[aardvark179]

Shift-Control-Eject/Power. Very quick to just hit those keys as you get up from your desk, and your mac is locked.

And Command-Option-Eject/Power will pout your Mac to sleep.

[stronglikedan]

Win+L in windows, which can be difficult with an ergonomic keyboard with only a left Win key, because you have to use two hands (or be very lanky and limber).

Does anyone know of an easier way?

[avree]

Don't you generally type with two hands? How often are you locking that this is a problem?

[stronglikedan]

Everytime I get up from my desk, so once or twice per hour. Usually, I already have something in one hand, like a pad or cup of coffee.

[ivraatiems]

My first thought would be to re-map Win+L with AutoHotKey or similar. Or, just press start, and arrow up and over to lock (lots more keypresses though).

[stronglikedan]

I'm no good with macros, but the start+arrow idea is great. For me it's only one more keypress, but I can do it all with one hand. Funny thing is, I use that combo at home to put my home computer to sleep, because I don't leave that running in between sessions. Thanks for the tip that I should have known already!

[smellf]

You ought to retrain yourself, using the off hand modifier key is the correct way to type anyway.

Even if you don't type "correctly", it still doesn't seem like a big deal. I can't imagine anything easier than Meta-L.

[stronglikedan]

> using the off hand modifier key is the correct way to type anyway

Please elaborate.

> I can't imagine anything easier than Meta-L

It's very easy when you don't already have a cup of coffee in your hand on the way to a meeting.

[NovaS1X]

Don't know if this is different in 10.10.1 (Just switched to OSX a month ago so I have no prior experience with OSX)but this key-combo doesn't lock the screen, it starts the screen-saver.

If you want it to lock the screen you need to change your preferences in security and change the screen lockout time to "immediately" for it to act as a lock.

[kchung]

Checkout OSX hot corners to start your screensaver, it's easy to just toss your mouse to a corner and your screen is locked.

[nasalgoat]

This is what I do. I just jump the cursor to the corner when I get up. Super easy.

[aerique]

I run Linux but use the iMac keyboard and have also mapped locking to shift-eject. I didn't know it was so close to the OSX bindings. Very easy to hit, yet hard to hit accidentally.

[lshevtsov]

And if you have a MacBook, you can just shut the lid.

[Zelphyr]

In my experience this is one of the things Apple still has yet to perfect. I frequently have a problem of my mid-2012 MBP not wanting to wake up when I open the lid no matter how many times I close/open it. Often I have to do a hard reboot.

To Apple's credit, this is also still a problem with PC laptops from what I hear.

[chroma]

Useful advice, but the MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro don't have an eject key (⏏).

Edit: Ah, I see now. Eject or Power depending on the model. Thanks.

[recampbell]

Ctrl-Shift-Power on MacBook Pro (which is what he meant by Eject/Power).

[kolev]

Doesn't work for me on MacBook Air.

[r00fus]

I found that I had to use Fn-Ctrl-Shift-Power on my Retina.

[leftnode]

I set up hot corners so moving the mouse to the bottom right corner locks the computer.

[shoowack]

But you still need to type in your password every time you wake up your mac, with this app you don't have to