to lock screens. The amount of unlocked workstations that users leave is unreal.

 

I've added a 5 minute screensaver which applies through GPO, however not all devices seem to be entering an idle state.

 

Do screensavers not work anymore? Google reveals that it may be more common than I thought and I cannot believe I am being beaten by a screensaver!

[RLR]

Works okay here. Our GPO for locking screens has three settings:

Enable Screen Saver: Enabled

Password Protect Screen Saver: Enabled

Screen Saver Timeout: 300 seconds.

 

Maybe you have another GPO over riding this setting. Probably worth running a GPresult on the machines that don't seem to be working.

[LeMarchand]

Judging by the complaints I get from teachers, they're working at my sites.

[jthompson]

Haven't used an actual, swirly pattern screensaver in years. Rather I set display sleep timeouts, which can lock the desktop anyway.

[LeMarchand]

I personally use

 

 

which scales brilliantly across 3 monitors.

 

As well as inactivity time set, I use Dynamic Lock and MonitorES to kick it in on the rare occasions that I walk away and forget to lock. MonitorES also activates it on manual lock. One day I'll find a way to pause Spotify on Dynamic Lock.

[slugshead]

Would be hilarious if the music played too @LeMarchand

[Protec]

It's easier to just set the monitor to go black after a set time and require sign in on wake.

 

I'm not sure why the screensaver wouldn't be working but it could be the cursor moving by a small amount.

[Driftingashore]

Works for us, with the exception of Powerpoint blocking it and preventing the screen saver (and thus lock) from kicking in.. really have to figure out a workaround to that..

[FN-GM]

Works for us, with the exception of Powerpoint blocking it and preventing the screen saver (and thus lock) from kicking in.. really have to figure out a workaround to that..

 

If you play videos on your computers it may have the knock-on effect of locking the screen when watching something.

[ThatBoringBloke]

I just send a resignation email to the head if I spot an unattended unlocked computer.

Head always knows its me (by now anyway), but comes to ask the staff member about it anyway. Needless to say computers tend to get locked when unattended.

[LeMarchand]

I think if I just went for a sleep option or black/blank screen screensaver I'd get a lot of "my computer is broken!" calls.

[Driftingashore]

If you play videos on your computers it may have the knock-on effect of locking the screen when watching something.

 

To be honest, I'd be fine with that for repeat offenders. If they can't be trusted to lock their computers, they can be forced into the purgatory of wiggling their mouse every 20 minutes.

[Rob_D]

If you play videos on your computers it may have the knock-on effect of locking the screen when watching something.

 

Having WMP (or whatever it's called now) open with a video playing will stop the screensaver/display timeout, even if WMP is minimized. It's my ghetto solution for stopping the PC locking while monitoring a remote support session.

 

Years ago I had a custom screensaver set up with the school logo spinning. Now most people seem okay with the screen going blank, and as long as it comes on when you wiggle the mouse it's fine. Using hibernate might be a different story though.

[bigal06]

Can't get mine to work either. I think there is something in GPO that is stopping it kicking in but I can't find it. I have all the setting correct, but it never goes to screen saver.

[Rob_D]

In the past, I've had more luck with power profile settings than the screensaver setting.

[jamwatn]

I might have to go down the power options route now sadly because the screensaver does now kick in (great), but it doesn't actually lock the screen!

 

I can't believe it!

[Driftingashore]

I might have to go down the power options route now sadly because the screensaver does now kick in (great), but it doesn't actually lock the screen!

 

I can't believe it!

 

For what it's worth, this is how we do it with Group Policy - works for us.

 

User Configuration -> Policies -> Administrative Templates -> Control Panel -> Personalisation -> Force specific screen Saver

 

Set to: rundll32 user32.dll,LockWorkStation

[jamwatn]

Thank you. I suspect the problem might be the profile as if I log on to a workstation with a fresh profile, the screensaver activates as expected so I don't want to give up but this is so much time for a screensaver.

[LeMarchand]

One day I'll find a way to pause Spotify on Dynamic Lock.

 

As this comes up on the first page of a Google Search for "pause spotify on dynamic lock" - I have succeeded!

 

https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/automatically-play-pause-media-on-system-lock-unlock-on-windows-10/ led me to https://github.com/InvalidCastEx/CommandLineMedia/releases/tag/v1.1.0.0 and just change VLC from the Addictive Tips example to Spotify and use the scheduled task. (Which never seemed to work with AutoHotKey)

[DaveTheTech]

For what it's worth, this is how we do it with Group Policy - works for us.

 

User Configuration -> Policies -> Administrative Templates -> Control Panel -> Personalisation -> Force specific screen Saver

 

Set to: rundll32 user32.dll,LockWorkStation

 

I forced a screen saver, then required the password on resume.