Weekly Computer Tip # 274
6 July 2009


shortcut to log off your computer
(Windows)

Enough already! I know the last "weekly" tip was sent on 20th June and I ended it with the usual "" but other things (such as work) had taken over. (Thanks for noticing though! ;-) But here I am with another great keyboard shortcut that I recently found out - by accident. Encouraging course participants to lock their computer when we left for a cuppa, so that nobody could access their PC while we were on our break, I told them about WIN+L. (See tip_210.php if you missed that one.) One of the course participants misinterpreted the instruction, so we found a quick way to log off your computer without shutting down. (When you log off from the computer, you close your user account but the computer remains on for easy access the next time you - or somebody else who wants to use that computer - log on.)

Here's how:

  1. Press and release the WIN key. (The WIN key is the key with the Windows logo on it, to the left of the ALT key.)
  2. Press L.

To log off from the computer click the Log Off button ... or (my favourite) press L once more.

.