Faronics spruces up security for power management software

The latest version of Faronics' PowerSave application (version 4.1) includes two new features that are intended to address potential security concerns associated with waking up a computer once it  has entered standby or hibernate mode to save power.

First, the software now requires the user to enter their system password, if it is being used in a controlled environment where there is one user per machine. If the system using PowerSave is in a multi-user setting (such as a computer lab), the software will automatically sign the current user off when it transitions into the powerdown state.

This may peeve people who space out, but it is sure to give IT managers comfort knowing that someone won't accidentally leave their system open to unauthorized use.

Of course, if you don't want the computer to save power at all, you can override it with the PowerSave Stay Awake feature, which allows someone to temporarily switch off power savings mode. The operative word here is temporarily. The Stay Awake feature can only be used if an IT manager enables it.