Three annoyances

[Lt Major Burns]

what do you mean lock? if not password protection (privacy) then what? i can't seem to work out the reason for locking a computer other than privacy.

[ziess]

Right then, I think the best solution to your 'Lockout' problem is WinSwitch, downloadable from here:

http://wincent.com/a/products/winswitch/download/

This replaces Apple's own fast-user switching menu with it's own customisable one. I downloaded it and tried it and it can be set to only display initials which doesn't intrude much (see below).
However, the main thing that you're looking for is a lock function.
It does this too.
In the WinSwitch prefs (Click your username in the menubar then Winswitch prefs) you can define a shortcut to switch to the login screen (i used apple+option+control+backspace) and voila! Problem solved.

[Electric]

Originally Posted by ziess

Right then, I think the best solution to your 'Lockout' problem is WinSwitch, downloadable from here:

That's exactly what I needed Thanks a lot.

Now my only problem is that spellcheker doesn't change it's behavior when keyboard changes. I suppose most of the people here are native English speakers, so that's not a big deal. But for some of us who regularly use two (or more languages) this can be pretty frustrating.