Phoenix Freeze
$14.95
Phoenix Technologies
www.phoenixfreeze.com
CPUs: 2.5

Do you always lock your computer before you walk away from it? Or are you an energy-conscious person (or want to become one) who always turns off your monitor and puts your PC into Sleep mode when you’re not in front of the computer? Phoenix Freeze is an application that takes advantage of the Bluetooth connection on a BlackBerry or iPhone to let you do any of the above just by taking your phone with you when you leave. Step back into the range you set, and the PC will automatically unlock and awaken.

As of press time, Phoenix Freeze worked with Windows XP and Vista, but Phoenix told us that Windows 7 and Mac releases were on the way. To install Phoenix Freeze, you’ll just need to download the installation file to your WinXP or Vista system. Phoenix advised us to turn on the Bluetooth connection on our test PC and mobile phone (we used both a BlackBerry 8820 and iPhone 3G) before installing the software, because the application immediately checks for Bluetooth availability. In fact, we discovered that Freeze would not start until the computer’s Bluetooth connection was active and in Discovery mode.

After you pair the application with your mobile phone, you can choose whether Freeze merely locks your PC or if it also turns off your monitor or puts the computer to sleep. Freeze lets you customize both the lock and unlock proximity ranges, as well as time it takes to switch on or off. For the most part, Phoenix Freeze worked well in both of our tests. But occasionally, when we walked away from the computer, Freeze didn’t lock it. The issue was intermittent (happening only about 5% of the time, but we could see the problem becoming annoying over time). Additionally, the inconsistent performance may not be ideal for a program that’s designed to lock down your PC.

Still, this is a decent app for people who want to lock or sleep their hardware.

by Nathan Lake