We love automated tasks, don’t we? The massive success of IFTTT and its subsequent launch on iOS and Android shows that people love well-done automation. So inspired by this trend, today I am going to show you how you can automate the task of locking and unlocking your Windows 8 computer with a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone.
This trick works on almost any device with Bluetooth 2.0 hardware, and you don’t necessarily need an iPhone or Android.
So let’s see how we can automatically lock or unlock the device using BTProximity. BTProximity is a free application and is available from a third party website. Make sure you choose the direct installer link. When you run the setup file, it will ask you to confirm the security warning. Do that, click settings button and finish the process.
Auto-lock with BTProximity
After installing the tool, right click on the application icon in the system tray and click Optional configuration. Before you can link a device to an app, you must first pair it with Windows. To do so, make sure your device is visible, right-click on the Bluetooth tray icon and select Add New Device.
Now search for your mobile and pair it after confirming the security code.
Note: The app only supports Microsoft and Broadcom device drivers for Bluetooth and if you have any other Bluetooth compatible software it may not be able to detect your paired device.
After you have paired the devices, click Select button to select the Bluetooth mobile phone for which you want to configure your device. After successful connection, the app will ping your device every 90 seconds and 3 failed responses will lock your device. You can reduce that ping to 10 seconds for added security.
Once you have saved the settings, simply turn off the Bluetooth on your mobile phone to check the settings. If everything is fine, your computer will be automatically locked after 30 seconds (10*3 failed attempts).
Unlock with BTProximity
You can also configure the application so that the computer automatically sleeps or even puts it into hibernation. Now let’s see how to configure the unlock function.
You have to click the button Unlock Settings and configure the application to access administrative rights on your computer. Done, click the link Credential Management and provide the Windows login username and password. It is best to use the drop-down menu to select a username. Finally, check both unlock boxes and click the OK button.
Note: Users who have linked their Windows 8 PC to a Microsoft account will have to use the associated email as their username.
Conclusion
That’s it, now you can forget about locking and unlocking your computer when you’re not around. I personally tested the app for a few days and found no errors.
However, you will have to keep Bluetooth enabled on your device at all times, which may slightly affect battery performance. But that’s a small price to pay for the comfort the app offers.
Top photo source: Grace_kat
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
