Will locking my computer prevent scheduled and autorun programs from running?

Macrium will run just fine. As for any autorun programs,… well, it depends.

How Macrium schedules tasks

Macrium uses the Windows Task Scheduler. It configures the task to run as long as the machine is running. But some confusion arises since you can configure tasks to run only if you’re logged in to your machine.

Macrium doesn’t require that. They actually set up their scheduled task so that the task will run whether you’re logged in or not.

Even then, I don’t think that would affect you.

Locking your machine

Locking your computer typically doesn’t mean you’re logged out of it. Sometimes, it does, but if you’re simply locking your computer, then you’re still logged in.

From Macrium’s perspective, the fundamental requirements are met: the computer is on and running. You also happen to be logged in. No matter how you configure them, Macrium’s scheduled tasks will run just fine.

On the other hand, if you lock your computer by logging out (which some people do), then yes, you are logged out. But, like I said, the Macrium scheduled task will run anyway.

How this works with autorun programs

Now, the term ‘autorun’ is also a little confusing. It usually refers to tasks that are automatically run when your machine boots up or when you log in. Locking doesn’t really have any effect on those because you’re not rebooting or logging in.

But as I said before, that is unless the way that you lock your machine is by actually logging out. In that case, those tasks that are supposed to automatically run will do so when you log back in.

Nonetheless, the bottom line is that as long as your computer’s turned on, Macrium should run just fine.