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Submission details

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10 +18/-8 votes
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Automatic Log-Off after Inactivity

Submitted by VinnyL on November 3, 2008 to Annoyance, Usability

Would like the ability to configure specific users to automatically log-off after a period of inactivity. The one that always comes to mind for me is the GUEST account.

Create an option or build it in to a screen saver (like Windows XP had), the ability to log-off a user after inactivity.

Medium

Medium

Not fixed

Discussion (5 comments)

Ensign Joe wrote on November 3, 2008, 8:57pm

hmm... I like the idea.
Guys who demoted this... are you forced to using it?! o.O

Nivekv wrote on November 4, 2008, 5:41pm

Bad idea. Voted down. This is already in place in Windows Vista. Here is how its done:

1. Set screen saver to go on after X minutes of inactivity. (where X = any number of minutes from 1 to 9999)
2, Make a little tick mark in the box next to "On resume, display Logon screen"

This does not log the user out, but will write their session to the hard drive if you change users. In this way, users will not loose their data/sessions. The other method is to press Windows+L to Lock your computer until someone enters your password or enters a password for another user.

VinnyL wrote on November 9, 2008, 7:05pm

I'm 90% sure that unactive users take up resources and active memory. Besides specifically for the "guest" account, it makes sense to log-off. The next person using guest may or may not want or need to see what was active with the prior guest.

Not sure why anyone would vote this down... It seems that people who would vote it down don't ever need to share their computer with anyone (like young kids).

kaiyao wrote on November 14, 2008, 7:41am

I wondered if it was possible to created a scheduled task... but when I checked there was only an "on idle" option but no "on idle for X minutes" option. That should be added, then one can make an action to log out the user after X minutes of idle time.

davink wrote on January 16, 2009, 3:59am

I love the fact that Windows allows multi-user logins on the same machine. As an Administrator on my home system, I would love to force-logout user sessions (not lock the screen) that are "zombied". My girlfriend never seems to remember to log-off and I always have the irritating "Other users are logged in..." message when I have to do something like run an update, etc. I would love to clean up those accounts some way -- It also opens up memory and other system resources. Oh, and I don't care if that user left an unsaved document open in Word... If you have been idle for 8 hours, your session must die!

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