On Windows 7, when I leave my station unattended, the screensaver starts. After a certain time -- although not exactly with starting the screensaver -- as soon as I leave the screensaver, the station will be locked. Of course this is the result of a group policy.
Why does the lock only occur AFTER the screensaver is stopped by the user (i.e. moving the mouse, using the keyboard, etc)? Why is the machine not locked independently from the screensaver? Upon first glance, it appears that the screensaver calls the lock-procedure upon exit, but this seems an odd way to handle the problem. I'd think, intuitively, that a second background timer would be a less fragile way of implementing it. For example, I recall -- from 10 years ago or so -- that it was possible to delete the screensaver program from windows via script by exploiting the auto-start function that CD-Roms used to have. Is this still the same design? Or is the machine actually locked, but shows a short locking screen as feedback to the user?
