Windows 10 Dynamic Lock

You know you should lock your computer or laptop any time you walk away from it. You may even know that the keyboard shortcut Win Key + L will do the job swiftly, but do you remember to?

Even working from home locking your computer before you leave it is a wise idea. You may be at less risk of someone physically compromising your machine deliberately but you could be at higher risk of being compromised by a wayward cat or an inquisitive sticky fingered toddler. You should try and be in the habit of locking your computer.

Windows 10 has a nice feature that can help you with this. Dynamic Lock can be found within All Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options. Dynamic lock allows a paired Bluetooth enabled device such as your Smartphone to act as a form of proximity key.

Once setup, if you walk away from your computer and take your phone with you, (and lets be honest we're all pretty much tied to our phones these days for coffee, food and loo breaks) your computer will lock itself withing a minute of the phone being out of close proximity. When you return you simply unlock your computer as you would normally.

I've tested this quite a bit and it works very reliably. I imagine for some devices Bluetooth range & strength might need tweaked and this can be done via a registry key. I would also like to establish a means of shortening the time before lock out but haven't established this yet. All in all its a neat little security feature I'll be recommending generally.