Comments
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Greg Hurrell
Thanks for submitting the request, Allen.
What makes you think this is more secure than the password protected screen saver? There was a publicized security glitch in the screen saver a long time ago, but that's long since been fixed.
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ahancock
(In reply to comment #1)
What makes you think this is more secure than the password protected screen saver?
Because any admin user of my computer can gain access to my account if I am logged in & there is just the screen saver going.
There was a publicized security glitch in the screen saver a long time ago, but that's long since been fixed.
Thanks, my concerns are not related to this....
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Greg Hurrell
Any admin can gain access to your account in any case!
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ahancock
(In reply to comment #3)
Any admin can gain access to your account in any case!
yes, but with my machine already at the login screen, they would not have to "walk through my office" just to get to theirs.
At any rate, I founds the software I need: http://lorenb.com/software/ciao/
so if this feature does make it into WinSwitch, great. If not, WinSwitch is still wonderful in and of itself!
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Greg Hurrell
As a general rule, I think you're under a false sense of security if you think that you can secure your computer against access by a third-party when that third-party (admin or not) has physical access to your machine.
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ahancock
(In reply to comment #5)
As a general rule, I think you're under a false sense of security if you think that you can secure your computer against access by a third-party when that third-party (admin or not) has physical access to your machine.
of course that is not the case.
This request had two parts: my case where I simply wanted my machine to go to the login screen. and the case of one of my clients:
office computer for use by 3-4 people at a time, none of which are admin users.
If one person forgets to logout, a forced logout could result in lost data, and a locked screen saver prevents other users from using the computer.
in this case, the machine is already at the login screen, so others can use the computer without interrupting the one who has stepped away.
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Greg Hurrell
(In reply to comment #6)
This request had two parts: my case where I simply wanted my machine to go to the login screen. and the case of one of my clients:
office computer for use by 3-4 people at a time, none of which are admin users.
If one person forgets to logout, a forced logout could result in lost data, and a locked screen saver prevents other users from using the computer.
in this case, the machine is already at the login screen, so others can use the computer without interrupting the one who has stepped away.
Ah, ok. This is the first time you've mentioned this second motive. All of your other comments have been about security. And ironically the two motives aren't entirely compatible; on the one hand you want automatic logout for security reasons, on the other you don't want to do forced log-outs. But if you choose to do a non-forced log-out, this can be blocked by an application running in the user account; if the machine can't log-out within 120 seconds it will stop trying and show a dialog and in that case you have no security at all, not even illusory security!
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ahancock
(In reply to comment #7)
Ah, ok. This is the first time you've mentioned this second motive.
True, because my security concerns were still on my mind. Also, I am not thinking security against attackers, just from the eyes of co-workers or family members. Two very different levels of security indeed.
on the one hand you want automatic logout
no, not logout. Switch to the login window while leaving the user logged in. Two very different needs indeed.
if the machine can't log-out within 120 seconds it will stop
trying and show a dialog and in that case you have no security at all, not even illusory security!
Right, that is why a switch to the login window is superior.
Thanks! -Allen Hancock
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Greg Hurrell
(In reply to comment #8)
no, not logout. Switch to the login window while leaving the user logged in. Two very different needs indeed.
Doh. This whole time I've been reading this as "log out", not "switch to login screen"... Probably because yesterday I implemented feature request #332 and have "log out" on the brain.
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Greg Hurrell
Changing assignment to reflect my new email address.
https://wincent.dev/a/news/archives/2006/05/change_of_email.php
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anonymous
Was this feature ever implemented? I too would love to see it in Winswitch.
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Greg Hurrell
No not at this stage. But it's open source so could be implemented by an interested party if I don't get around to it first.
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Greg Hurrell
Closed ticket #585 as a duplicate.
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Greg Hurrell
Status changed:
- From: New
- To: Open
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Greg Hurrell
I'm marking all WinSwitch issues closed seeing as I personally no longer use it, and in fact haven't for around 4 years now.
WinSwitch addressed a real problem with the initial implementation of Fast User Switching in Panther (released October 2003), namely, the excessive screen real estate that it chewed up. Apple fixed that problem in Tiger, if I recall correctly, which came out in April 2005 (or if I'm wrong about it being Tiger, then it was definitely fixed by the time Leopard came out, in October 2007).
With this change, most of the justification for WinSwitch's existence went away, at least for me. So that's why I'm going to close all these tickets: I can't really support something that I don't use myself.
But it's open source, so if any one wants to tackle any of these issues and submit patches, I'll be happy to accept them.
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Greg Hurrell
Status changed:
- From: open
- To: closed
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