One of the features I am used to having is a quick way to lock the computer. In Gnome (Linux), it’s typically Ctrl+Alt+L. In Windows, it’s Windows+L. In OS X, it’s… uh… a secret? I thought for sure I could just hit Command+L, but that wasn’t it, so I asked Google. Being a good friend, Google replied with dozens of answers, usually somehow using sleep or the screen saver. A common solution was to make a corner of the desktop activate the screen saver while having preferences set to require a password upon returning from the screen saver. Of course, this causes the possibility of accidentally activating the screen saver, which is annoying. So, I dug deeper.
The best solution I have found is to open Keychain Access (in /Applications/Utilities), then open preferences (Command+,). In the General section, there is an option you can check to “Show Status in Menu Bar.” This will give you a lock in the menu bar, which you can click to bring up a short menu. The first item is “Lock Screen,” exactly what I was looking for. Actually, it just seems to activate the screensaver and require a password upon returning, but it feels like a better solution than any other I have come across.
I’d like to assign this action to a key combo, but I don’t know how to do so without installing an external app. Any suggestions?
