How To Automatically Logoff Shutdown or Lock An Idle Computers

An email from a newsletter I subscribed shared a very neat tool that lets you automatically not only log off but also shutdown, reboot, or lock an idle computer. What’s better is that it’s actually a command line that you can add into your login script so it runs automatically during the startup.

The tool is called idlelogoff and you can download it directly from this link. And here is its usage how it’s called.

idlelogoff.exe [timeout] [action]

in which:

timeout – idle seconds before the action is taken. Idle means no movement detected from the keyboard or mouse.

action – logoff | lock | shutdown | reboot

So, for example, to reboot a computer after 5 minutes of no activities, run this:

idlelogoff.exe 300 reboot

to lock out a computer after 30 minutes of no activities, run this:

idlelogoff.exe 1800 lock

Once it’s running, it sits quietly at the background with no indication that it’s active. It can only be seen or killed via Task Manager.

It’s a great tool to be added as part of your login/startup process so it runs automatically when user logs in. You may be able to achieve some of its features through screen saver or group policy but if you have a compliance to follow, this is probably your best and simplest shot to deal with idle computers on your network.

I also wish the Sleep and Hibernate can be added as one of the actions.