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I would like an easy way to make a password required to run certain programs.

Some things like Kmail, Kontact, CAD programs, file managers, browsers, etc contain sensitive information.

If you walk away from your computer, or don't logout, someone can easily access this information. For example, Kmail only requires a password to get new mail, but I can read my old mail without a password.

This option to require a password to run could be implemented in a lot of the KDE programs in their own configuration menus and an option in the menu editor could be used to require a password to start a program that KDE doesn't maintain or have access to the source code. These programs that KDE can't control at the source-level would need some further option to prevent it from being opened via the Konsole or from a file manager.


Anyway, all I really want is a simple way to prevent certain programs from running without a password. The keyword being simple. I don't want to have to spend an hour configuring a program each time I want to have this option.

This would be a great feature for business users and users with privacy concerns.

If a feature like this can be implemented, I would be very thankful, or more accurately I would be even more thankful than I already am to the wonderful KDE developers.

This is basically useless, because the data is still accessible even if the program can't be used. Someone could open stuff in another program (in many cases a text editor would do) or just copy it off your hard drive. You would need to encrypt the data in some way to get any real protection. I am marking this as wontfix because it is just a really, really, really bad idea. It gives the illusion of security while offering no real protection whatsoever. If you don't want people viewing your files, either put them in an encrypted partition or lock your computer.