Setting Added to Registry to Make Screensaver Password Protection Immediate The default grace period allowed for user movement before the screen - saver lock takes effect is five seconds. Leaving the grace period in the default setting makes your computer vulnerable to a potential attack from someone walking up to the console to attempt to log onto the system before the lock takes effect. An entry to the registry can be made to adjust the length of the grace period. Windows includes a grace period between the time when the screen saver is started and the time when the console is actually locked automatically if screen-saver locking is enabled. Vulnerability: The default grace period that is allowed for user movement before the screen saver lock takes effect is five seconds. If you leave the default grace period configuration, your computer is vulnerable to a potential attack from someone who could approach the console and attempt to log on to the computer before the lock takes effect. An entry to the registry can be made to adjust the length of the grace period. Countermeasure: Configure the ScreenSaverGracePeriod entry to a value of 0. Potential impact: Users must enter their passwords to resume their console sessions as soon as the screen saver activates. Fix: (1) GPO: Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options\MSS: (ScreenSaverGracePeriod) The time in seconds before the screen saver grace period expires (0 recommended) (2) REG: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon!ScreenSaverGracePeriod