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9 Comments

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1. Anthony Cramp says:

   January 12, 2010 at 10:03 pm

   @verboze Do you require a password “immediately” after sleep or screen saver begins? System Preferences -> Security -> General.

   Reply
2. verboze says:

   December 31, 2009 at 5:39 pm

   @Anthony Cramp: I don’t think this locks your screen. I’ve got my mac setup to require password after the screensaver, but when I tried this tip, I am able to get right back to the desktop without a password by pressing any key.

   Reply
   • Shashi says:

     June 6, 2011 at 9:11 am

     This is just sleep display, not sleep computer.

     for sleep computer, use
     command-option-eject

     Reply
3. Rob says:

   November 2, 2009 at 9:15 pm

   Craig, you can turn the brightness down on the mac. The external monitor will stay lit. I don’t know if there’s a shortcut way to do this.

   Reply
4. Woodgie says:

   October 23, 2009 at 6:10 am

   How did I not know that?

   Winner of best tip I’ve learned all year, I think!

   Reply
5. Anthony Cramp says:

   October 22, 2009 at 6:06 pm

   Great! If you have your machine setup to require a password after sleep or screen saver begins, then this key combo is a quick way to lock your machine. To date I’ve got the screen saver tied to a hot corner and have to fling the mouse to the lower right when I walk away from the computer. Keyboard combo is quicker and more repeatable for me.

   Thanks.

   Reply
6. Craig says:

   October 22, 2009 at 4:40 pm

   Nice tip – but is there any way to, say, disable one monitor and keep another one functioning as the main display. i.e. a macbook pro with external display (i don’t want to sleep/wake my computer for this functionality) I just want mac osx to disable my laptop display when I have my external display plugged in. Windows vista even does this… :(

   Reply
   • john says:

     June 18, 2023 at 3:36 am

     Try from energy saver to tik box “prevent your Mac from automatically sleeping when the display is off” and then press shift control eject.

     Reply
   • john says:

     June 18, 2023 at 3:41 am

     from energy saver tickbox “prevent your Mac from automatically sleeping when display is off”. After that press
     shift control eject.

     Reply