Access Forbidden - Lock your computer quickly and easily!

On-line help

Installation

Run Access Forbidden installation program and follow instructions.
After the installation process, Access Forbidden will be started automatically.

Access Forbidden will run automatically every time Windows is started.

The first time Access Forbidden runs, you will be prompted to insert your password.

For security reasons, insert a different password than the one you use for your Windows account.
You will be able to change the password any time using the option menu (see below).
Choose a password that you can easily remember, otherwise there is no way to reset it and you can get into troubles.

After clicking "OK" button, the dialog box disappears; all options and functions are available cliking on Access Forbidden icon in the system tray.

Before start using the "locking" function (accessible by left click on Access Forbidden icon), you can set up your preferences; right click on the icon to show the pop-up menu.

The menu

Choosing one of the first 3 items in menu you can change the look of the screen in the "locked" state:

Gradient background

Blurred grey-scale screenshot

Wallpaper layout

Use gradient background: draws a grey-to-white background over your desktop.
Use grey screenshot: takes a snapshot of your screen, reduces it to grayscale, then applies a blurring effect so texts will not be readable.
Use current wallpaper: uses your current wallpaper to cover your desktop.

Use "Key drive" feature: if checked, Access Forbidden will use your pendrive (or any other removable drive you choose) as a "key" to activate/deactivate the "locked" state; thus without the need to left click on the icon to lock the computer and without the need to type the password to unlock.
See below to know how correctly use the power of the "Key drive" feature.

Set password: show the dialog box where you can change the password.

On-line help: opens this help page

Quit access forbidden: closes the program. Access Forbidden will run automatically next time Windows is started.

"Key drive" feature in details

Read carefully before using this function - The first time you click on the "Use 'Key drive' feature", because a key drive has not been enabled yet, Access Forbidden will enter in the "locked" state.
At this time, to enable a removable drive to act as a key, plug it in one of the available port in your computer (can be a USB or a Firewire port).
Once plugged the drive, you will be asked to enter your password. Type the password you previously configured, click the "Access" button; Access Forbidden will enable your drive to act like a key and will exit the "locked" state.
From now, until you don't deactivate the "Key drive" feature, every time you unplug your drive, Access Forbidden will lock your PC, and you will be able to unlock it simply plugging the drive again.

To unlock the computer, if you don't use the "Key drive" feature, first press the 'space bar', the password field will appear, then type your password.

If you change your password while the "Key drive" feature is active, the password will be updated also on your drive.
If you change your password and the "Key drive" feature is NOT active, the password on your drive will NOT be updated even if the drive is connected. In this case, the next time you use the "Key drive" feature and connect your drive, a warning will be displayed:

This warning appears every time Access Forbidden recognises a drive that is an "enabled key" but the password contained in the drive is different than the active one. The same case could happen also if you have more than one "enabled" key drive and you used them on a different computer with a different password.
If you click "Retry", Access Forbidden will erase the password in the key drive and you will be asked to insert your actual active password to re-enable that drive.
If you click "Cancel", Access Forbidden will disable the "Key drive" feature and wait until you insert the password in the standard way (press the 'space bar', the password field will appear, then type your password).

Disconnecting a removable drive

With WindowsXP and above operating systems, most removable drives like pendrives, memory sticks and memory cards can be disconnected without the need to use Windows' native "safely remove hardware" function, but simply unplugging them.
When you unplug a drive, be sure that no documents or programs resident on the drive are open.

In case you are not sure if your drive can be safely removed, Access Forbidden offers the possibility to check this, simply clicking with left mouse button on the icon when the "Key drive" feature is enabled.
If the drive can be safely removed, Access forbidden will "unmount" the drive and will enter in the locked state; now you can unplug the drive without worries.
If the drive can not be safely removed, probably because some program(s) or document(s) in the drive are still open, this message will be displayed:

Clicking "OK" the computer will be locked.
Now, in "locked state" you can not enable the "key drive" feature. This is because the drive can not be unplugged and anyone could access your computer simply enabling the feature.
To unlock, you need to type the password in the standard way.
When unlocked, you can decide to enable again the feature using the menu.

Technical support

If you have questions or problems using Access Forbidden, please contact: support@oltrelimmagine.org