TextAlertX — sign-in approval for Windows

What it does

When someone signs in or unlocks the PC, UserAlertX texts you:

"UserAlertX: pclogin wants approval: Sign-in: OFFICE-PC\jim on OFFICE-PC (unlock) at 21:14 Oct 01. Reply Y to allow, N to deny, LOCK to lock until you decide."

While it waits for you, a full-screen Waiting for approval screen covers the desktop.

• Y — keep using the PC.
• N, or no reply within 5 minutes — the PC locks.
• LOCK — the screen says LOCKED and stays that way, even after a restart or a new sign-in, until you reply Y or N.

It works however you sign in: PIN, password, fingerprint or face.

Install (about 2 minutes)

1. Download TextAlertX for Windows (Windows 10 and 11) and run it. Windows may say "Windows protected your PC" because the installer isn't code-signed yet. Click More info → Run anyway.
2. "Do you have a UserAlertX account?"
   • Yes — go to the next step.
   • No — click Get a free trial. It opens useralertx.com in your browser. Sign up with your email, confirm it, and add your mobile phone on your account page. Then come back to setup and click Next.
3. Enter your UserAlertX email. We email you a 6-digit code. No email after a couple of minutes? Check your spam folder. Codes are only sent to the email of a confirmed UserAlertX account.
4. Enter the code. This connects the PC to your account. There's no API key to copy.
5. Choose how it protects the PC. The recommended setting, "Text me for approval, and lock this PC unless I reply Y", is already selected. The stricter option, "lock this PC anyway if UserAlertX can't be reached", is for people who have another way in (see below).
6. Finish, then test it: press Windows+L, sign back in, and reply Y to the text.

Good to know

• Cost: each approval text is a normal UserAlertX text alert, 1 token (a plan includes 50 tokens a month). The free trial covers your first ones.
• What it can and can't do: Windows lets the person in before any program can run, so TextAlertX stops an unwanted sign-in within moments rather than preventing it. They'll see the Waiting for approval screen, not your desktop.
• Your PC on your account: it appears under Devices on your account page.

If you get locked out

Usually you just sign in again and reply Y. You're only stuck if the texts can't reach you (phone lost or dead, no signal, account balance used up), or if you replied LOCK. Ways back in:

1. From another device: sign in at useralertx.com. Click Unlock for "pclogin" under Locked apps, or Remove this PC under Devices. After that the PC stops asking.
2. A second administrator account on the PC that you don't normally use.
3. Safe Mode: TextAlertX doesn't run there. Sign in and uninstall it.

Change settings or remove it

• Run setup again and choose Update, Connect to a different UserAlertX account, or Uninstall.
• Or use Start → TextAlertX → Uninstall, or Settings → Apps.
• Uninstalling also removes the PC from your account's Devices list.

Coming next: approval before Windows opens

A TextAlertX option on the Windows sign-in screen itself. You enter your password, the text arrives, and Windows doesn't open the desktop at all until you reply Y. A Strict setting will make it the only way to sign in. It's in testing now.