Free alternative to Transparent Screen Lock PRO

Question

For the last few years I've been using Transparent Screen Lock Pro to lock my computer while keeping the entirety of the screen visible, allowing me to view any running activity on it at a glance. In the last few months, this program's developers seem to have gotten stricter about running a free version of this program, and now every time I lock my computer I get a bright red nag screen telling me my evaluation period is over.

I really can't afford to pay $49.95 for this functionality, so I'm hoping there's a free alternative out there that does the same thing.

Answer 1

Theres ths one

Transparent Lock Screen for Windows
(also a transparent screensaver)

It's a screensaver with 1% opacity. Unlike most screensavers, it doesn't end on mouse movement. In fact, it blocks mouse clicks and keyboard events until you kill the screensaver with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + L. Although Ctrl+Alt+Delete isn't blocked, launching the Task Manager is ineffective because the screensaver steals the focus again, so you aren't able to use the Task Manager, just look at it wistfully. The last thing it does before it exits is call LockWorkStation(), so if someone tries to use your computer, even after they unlock the screensaver with Ctrl + L they will be presented with the Windows lockscreen with the Windows password prompt. None of your co-workers will be pranking you now!

billiegoose/lock-screen

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And there is this one

ClearLock - A Cool Transparent Desktop Lock For Windows ClearLock

Answer 2

On Windows 10, this can be accomplished using a combination of the open-source billiegoose/lock-screen tool and Watch4Idle, a useful tool that detects when the computer is idle. More details in this issue.