There are times when you may want to restrict access to Windows. This may be when someone else is using your computer, you are playing a video game that requires the use of hotkeys already used by Windows, for security reasons, to play a prank on someone (!!!), etc. For those times, dWinlock can be used.

dWinlock is a software that enables users to limit access to Windows by blocking keys, such as Alt + Ctrl + Del, disabling features, such as the desktop, and replacing components, such as the start menu:

After you have disabled/replaced/changed/etc. whatever you want, you simply need to go to “Options”, click on “Save Configuration”, and click on “Hide now”:

dWinlock will then sit in the background carrying out what you told it to do (no system tray icon though); you can call it back by pressing the Ctrl+Alt+W hotkey (this is the default hotkey – it can be changed). dWinlock needs to be on to work – if it is off everything returns to normal. Take note you can also password protect dWinlock, make dWinlock hide automatically on startup, and autostart at Windows boot.

The thing about dWinlock is it is intended to serve as an API for programmers; it is actually commercial software (69 Euros). However, the developer of dWinlock offers a free “demo” of dWinlock (the screenshots you see above are from the demo) which is not time limited or restricted in features. Normal users can make use of the features how ever they want and for how long they want. The only thing is every time you run dWinlock you will get this popup window:

This popup window is not that bad, since it only pops up once when you run dWinlock. However, the window will pop up even when you start dWinlock at Windows boot or start it hidden, so keep that in mind.

The last thing to remember about dWinlock is even though you can password protect it, anyone can force close dWinlock via Windows Task Manager.

You can download dWinlock from the following links:

Version Reviewed: v3.2

Supported OS: Windows Vista, XP, 2000, NT, Me, and 98

It also works on Win7 just fine.

dWinlock homepage [direct download]