Hot Corners

If you work on sensitive documents, or just want an extra measure of privacy in a busy office, you'll want to give Hot Corners a try.

Hot Corners lets you activate your screen saver instantly by moving your mouse to a corner of the screen; you disable the screen saver by moving the mouse to another corner. You can also assign hot keys to these actions, or click the Hot Corners icon to activate your screen saver.

The program works as advertised, except that when my screen saver is running, moving the mouse or clicking a key always disables it. To disable the screen saver, it was never necessary (or possible) to move the cursor to a corner of the screen or click a hot key. The vendor says that your screen is password protected when the screen saver is disabled, but you need to set that up yourself in Windows' Display Properties.

Other features include the ability to randomize the screen saver, so you see a different one each time the screen saver is enabled; plus power management tools including the option to put the monitor in low-power mode when a screen saver is activated.

People who are concerned about their privacy or who often work on sensitive documents may find that Hot Corners fills a need. The program is free to try and costs $13 to license.

--Kim Saccio-Kent