Lock your screen when you step away

An unlocked, unattended screen is an open session for anyone walking past —

email, files, and anything else you're signed in to. Locking costs one second

and nothing is lost: your work stays exactly where you left it.

The habit

1. Press Windows key + L as you stand up. That's the whole habit.
2. On a Mac, press Control + Command + Q.
3. Sign back in with your PIN, fingerprint, or face when you return.

Back it up with auto-lock

Auto-lock is the safety net for the times you forget:

1. Open Settings and go to Accounts, then Sign-in options.
2. Under If you've been away…, choose when Windows should require sign-in

again.

1. In Settings, go to System, then Power & battery, and set the

screen to turn off after 5–10 minutes.

Company devices often have this enforced already — the manual Windows+L habit

still matters, because the enforced timer leaves a gap of several minutes.

If that didn't work

If your PC doesn't ask for a password when it wakes, check the first setting

above — and if it still doesn't, report it, because that's a setup problem

worth fixing.