Vista Laptop Automatically "Locking" When Inactive

Hi everyone,
I've had my HP Laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium installed on it since
February, and only in the last two days has this problem started occurring.
Whenever my computer is inactive for 10 or 15 minutes it automatically
"Locks," requiring me to enter my password to unlock it again. This is a
pain when doing things like watching movies or listening to music on my
computer, because I have to keep moving my mouse in order to keep it from
locking mid-video. I just want to be clear that it is not logging off, going
to sleep, hibernating, shutting down, or restarting, but rather doing the
same thing that occurs when I click "Lock" on the start menu. It has never
done this before, I have current anti-virus software, and to the best of my
knowledge I have not installed any new software or changed the power settings
recently. I am the only user and the administrator of my laptop, and would
like to turn this feature off without disabling things like requiring a
password when turning on the computer or the lock feature itself should I
actually choose to voluntarily use it. Thank you for any help you can give.

Check your screensaver settings, since one of the events that can be
configured to "lock" the system is the screensaver activating.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"JackR1984" <> wrote in message
news:848ED160-5CF0-4715-ACA9-...
> Hi everyone,
> I've had my HP Laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium installed on it
> since
> February, and only in the last two days has this problem started
> occurring.
> Whenever my computer is inactive for 10 or 15 minutes it automatically
> "Locks," requiring me to enter my password to unlock it again. This is a
> pain when doing things like watching movies or listening to music on my
> computer, because I have to keep moving my mouse in order to keep it from
> locking mid-video. I just want to be clear that it is not logging off,
> going
> to sleep, hibernating, shutting down, or restarting, but rather doing the
> same thing that occurs when I click "Lock" on the start menu. It has
> never
> done this before, I have current anti-virus software, and to the best of
> my
> knowledge I have not installed any new software or changed the power
> settings
> recently. I am the only user and the administrator of my laptop, and
> would
> like to turn this feature off without disabling things like requiring a
> password when turning on the computer or the lock feature itself should I
> actually choose to voluntarily use it. Thank you for any help you can
> give.

Does this therefore mean that you can not use the screensaver function at
all? I also have just recently began experiencing the same problem after
applying the screensaver, and the the icon with swirl "locking computer"
appearing.

"Richard G. Harper" wrote:

> Check your screensaver settings, since one of the events that can be
> configured to "lock" the system is the screensaver activating.
>
> --
> Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
> * NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
> * PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
> * The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
> * HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
>
>
> "JackR1984" <> wrote in message
> news:848ED160-5CF0-4715-ACA9-...
> > Hi everyone,
> > I've had my HP Laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium installed on it
> > since
> > February, and only in the last two days has this problem started
> > occurring.
> > Whenever my computer is inactive for 10 or 15 minutes it automatically
> > "Locks," requiring me to enter my password to unlock it again. This is a
> > pain when doing things like watching movies or listening to music on my
> > computer, because I have to keep moving my mouse in order to keep it from
> > locking mid-video. I just want to be clear that it is not logging off,
> > going
> > to sleep, hibernating, shutting down, or restarting, but rather doing the
> > same thing that occurs when I click "Lock" on the start menu. It has
> > never
> > done this before, I have current anti-virus software, and to the best of
> > my
> > knowledge I have not installed any new software or changed the power
> > settings
> > recently. I am the only user and the administrator of my laptop, and
> > would
> > like to turn this feature off without disabling things like requiring a
> > password when turning on the computer or the lock feature itself should I
> > actually choose to voluntarily use it. Thank you for any help you can
> > give.
>
>

dpotts wrote:
> Does this therefore mean that you can not use the screensaver function at
> all? I also have just recently began experiencing the same problem after
> applying the screensaver, and the the icon with swirl "locking computer"
> appearing.

No, of course it doesn't mean that. There is an option where you choose
the screensaver to "require password on resuming" (or some similar
language). Simply uncheck the box next to it. There is also an option
under Power Management to require a password when resuming from sleep,
so find that and uncheck it also.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Thank you so much for your help, my friend.

"Malke" wrote:

> dpotts wrote:
> > Does this therefore mean that you can not use the screensaver function at
> > all? I also have just recently began experiencing the same problem after
> > applying the screensaver, and the the icon with swirl "locking computer"
> > appearing.
>
> No, of course it doesn't mean that. There is an option where you choose
> the screensaver to "require password on resuming" (or some similar
> language). Simply uncheck the box next to it. There is also an option
> under Power Management to require a password when resuming from sleep,
> so find that and uncheck it also.
>
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
>

I do not use a screen saver at all, and the password protect feature is off
on it as well. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

"Richard G. Harper" wrote:

> Check your screensaver settings, since one of the events that can be
> configured to "lock" the system is the screensaver activating.
>
> --
> Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
> * NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
> * PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
> * The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
> * HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
>
>
> "JackR1984" <> wrote in message
> news:848ED160-5CF0-4715-ACA9-...
> > Hi everyone,
> > I've had my HP Laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium installed on it
> > since
> > February, and only in the last two days has this problem started
> > occurring.
> > Whenever my computer is inactive for 10 or 15 minutes it automatically
> > "Locks," requiring me to enter my password to unlock it again. This is a
> > pain when doing things like watching movies or listening to music on my
> > computer, because I have to keep moving my mouse in order to keep it from
> > locking mid-video. I just want to be clear that it is not logging off,
> > going
> > to sleep, hibernating, shutting down, or restarting, but rather doing the
> > same thing that occurs when I click "Lock" on the start menu. It has
> > never
> > done this before, I have current anti-virus software, and to the best of
> > my
> > knowledge I have not installed any new software or changed the power
> > settings
> > recently. I am the only user and the administrator of my laptop, and
> > would
> > like to turn this feature off without disabling things like requiring a
> > password when turning on the computer or the lock feature itself should I
> > actually choose to voluntarily use it. Thank you for any help you can
> > give.
>
>