User:Ris/user articles/random tips

Cat-proofing input devices (keyboard/mouse)

My cats are well behaved, I've only seen them on my desk once, but since then I've taken to locking the session at night. I don't like having to unlock every morning (plus if I get up in the night) just for this, when the machine is physically locked away anyhow.

After combing through forums etc. to try to find a solution, I started hacking together a sort of minimalist "screensaver" that would unlock either by double clicking a button, or with a simple key combination that a cat would not likely trigger... And then I came across a comment with what seems to be a pretty good solution for me: connect the keyboard and mouse to the monitor's USB hub. Turning off the monitor will then disable them, so I can just press the monitor power button when going to bed - simple.

Someone mentioned that not all monitors switch off the integrated hub, or don't do it properly, when powering the monitor down, so that's something to watch out for with this.