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Automatically Log Out -- broken option???

S

Steven Jackson

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 8, 2006
387
7
Lincoln, U.K.
Hi,

I've just got a new iMac, but I can't get the "Automatically Log Out after X minutes" option to work.

What I want:

5 mins: screensaver kicks-in (Desktop and Screensaver preference)
15 mins: display to sleep (Energy Saver preference)
30 mins: sleep (Energy Saver preference)
60 mins: log out user (Security preference)

What I get is:

2 minutes-ish: screen dims
5 mins: screensaver kicks-in
15 mins: display to sleep
30 mins: sleep (presumably works, but it's kind of had to tell...)

...and that's it. The computer sleeps indefinately. When I wake it up, I have to enter password and it's still logged in as the same user as when it went to sleep...

Any ideas?

Steve.
 
Well from how I read the list of instructions you want it to follow the big issue is you have the machine set to sleep before it logs out. You need to reverse those two timings.

When a mac sleep all activity ceases only the memory is kept 'alive' so it is not possible for it to log a user out after this event.
 
Okay, thanks for that...

Will the computer still sleep (or log out) if there is no user activity, but there is computer activity? For example, will it sleep in the middle of playing an album on iTunes or while downloading from BitTorrent overnight?

Steve.
 
Well the sleep option is negated if there is activity. Watching films (DVD player or VLC), playing games and I suspect even iTunes as long as it is playing will all keep the machine awake regardless of the settings. If you specifically wanted the machine to shut down, say at the end of the day, your best off using the schedule function int he energy saver panel instead.

The logout option is meant more for security and convenience to other users. If your the sole user of the machine you can always set the 'ask for password on resume from screensaver' option. If you combine this with hot corners you can essentially secure the machine anytime you choose. If you do this though and another person wants to use the machine they will have to know your password as well.

Unless you specially want the mac to sleep you can set it to logout after an hour with the screen set to sleep much sooner and just leave it on.
 
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