Benedikt Köppel

WinSwitch Replacement for Snow Leopard

I was using WinSwitch since Panther for Fast User Switching. The main feature I used was the keyboard shortcut to log out. MenuCracker is a requirement to run WinSwitch.

As MenuCracker is not yet compatible to Snow Leopard, I looked for another solution to do a Fast User Switch with a shortcut. Here is how I did it:

  • Start Automator (/Applications/Automator.app)
  • Choose Service
  • Set "Service receives selected" to "no input" and "in" to "any application"
  • Drag and drop "Run Shell Script" (from Actions, Library, Utilities) to the right (where it says "Drag actions or files here to build your workflow").
  • Enter the following string into the "Run Shell Script"-Action:
    /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend
  • Save this Service and name it for example "Fast User Switch". It will be located in /Users/yourname/Library/Services/.
  • Open System Preferences, Keyboard, Services, General, and double click on your service "Fast User Switch" (double click far right). An input box will open, and you can press the shortcut.
  • Your new Service will now be active and you can do a Fast User Switch without using the Menu
See a screencast here http://static.muasch.ch/FastUserSwitch.mov

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