Windows 10 Will Soon Lock Your PC When You Step Away From It (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Microsoft is working on a new Windows 10 feature that will automatically lock and secure a PC when the operating system detects someone has moved away from the machine. The feature is labelled as Dynamic Lock in recent test builds of Windows 10, and Windows Central reports that Microsoft refers to this as "Windows Goodbye" internally. Microsoft currently uses special Windows Hello cameras to let Windows 10 users log into a PC with just their face. Big corporations teach employees to use the winkey+L combination to lock machines when they're idle, but this new feature will make it an automatic process. It's not clear exactly how Microsoft will detect inactivity, but it's possible the company could use Windows Hello-compatible machines or detect idle activity and lock the machine accordingly. Windows can already be configured to do this after a set time period, but it appears Microsoft is streamlining this feature into a simple setting for anyone to enable. Microsoft is planning to deliver Dynamic Lock as part of the Windows 10 Creators Update, expected to arrive in April.

Comments

This already happens

[TodPunk]

It's called a screen-saver which turns off the display and requires a password, and it's been a feature of Windows since at least 2000/XP. It can also be set by group policy. "Inactivity" as questioned in TFS is just defined as "not providing any input" for a certain amount of time.

Why is this news? Because people that didn't know it existed will now have it set by default? OK, good. They should, and they likely won't know what happened anyway. They'll wiggle the mouse or whatever it is they do when they work on a computer that doesn't do this and click their name because they don't have a password set, or who knows what else.

Unless they're going the stupid route and not making this the same as current "unlock" functionality, but then I don't get the comparison to Winkey+L

Re:Should already be habit

[OzPeter]

It got to be a habit for me at a previous job when I had co-workers who would hope they can get their hands on an unattended machine. One poor schlub left his machine unattended while I was out at lunch. When I came back from lunch, the guy who left the machine unattended was being fired because his machine mysteriously sent nasty E-mails to C-level brass and their families, the source code he was working on was replaced with just commented out rants and checked into SVN, and copy of some phishing message with Locky attached was executed from his machine.

That says more about the quality of the company culture than anything else. Did someone do this because they were so pissed off at the C levels that they felt that this was a reasonable thing to do? Or did they do this because they wanted to get the victim fired - for whatever reason. And I don't know what is worse .. doing it for the lulz or doing it because of a vendetta.

Congratulations,your PC is now a governance device

[FreeUser]

The camera "sees" the user and even knows which user it is seeing. The camera then locks the screen immediately when the user is not present.

How long before the computer "sees" the user and notifies the police that they can pick up their known dissident. I mean, really, given the kind of governance we're about to enter into, this (not to mention Alexa-like audio surveillance "features") are the last thing I'd want on any equipment in my home.

And no, I don't have anything to hide. But conversely, I also don't use the restroom in the middle of 5th Avenue. Privacy is a thing, even in a world full of morons who think it isn't.

Re:Should already be habit

[iamgnat]

Screwing with people is a time honored past time in geek culture.

Screwing with someone's livelihood is not cool.

The anecdote you supplied goes way beyond "fair game" and "mischief" and is simply disgusting.

Re:Should already be habit

[DeathElk]

Thanks for the heads up. I've got new material for the screening tests. A potential employee with that kind of attitude has no place in our (or any) organisation.

Re:Should already be habit

[WolfgangVL]

That's fucking terrible. If I even saw that kind of shit from the other side of the room I would demand the little-dick prankster fuck be walked out or I quit on the spot. What a horrible environment to work in. This trash speaks to the (in)ability of your management team, the fuck-each-other-over-as-hard-as-you-can corporate bonus games that have permeated the tech industry, and your personal lack of integrity, knowing it all went down like that and not speaking up to put the real offender in the hotseat instead of watching the victims career nose-dive cuz he forgot to lock his system.

Totally should already be a habit, and is a requirement at every single serious tech job I've ever worked, but the first offence is maybe inverting some colors and flipping the monitor sideways, not taking kill-shots at your coworkers livelihood, destroying company source-code and sending email to managements families.

Anybody quietly aware of this action is an accomplice, and deserving of termination as well.