Android and Apple have long offered users a way to track and disable your gadgets remotely. Microsoft has also joined the club by letting you track and lock down your Windows PC using “Find My Device” on Windows 10.
Find My Device uses your device’s location data to help you find it if it’s lost or stolen. You can use the same service to make sure the device is locked so no one can use it, and also to view information on how people can return it to you.
The device must meet a few requirements to use the feature:
- It must be connected to the Internet.
- You must have already enabled Find My Device on the PC.
- You must have an account on the device with administrator privileges and a Microsoft account. You cannot do this with a local user account
Assuming your device meets these criteria, let’s see how to use Find My Device.
How to Lock Your Windows 10 PC Remotely
Open a web browser on the Microsoft account page, enter your password, then click “Login”.
From the main page, click on the “View Details” link under the device you want to lock.
On the next page, click “Find my device”.
If your device’s location says it’s in a place you don’t expect, click “Lock” to start locking your device.
Locking your device signs out all active users and disables local user accounts. Click Next. »
On the next screen, you can set up a custom message to help people return your device. The message appears on your device’s lock screen when someone turns it on.
Afterwards, if you think your account is compromised, we suggest you change your password to be sure. Once you find your device, you can log into it using your PC’s administrator account.
