There are a number of different ways to lock or sleep your screen in macOS. Before we show them to you, however, it’s important to make the distinction between locking your screen and just putting it to sleep.
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Lock the Dock size. Just like the position of your Dock, the size of it is important. You may keep minimal apps in the Dock and like it sized bigger or keep many apps in it and like it sized smaller. Either way, enter the following command into Terminal to lock the Dock size. Wouldn’t it be nice, especially in an office or educational setting to be able to lock your screen from the Mac OS X menu bar? Here’s how to do it. Launch the Keychain Access application. Cursor Lock is a utility program that confines the mouse cursor to a selected area on the screen. This is most useful in multi-monitor setups, addressing a common oversight in some applications.
If you lock your Mac you’ll put it to sleep and need to type in your login password on your Mac’s lock screen (or unlock it with TouchID on a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, or with an Apple Watch). If you put it to sleep, you won’t necessarily lock it. In order to lock your screen, you need to set up the password in System Preferences. Here’s how to do that.
How to set up a password to lock the screen
- Launch System Preferences either by clicking on its icon in the Dock or by choosing it from the Apple menu.
- Click on the Security & Privacy pane.
- Choose the General tab and check the option that starts ‘Require password…’
- Choose an option from the dropdown menu.
Now, whenever your Mac goes to sleep or a screensaver starts, it will lock and you’ll have to authenticate with your user password, Apple Watch or TouchID to gain access.
Worried about your Mac’s security in public places? Get Beepify, a Setapp app that protects your Mac from theft.
View hidden files and folders on MacA well known feature in Windows is the ability to toggle the visibility of hidden files and folders in Windows Explorer. But a free third party app called lets you to easily toggle the visibility of hidden files and folders at the click of a button. On Mac, the default file explorer is known as, which has fairly similar options available, as compared to its Windows counterpart. Alternate app store mac. On Mac, viewing hidden files in Finder is a bit of a challenge, since there is no direct option available. Manually, it can be done using Terminal commands.
Download Beepify FreeHow to lock your Mac
If you have a MacBook, a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro, the quickest and easiest way to lock your Mac is just to shut the lid. When you do that, the Mac goes to sleep and when you open it again you’ll need to unlock it.
However, there are occasions when you’ll want to prevent anyone from seeing the screen without actually closing it. And, in any case, if you have an iMac, Mac mini or Mac Pro, it’s not an option. Here are some other ways you can lock your Mac’s display.
1. Use Apple menu
Go to the Apple menu and choose Sleep. This will display the login screen for your account and won’t unlock with a password (unless you’re wearing an Apple Watch when you do it and then it will lock and unlock immediately)
Tip: If you want your Mac to remain locked even when you’re close by and you have an Apple Watch, go to System Preferences>Security & Privacy>General and uncheck the Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac option.
2. Use shortcuts
If you’re using a Mac that’s running macOS Catalina, go to the Apple menu and choose Lock Screen or press Command+Control+Q. This will lock your Mac and return you to the Login screen.
For older versions of the operating system, press Control+Shift+Power button (or Control+Shift+Eject if your Mac has an optical drive). It will lock the screen.
You can also use a keyboard shortcut to put your Mac to sleep. Press Command+Option+Power (or Eject). This works in a similar way to the previous one, but rather than just lock your Mac it powers down the hard drive, puts the CPU into low power mode and stops background tasks in order to save energy.
3. Set up a hot corner
Hot corners allow you to drag to the mouse pointer to one of the four corners of the screen to initiate an action – you can use one as a sleep shortcut on your Mac. To set it up:
- Launch System Preferences.
- Choose the Desktop & Screen Saver pane.
- Click the Hot Corners button at the bottom right of the window.
- In the drop down window, choose a corner.
- Click on the menu and choose either Start Screen Saver or Put Display to Sleep.
4. Use fast user switching
Fast user switching allows you to quickly log into another user account on your Mac. But you can also use it to return to the log in window, which locks your Mac. Zipeg app for mac. Got to System Preferences>Users & Groups and click the padlock, then type in your password. Click Login Options and check the box next to ‘Show fast user switch menu as.’ You can also choose whether to show the menu as your full name, the account name or an icon.
To lock your Mac, click the fast user switching menu at the right of the menu bar and choose Login Window…
5. Add Keychain Access to the menu bar
This option was removed in macOS Mojave but works on versions before High Sierra:
- Go to Finder.
- Choose Applications > Utilities.
- Launch Keychain Access.
- Click in the Keychain Access menu and select Preferences.
- Check the box next to Show keychain status in menu bar.
- You’ll see a lock in the Finder menu bar. Click it and choose Lock Screen to lock your Mac.
Other ways to protect your privacy
First of all, fet a Finder-like Terminal for Mac that will help you completely control the login settings. It’s called MacPilot. The app covers over 1,200 hidden macOS features. For privacy, you can go into the Login tab and customize access by users, enable the option of automatic screen locking, and edit launch items.
If you’re looking for physical protection of your Mac, Beepify is the app you need. Whenever you have to step away from the computer in a public place, activate Beepify and it will be set to produce a loud sound in case someone tries to close the screen or disconnect charger.
One of the main reasons for locking your Mac when you step away from it is to stop prying eyes accessing your files, browser history, or anything else you don’t want them to see. CleanMyMac X has a tool that gives you even more privacy protection.
CleanMyMac’s Privacy tool allows you to quickly delete your browser history in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. But it also allows you to delete message threads and attachments in Messages, and to remove entries from macOS’ recent files lists.
Also, CleanMyMac’s Shredder is a quick and easy way to securely delete sensitive data. You can download CleanMyMac for free and give it a try.
As you can see, putting your Mac to sleep or locking it is very easy. There are lots of different ways to do it, although some are dependent on the version of macOS you’re using. If you regularly lock your Mac to prevent others accessing it, you should ensure your login password is strong and secure.
Finally, if privacy is important, CleanMyMac has a couple of tools that can help delete sensitive data.
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The Dock is the center point of navigation on macOS. It’s the first place you go to after starting up the Mac. But, this does not mean that the Dock is perfect. Despite Apple’s continuous upgrades, there are a few things that you can’t do such as removing native apps, stretching the Dock to the sides, etc. That’s why I have made the list of the best Mac Dock customization apps. Let’s begin.
You have two choices here. You can either use these apps and the Mac Dock side by side. Alternatively, you can go ahead and hide the dock. As of now, it is not possible to permanently disable the Mac dock. The maximum you can do is prevent it from showing up every time you open something. Either way, these Dock replacements will be worth your time.
Read: Best Weather Apps for Mac
Customize Mac Dock
1. DockShelf
DockShelf lets you create multiple docks when one is not enough. In many ways, that’s true too. You can have multiple sub-docks to keep things better organized and easy to access in the long run.
By default, DockShelf is placed on the left side of the screen. There are three different sections, for Places, Notes, and Apps. Hovering on the section icons will open up the sub-docks. For instance, you can find the usual apps in the Apps section. Unlike the traditional dock, DockShelf lets you keep extra links and even files for easy access.
It’s hard to customize DockShelf, all of the options are crammed in a small interface which makes it hard to navigate. DockShelf offers a set of additional features such as Smart Folders and Desktop Docks.
Salient Features
- Basic and Intuitive
- Supports multiple docks
Check out DockShelf ($4.99, free demo)
2. ActiveDock
ActiveDock is meant to be a better version of what Apple offers in macOS. You get an improved dock with amazing features and customizability. You can do a lot of things in ActiveDock, especially things you were not able to do in the traditional dock. To simply quote the developers, it’s the same dock, but better.
In this dock, you can hover over the icon to see the current window. Even better, you can choose how to arrange the particular window. Simply click on the desired layout, and boom: everything is cleaned up.
From the background color to the icons in use, you can customize almost everything on the dock. You can also create Groups and Folder for better organization of your files, apps, and folders. Compared to DockShelf, ActiveDock is easy to set up, maintain, and use on a regular basis.
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/3/4/1/134122927/353704854.jpg)
Salient Features
- Better Window Management
- Ultimate customization options
- Support Groups & Stacks
Check Out ActiveDock ($19.99, free demo)
3. HyperDock
HyperDock brings many features that you haven’t seen in the traditional dock. In effect, you’re using a different type of dock on the Mac. One thing that I loved about HyperDock is that it’s tightly integrated with your Mac. There is no need to worry about glitches even in macOS Mojave.
For instance, when you hover over the Calendar icon, HyperDock will show you the available events. In the same way, you can control media playback by hovering over the iTunes icon. When it comes to the standard windows, you get a clean preview and management options. As the developer says, the app is bringing many of the awaited features to the macOS dock.
HyperDock too offers ample options for customization. Ifllow app for mac. Because you are dealing with the traditional dock, it cannot change color or anything. Still, you can add options for window management and dock items.
Salient Features
- Brings features to the Dock
- Easy to implement and use
Check out HyperDock ($9.95, but it has a limited free version too.)
4. uBar
uBar is perhaps the most popular and trustworthy Dock replacements for macOS. It is packed with a number of features that can redefine your macOS navigation experience. Window Previews, Pinning, Multi-Monitor Support are just some of the features included in the package. This Dock replacement is expected to enhance your productivity.
You can configure uBar as a dock or as a taskbar. When configured as a taskbar, this app resembles a good old Windows taskbar. The active apps are stacked on the bar. When you hover over the icon, uBar shows a preview too. The bar also contains a few extra sections like Calendar, Clock, and shortcuts to Desktop, Trash, etc. The bar menu seems to resemble the Windows Start menu in many ways.
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You can customize how this navigation app looks and performs. Just like you do in Dock, uBar can be placed on three sides of the screen. There is also a bunch of advanced customization when it comes to themes, Pinning etc. In short, uBar can your own in many ways.
Salient Features
- A Productive UI
- Advanced Window Management
- Plenty of Customization options
Check outuBar ($30, 14-Day free trial)
5. cDock
cDock is the app to get when you wish to personalize the Dock on macOS. cDock comes with a few exciting tweaks that allow you to do things that you can’t do with stock dock. For instance, you can completely remove Launchpad, Finder, and Trash from the Dock that wasn’t possible otherwise.
Other features include custom badges on icons such as Trash, hide apps from showing up in the Dock, custom colors and transparency modes, etc. It has a few personalization options such as dimming inactive apps, custom images on the Dock, fullscreen width dock that transform your boring Dock completely. cDock is free to try and costs just $5.
Salient Features
- Powerful customization options
- Custom themes
- Additional Settings to Customize Launchpad and Mission Control
Check out cDock ($4.99, Free Demo)
6. Dockey
Dockey isn’t a Mac dock alternative but more like a Mac dock customize App. Nevertheless, it can improve the overall Dock experience in the long run. You can use Dockey to speed up and optimize the Dock. You will have to do these things otherwise using Terminal, which is hard.
It’s a completely free app, which is easy to use. Simply launch the program, make the changes, and save the Settings. Your Dock will be optimized in no time. Sounds awesome, right?
Check out Dockey (free)
7. Replacement icons
Like most OS, macOS also allows you to install your own custom icons for favorite software and system components. However, find good icon packs for your macOS is a challenge. Fortunately, there are few artists who handmade replacement icons for macOS.
Changing an icon of an app is really simple. Simply download the icon pack from the links below and unzip the contents. Navigate to the folder or app whose icon you wish to change. In my case, I wanted to change the icon of Chrome. So I right-click the Chrome app in the Applications folder and press CMD+I. Now, simply drag the icon you downloaded and drop it to the thumbnail of the Chrome icon in the Get Info Window. Restart the app to see the changes.
Check Out Replacement icons and Mac Replacement Icons (Free)
![App App](/uploads/1/3/4/1/134122927/405631725.png)
The Bottom Line
Lock App Bar Mac Pro
Most of the tools are freemium and you can check out the demo anytime. Coming to the options, we’d recommend uBar if you’re looking for some serious change and customization options. As we said, uBar brings a Windows task-bar feel to the whole macOS interface. On the other hand, if you want to boost the existing dock’s functionality, HyperDock would be something impressive. Also, let us know which one is your favorite.
Mac Lock Screen
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