# Screensaver Password **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 4, 2000, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916 "2000-09-04T00:07:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/1 "2000-09-04T00:07:22Z")
Here’s the story: Today my BF was having some friends come over to watch football and one of them is nosy, so I decided to password protect my screensaver so he couldn’t snoop…I was going to be gone for awhile. I forgot my password and couldn’t get past my screensaver. I tried every password I have ever used in my life and finally after what seemed like an eternity I picked the right one. If this ever happens again is there any way I could override the screensaver password? Bo ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/2 "2000-09-04T00:20:13Z")
You can just turn the computer off and back on, then disable the screensaver password. Ofcourse you will lose any unsaved work. ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/3 "2000-09-04T00:51:31Z")
What OS? ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/4 "2000-09-04T01:16:56Z")
Win 98. I did try to turn the computer off, but the password box came back up…I think. I was interrupted during boot-up and when I came back the screensaver had kicked on. I panicked because the last time I fooled with the screensaver password was ages ago and I _lucked_ onto the password when I finally guessed it. It is just a checkbox in the display properties window and I neglected to uncheck it…so when my screensaver came on I couldn’t get past it. I will never mess with it again, but just in case I would like to know what to do. Bo \<\<==computer dummie ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/5 "2000-09-04T01:23:05Z")
Just reboot, and don’t get distracted. Turn off the password before the screensaver comes up again. ---
**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/6 "2000-09-04T08:16:44Z")
But it will ask for a password to disable password protection, so no dice. Not sure, but try looking for all your .pwl files and deleting them. That should get rid of it. You’ll lose any saved passwords, though, so be careful. –Tim ---
**Author:** ![dylan\_73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@dylan\_73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dylan_73)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/7 "2000-09-04T11:43:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Homer \* > \*\*But it will ask for a password to disable password protection, so no dice. > > Not sure, but try looking for all your .pwl files and deleting them. That should get rid of it. You’ll lose any saved passwords, though, so be careful. > > –Tim \*\* AFAIK, .pwl files are for Windows passwords, not screensaver passwords. Most screensavers don’t ask for a password to disable password protection; just don’t let the screensaver kick in. If for some reason it’s always starting (idle time set to zero or something) boot into command prompt mode (F8) and move all .scr files from your windows dir to another one that isn’t in your path. Windows will then fail to find your screensaver. DISCLAIMER: This all works for Win95. If Win98 has some weird changes, it may not. Still, shouldn’t hurt anything. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/8 "2000-09-04T17:03:50Z")
Be very. very careful with Win98 passwords. I once made a mistake and set a password on IE which I couldn’t remember. A call to my ISP’s tech support revealed that it is pretty-much impossible for most people (there always seem to be a techie exception somewhere) to retrieve it, and they warned me very strongly against messing with the .pwl file(s). In the end I had to reformat my HD and reinstall everything. Grrr. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/9 "2000-09-04T17:46:19Z")
Do you have autorun set on your CD drive? If so, I have a program I wrote that shuts off the screensaver password. You’d just have to burn it onto a CD, pop it into the drive, and, since Windows is all too happy to run any program called “autorun.exe” that it finds in the root directory of the CD (so long as autorun is set!), even when a password protected screensaver is running, you’ll be able to get through no sweat. If it’s really important, I suppose I could send you a CD with that program burned on it already. ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/10 "2000-09-05T13:39:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Homer \* > \*\*But it will ask for a password to disable password protection, so no dice. > > Not sure, but try looking for all your .pwl files and deleting them. That should get rid of it. You’ll lose any saved passwords, though, so be careful. > > –Tim \*\* Not if you just uncheck the “make it ask for a password box”. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/11 "2000-09-05T15:02:27Z")
When you restart the PC, just go back into the “screen saver” settings. (before the screen saver has a chance to start up again). Remove the checkmark in front of “password protected”. End of story! Zette ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/12 "2000-09-05T17:08:07Z")
When you change passwords, write the new password on a sticky note and attach the post-it to the front of your monitor. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/13 "2000-09-05T18:43:45Z")
Or you could be sneaky, and put the post-it on your keyboard instead. That always fools 'em! ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/14 "2000-09-05T21:02:59Z")
My password is written on my keyboard. In random order! yuk, yuk, yuk! Zette ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/15 "2000-09-05T22:42:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \* > \*\*When you change passwords, write the new password on a sticky note and attach the post-it to the front of your monitor. 😃 \*\* This reminds me of “Wargames”. Remember how the school had their passwords written on the piece of paper on the little slide out part of the desk? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2000, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screensaver-password/31916/16 "2000-09-06T00:29:26Z")
If you are having trouble remembering passwords, search for a freeware program called Password Safe. It works this way: You type your password into an encrypted file. The file is password-protected, but you can make multiple files with multiple passwords and save them all as files accessable by the same password. Once you access the file, you can click on the password entry and the password is copied onto your Clipboard (this is a Windows program), which is cleared when you close the program. Extra plus: It can generate a random alphanumeric password at one click. Very useful if you frequent more than one message board, like me, and have a sieve for a memory, like me.