Question

Auto-Lock XP in less than 1 minute of inactivity?

Asked by: computerdoctortxkana

I work for a medical office running an electronic medical records and billing system with a workstation in each patient exam room.  (The OS is XP).  The issue is that patients have been known to pounce on the computer as soon as the doctor or nurse leaves, thereby compromising the patient confidentiality which is paramount.  It is very cumbersome to manually lock the system every time you're finished with a patient and then log in when the doctor comes back in or such.  We are going to add fingerprint scanners for faster logon.  However, the doctor would like to auto-lock the station after 20-30 seconds of inactivity.  The Windows screen saver function in the display control panel is limited to a minimum of 1 minute before it comes on.  If locking is not an option, then if a screen saver could come on within the 20-30 seconds and then XP would lock within the minute, that would work well too.

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Asked On
2007-06-01 at 16:27:07ID22608435
Tags

lock

,

xp

,

auto

Topics

Health Care / MUMPS

,

Windows NT Networking

,

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
5

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    Answers

     

    by: Bartender_1Posted on 2007-06-01 at 16:32:23ID: 19199046

    Windows XP has a keyboard shortcut for locking the system. If you press the Windows Key and "L" it will lock the workstation. Would this be sufficiently short and easy for the doctors?

    :o)

    Bartender_1

     

    by: computerdoctortxkanaPosted on 2007-06-01 at 16:48:31ID: 19199120

    Not really.  That leaves too much to chance because when you're doing something like counseling a patient on a severe disease or even in more routine situations, the energy should be spent on that and the doctor isn't the real problem.  MAs and nurses use the medical records too and that's just too many people to trust to lock the computer.  If you had HIV or hepatitis or a psychiatric illness, would you want that information's privacy to be open to the chance that some new employee wouldn't remember and then suddenly the fact that you are HIV positive is known?  This is a small enough town that things like that would get around.

     

    by: Bartender_1Posted on 2007-06-01 at 16:56:14ID: 19199166

    Unfortunately, the lowest value you can have in the screensaver is 1 minute of inactivity.
    I don't know of any software that is designed to lessen that.
    I'll look around and see if I can find anything, if I do find anything, I'll let you know.

    :o)

    Bartender_1

     

    by: qz8dswPosted on 2007-06-01 at 18:11:36ID: 19199464

    This is a group policy.
    Click on start, then run and type in gpedit.msc.
    The policies you are looking for will be in User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\Display.

    As per here
    http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=89&threadID=165152&messageID=1688736

    "Screen saver time out:

    Specifies how much user idle time must elapse before the screen saver is launched.

    When configured, this idle time can be set from a minimum of 1 second to a maximum of 86400 seconds, or 24 hours. If set to zero, the screen saver will not be launched."

    You have to configure the 4 screen saver policies.

    Terry

     

    by: burrcmPosted on 2007-06-01 at 22:17:27ID: 19199874

    This might be worth a look also. USB wireless lock. Move further away than 2 meters - locked. Back in range - unlock. If you forget your transmitter you have to enter your pwd.

    http://www.slashgear.com/usb-wireless-pc-lock-offers-simple-protection-14740.php

    Chris B

    20120131-EE-VQP-002

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