Want to lock your computer quickly?

There is a thread over at the MacNN forums discussing methods for quickly and securely locking your computer. I have a fairly easy method for doing it, one that Windows users will especially love. First, download the Locker widget:

http://bluecouch.com/locker/

Locker is a free Universal widget that has an icon of a lock that you can double-click to lock your computer. OS X does the Cube effect and then brings you to the login screen (don't worry - you aren't logged out, your apps are still running - I think it just links the command for Fast User Switching). Once that is installed, open up Terminal and type in this command:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES

That code will enable Widget developer mode, which lets you keep widgets on your desktop. Now log out and then log back in to activate it. You are now ready to add the widget to your desktop. Press F12 to open the Dashboard. Select the widget you want (Locker, in this case) and click-hold it (like you're going to be dragging it). With the mousebutton held down, press F12 again to hide the Dashboard. Your widget will magically appear on the desktop. The nifty thing about this is that it will overlap both the Dock and any open windows, so you will have 24/7 access to it. I positioned my Locker widget in the bottom right-hand corner next to the trash can. Now anytime I want to log out quickly, I simply double-click that icon (the double-click feature is nice in case you accidentally click on it once; it won't be activated that way).

Here's a link to the thread over at MacNN:
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?p=3043352&posted=1#post3043352

Here's a link to the Mac OS X Hints page for the widget-on-desktop trick:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050422172929402

I like to lock my screen without having it sleep.
Most people would suggest that they set in the prefernces for it to lock whenever you sleep it or if your screen saver comes on.
Instead of having to wait for the screen saver to come on or having to sleep it if you have something important up and you can't sleep it I just choose the option of Lock Screen. This is accessible if you bring up Keychain Access, go to preferences, check the 'show status in menu bar'. Quit (if you want) then from the menu bar click lock screen.
So now each time you want to walk away without having to log off or switch user or sleep.. or wait for the screen saver... I just lock the screen.

One can also simply select "Login Window" from the fast user switching menu in the taskbar.

As far as the widgets are concerned, it does the one thing I don't like. I don't WANT the widgets onto of everything everything else. That little issue right there is what keeps me with Yahoo Widget Engine.