Before walking away from your computer...

[ubunterooster]

I have noticed with many people a errant practice in safety. When most people get up from their computer, they leave it as it is. Last week, I watched someone walk across the room to get a book, but got distracted and forgot about the computer. His son young son went on and started clicking on things. The simple solution is to hit cntrl-alt-L before leaving the computer for any length of time. I learned this the hard way when my younger sister used my previous ubuntu forums account to post her own question: "what Linux distro is good for a girl" (which also cemented my idea that I needed to start a different account[the name screamed n00b]).

Now when I get up to get a drink cntrl-alt-L reassures me that even if something happens requiring attention immediately, my computer needs not worry about little sisters, nosy "friends" or random miscreants just waiting for me to step away.

Edit:For xfce:
Add to panel>log out applet.
set it to lock screen:
right-click>preferences.

[Phrea]

That's the great thing of living by yourself.
No need for all that logging out / being afraid nonsense ! ;)

[ubunterooster]

locking does not = logging out, but otherwise agreed

[GeoPrude]

I just close the lid on my netbook. It automatically locks itself.

[markbuntu]

Your sister posed a very interesting question. Does she know about the Hannah Montana remix?
Does she have her own account now?

[chriswyatt]

I always lock my PC out of habit. Worse thing people can do is leave annoying messages ;).

[ubunterooster]

I set her up as "roast-turkey" or similar.

[swoll1980]

Your sister posed a very interesting question. Does she know about the Hannah Montana remix?
Does she have her own account now?

Yeah because she's a girl Hannah Montana Linux has to be for her.

[Georgia boy]

I've never used the lock out feature. How does that work and how do you get back in? Do you create another password from what you sign in at logon?

Thanks

Tom

[Irihapeti]

Non-sense or common-sense? Even people who live by themselves can have visitors.

I heard of a family who got saddled with huge phone bills because they had just phoned India from NZ, back in the days before cheap calling to everywhere, and a young child just picked up the phone and pressed the redial button. Probably the folks in India thought it was "cute" and went on talking.

After that, they made sure that the phone and other stuff was out of reach of small kids.

[ubunterooster]

all it does is ask for your password before you can see or do anything else. Also all programs continue to run as normal, so you can continue to listen to Hannah Montana [if one wants to do such a thing]

[sandyd]

my computers lock themselves as soon as they dont detect my google phone's bluetooth signal. when I come back, I can unlock it by typing in a password on the phone.

[ubunterooster]

@Tom: it uses the same password as your log on one

[Greg]

I believe in the CTRL-ALT-F(8-12) test, personally.

[lisati]

When I was working full time back in the 1980s, the company I worked for were very security conscious because their systems processed a lot of confidential data. They had the interactive systems used by their staff set so that if your online session was inactive for a certain length of time (10 or 20 minutes I think, perhaps a coffee was calling) you'd get logged off automatically, and there would be an entry in the relevant system logs to that effect.

As for the phone call stuff mentioned, there are a few tales that I've seen over the years: rascals tapping into phone lines on the street, malware ringing 0900 phone numbers, stuff like that. Thankfully the telcos have wised up - the one I use has a number of options, including blocking all calls to 0900 numbers, permanent toll bars, and toll bars with a PIN.

[jayze]

I read this thread with interest....what exactly is the correct most secure procedure when you leave your PC and what are the pros and cons of leaving on permanently or hibernating or shutting down etc etc?:popcorn:

[lisati]

I read this thread with interest....what exactly is the correct most secure procedure when you leave your PC and what are the pros and cons of leaving on permanently or hibernating or shutting down etc etc?:popcorn:

My preference is to turn my laptop off. No doubt someone is likely to jump in and say that this isn't secure at all. Having said this, however, when I take my laptop with me when I'm out, I'm usually somewhere where I can either trust the people I'm with, or they don't have the know-how to break in to it (usually both). I also make sure that I know where my laptop is. At home, if someone were to break in and make a nuisance of themselves, the security of my gear and data would probably take second place to dealing with (to?) the intruder.

[Post Monkeh]

I read this thread with interest....what exactly is the correct most secure procedure when you leave your PC and what are the pros and cons of leaving on permanently or hibernating or shutting down etc etc?:popcorn:

if you hibernate, the contents of your memory and cache are still on disk, and could be recovered if someone took the disk out of your computer and mounted it in an already running OS.

leaving it locked is safe, except that if someone wanted to try to force their way onto the system, half their work's done because they don't need to know a username (well the new ubuntu gives a userlist anyway which is pretty bad security wise)

the most secure is logged out alltogether, as without the presence of a userlist (which ubuntu DOES have enabled by default, but we'll ignore that for a minute) then any would be hacker would need to guess both the username and password

but really, no computer is safe if someone has physical access to it. take out the HD, mount it on another pc and you have access to any files that aren't encrypted. in fact in most cases you could just reboot with an ubunt livecd in the drive.

[fatality_uk]

BlueProximity is a doddle to setup and very easy to use. Most people have a phone with them most of the time so it works well.

[Georgia boy]

Thanks for the info on how to use the lock screen. Wasn't sure if you used your logon password or if you had to create a different logon password. I noticed the symbol in the window with the shutdown etc in Hardy and was wondering about that and then came across this thread. Thanks again for the information.


Tom

[Post Monkeh]

BlueProximity is a doddle to setup and very easy to use. Most people have a phone with them most of the time so it works well.

i do it for convenience, but it's always possible someone could spoof your phone's bluetooth address.

of course all this is really only important if you're doing some really secretive ****.
the only reason i lock my pc is in case the mrs goes on the pc and checks my browser history :D

[RabbitWho]

Yeah because she's a girl Hannah Montana Linux has to be for her.

When are you finished making the My Little Pony distro?

[corney91]

I believe in the CTRL-ALT-F(8-12) test, personally.
I generally do the same *Hi5* :D
Well, actually it's usually tty1 for me, with ncmcpp open, in case a bad song comes on with shuffle so anyone can change it - also I sometimes don't even bother going back to the GUI for a while :p

[jayze]

right....ty for that.....soooooo....lets be clear here...when you say "taking out" you mean they gotta actually physically take something out.....
hmmm well in my tiny mind that would be pretty difficult...a) they got to find me b)theyd need a chopper to reach me c) theyd have to get past me (lol that might be fun)
Sooo....bearing in mind I dont have bluetooth.&..disable wireless where possible...I generally use one of two options
Option one lock desktop firewall...remove power lead(batterys dud anyway)...hibernate.
Option two log out shut down and turn absolutely everything off inc pulling out the line.
Do I understand that you are saying that option one is not necessarily secure?....So to get some perspective here.....Question....what is the most convenient quick AND secure method overall?

[Post Monkeh]

i think we were talking about local access here. remote access is different again.

you'd either have to have some sort of backdoor software installed on your system without you knowing about it (doubtful on linux but not impossible), which COULD take advantage if you leave your pc logged in, or someone could hack in using a pre installed service like ssh, but then they'd have to log in to your account whether you were logged in or not. plus while it's installed by default, it's not automatically enabled afaik.

there are various other things to consider but i'm no expert.

so long as your pc is turned off or hibernated), no one can access it without first turning it back on. or if you're really worried you could just disconnect it from the internet if you're not doing anything online.

[ubunterooster]

Does she know about the Hannah Montana remix? have her own account?
Yes, and yes.

I believe in the CTRL-ALT-F(8-12) test, personally.
Please elaborate, I am unsure of what you speak.

hey had the interactive systems set so that if your online session was inactive for 10 minutes you'd get logged off automatically
Meaning the irritants have 10min to begin doing their thing.

My preference is to turn my laptop off.
The point here was when you step away, expecting to come back in only a minute or two, plus Hannah Montana music will not play if the computer is off. :-P

Thanks for the info was wondering about that and then came across this thread.
Tom
Glad to be of help.


the only reason i lock my pc is in case the mrs goes on the pc and checks my browser history :D
Thanks for sharing....:-P (firefox's private browsing mode springs to mind)

well in my mind that would be pretty difficult...a) they got to find me b)they'd need a chopper to reach me c) theyd have to get past me (lol might be fun) What is the most convenient quick AND secure method overall?
I would say lock screen as most convienient. For security, don't visit the sites PostMonkeh is hinting at.
Also keep your computer in an underground vault without internet access.
Secure is always RELATIVE! There is no such thing as secure as a definate. The point is to be MORE secure not to BE secure.


[I butchered all above posts down to size.]

[Psumi]

Unlocking my computer takes about 2-4 minutes.

I'd rather not, so I disable lock computer on lid close.

[ubunterooster]

unlocking takes less than 6 seconds!?! Are you sure you do not mean sleep or suspend?

[_h_]

The joys of living alone.

[Psumi]

unlocking takes less than 6 seconds!?! Are you sure you do not mean sleep or suspend?

IBM T41s are slow...

[ubunterooster]

Maybe you should be running U-lite...

[Psumi]

Maybe you should be running U-lite...

Why? Everything else (including boot) goes amazingly fast. :|

Oh, but this assumes I have purged compiz.

[ubunterooster]

What I did before learning how to lock the screen was pull the plug on my monitor. Won't work on a laptop or if somebody else has enough sense to figure it out [dosen't happen in my family]

[MooPi]

My Openbox menu has Lock included and is a click away. I live alone but still lock while I'm at work. You know just in case someone would break in and find my foreign looking computer with no taskbar or start tab or menu or panel. Oh I guess I can just keep it running without the lock. Maybe

[ubunterooster]

I use keyboard shortcuts everywhere. menu's not needed. Best to lock up.

[cariboo]

I use security by obscurity :) My desktop looks so different from the normal Windows system, people have no idea where to start. I also have set most of my system to lock the screen after 5 mniutes of idle time.

[undecim]

Blueproximity FTW!

I also read on slashdot (or was it hack-a-day?) that someone figured out how to use sonar with laptops speakers and microphone to tell when you are away from your computer. Sounds pretty handy if you don't have bluetooth on your computer or don't care to keep bluetooth enabled on your phone and draining your battery.

[ubunterooster]

@undecim: I doubt it would work with one regular mic. perhaps with two.

Blue proximity sounds great for laptops.

[jayze]

The mic thing does work....(a friend demoed it for me)....Yes...quite right to point out that there are extremes in everything....and that balance is the key.
At the end of the day its a question of what you keep on the puter and what you dont want other people to see.
Personally anybodys welcome to my holiday snaps....hell I'd even mail em out on request!
But I think the angle this thread was coming from was not getting settings or worse messed up by other tiny fingers (back or front door visitors alike)
And here I'll take a stand.....my PC is MINE....which is why I am now on Ubuntu...and possibly why a good proportion of other Ubuntu users are NOT using Windows.


Ignorance is bliss Control is a keyword Stay outta and off my PUTER

[corney91]

Please elaborate, I am unsure of what you speak.

Pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 to Ctrl+Alt+F12 opens up terminal screens (F7 is the GUI one you boot into by default) and the upper end, like F11 and F12 (I can't remember which ones exactly) show system logs :)

[3rdalbum]

I change virtual desktops and lock the screen. If I'm likely to be away for a while I'll suspend the computer; it saves power, still comes back up quickly, and the screen will be locked when it comes back up.

[ubunterooster]

thanks, corney91

[CharlesA]

BlueProximity is a doddle to setup and very easy to use. Most people have a phone with them most of the time so it works well.

Thanks for the idea. Sounds quite handy.

[Psumi]

BlueProximity is a doddle to setup and very easy to use. Most people have a phone with them most of the time so it works well.

Too bad I hate cell phones ;D

[NCLI]

I use security by obscurity :) My desktop looks so different from the normal Windows system, people have no idea where to start. I also have set most of my system to lock the screen after 5 mniutes of idle time.

If you don't mind me asking, how is your system set up? (Screenshots would be nice)

[ubunterooster]

but if we know it's no longer as obscure...

[NCLI]

but if we know it's no longer as obscure...

I honestly doubt most of us here would have trouble navigating any system ;)

[ubunterooster]

[How ※DARE※ you disprove what I said with one short sentence! lol ] True, quite true.

[Crunchy the Headcrab]

I've never really had a problem with it. I let everyone know that if they touch my pc, they die. Except for my fiancee of course.

[hessiess]

My computer would be completely unusable to most people because of the complete absence of any of the useural GUI stuff, keyboard only:)

(I do lock it with ``slock'' (suckless application) if I leave it for any length of time)

[ubunterooster]

Security by obscurity continues to beckon me. It's like taking bateries out of your keyboard so a little pest can't use it. It's like never using firefox to do online shopping. It's merely hoping on the annoyer to have a blind spot that is so easy to see in hindsight.

I see this thread has helped at least one user. It has fullfilled its purpose :D

[lisati]

Meaning the irritants have 10min to begin doing their thing.


It wasn't Windows (or *nix for that matter) but a network of mainframes, mostly running MVS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MVS), run by a bunch of people totally nervous paranoid about security. (I'm not sure what version was out in those days, most likely version 2.0 1) When I left that job, security was such that I couldn't whip over to a mate's work, where they used the same computer system, and log in as myself to play games because the security system "knew" that I didn't work in that particular location.

[Hyper Tails]

I lock my computer with a password everytime I log off

[DarkestRitual]

Yeah because she's a girl Hannah Montana Linux has to be for her.

I imagine it's more geared at it being his "younger" sister. Young girls <3 teh Hannah. Seriously, my 3 younger sisters are all intelligent kids except for that. Yikes.

[NMFTM]

Never leave your computer unlocked and unattended at LAN parties. Theirs a very good chance that you'll come back and find that your wallpaper has been changed to pictures of penises.

[Maheriano]

I go a step further, I turn the webcam on as well.

[Sam]

Never leave your computer unlocked and unattended at LAN parties. Theirs a very good chance that you'll come back and find that your wallpaper has been changed to pictures of penises.

Sounds like a personal experience. :roll:

[helenk579]

I have noticed with many people a errant practice in safety. When most people get up from their computer, they leave it as it is. Last week, I watched someone walk across the room to get a book, but got distracted and forgot about the computer. His son young son went on and started clicking on things. The simple solution is to hit cntrl-alt-L before leaving the computer for any length of time. I learned this the hard way when my younger sister used my previous ubuntu forums account to post her own question: "what Linux distro is good for a girl" (which also cemented my idea that I needed to start a different account[the name screamed n00b]).

Now when I get up to get a drink cntrl-alt-L reassures me that even if something happens requiring attention immediately, my computer needs not worry about little sisters, nosy "friends" or random miscreants just waiting for me to step away.

Thanks you for the post.

[smellyman]

When people don't lock their computer at work, they will comeback to Justin Timberlake wallpaper.....

or any number of tings on my mind at the time.

[RiceMonster]

I always bind lock to windows-l because I got used to pressing that at work. Likewise, at work we're required to lock the workstation when you walk away from it, so I always lock my computer out of habit when I walk away from it.

However, I don't live with anyone who's going to mess around with or even use my computer, so not doing it at home would be fine anyway. As for guests, I don't think I have to worry about anyone I ever have over messing with things either.

[CharlesA]

I always bind lock to windows-l because I got used to pressing that at work. Likewise, at work we're required to lock the workstation when you walk away from it, so I always lock my computer out of habit when I walk away from it.

However, I don't live with anyone who's going to mess around with or even use my computer, so not doing it at home would be fine anyway. As for guests, I don't think I have to worry about anyone I ever have over messing with things either.

Same here. I usually lock my machine at home when I will be away for an extended period of time.

At work, I lock my netbook when I step away, but I rarely lock my office PC since in an office of maybe 12 people, it's not that huge of a problem. I might start locking it, but meh.

[Shining Arcanine]

I have noticed with many people a errant practice in safety. When most people get up from their computer, they leave it as it is. Last week, I watched someone walk across the room to get a book, but got distracted and forgot about the computer. His son young son went on and started clicking on things. The simple solution is to hit cntrl-alt-L before leaving the computer for any length of time. I learned this the hard way when my younger sister used my previous ubuntu forums account to post her own question: "what Linux distro is good for a girl" (which also cemented my idea that I needed to start a different account[the name screamed n00b]).

Now when I get up to get a drink cntrl-alt-L reassures me that even if something happens requiring attention immediately, my computer needs not worry about little sisters, nosy "friends" or random miscreants just waiting for me to step away.

I had no idea that you could use Ctrl + Alt + L to lock your system. Thankyou for the tip. I learned something new today. :)

[pr0t3g3]

I always lock my PC out of habit. Worse thing people can do is leave annoying messages ;).
lmao.. if your talking in literal terms then the worst a person can do is delete your operating system and other key files that make your pc/laptop run

[pr0t3g3]

I had no idea that you could use Ctrl + Alt + L to lock your system. Thankyou for the tip. I learned something new today. :)
Yeah, me too. I wonder if there are other cool functions like that unique to ubuntu. :P
Will look into it!:KS

[chessnerd]

I always lock the computer when I leave it.

Ctrl-Alt-L for Linux.

Super-L for Windows.

It's become a habit. I think it's a good one.

[ubunterooster]

For xfce:
Add to panel>log out applet.
set it to lock screen:
right-click>preferences.