Jonathan Cusick

Windows users utilise the famous ctrl + alt + del command to allow them to quickly lock their screen and leave background applications running. On the Mac using OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, I will show you how this can be as easy as a single mouse click.

First enter the system preferences:

Next click on the security options icon:

Then under the general tab select ‘Require password immediately after sleep or screen saver begins’:

Once you have done this go back into the system preferences menu and click on the option for ‘Desktop & Screen Saver’:

From here select the button on the bottom left side of the screen called ‘Hot Corners…’:

Hot corners enables you to set the screen saver to activate by clicking on a corner of the screen, you can select any or multiple corners by picking the option ‘Start Screen Saver’ from the relevant drop down menu:

Now when you click on your selected corner(s) your screen saver will start, you will then be prompted for your password when you next use the machine and all your background applications will still be running.