It appears that since I upgraded to OS X Yosemite, and fiddled with some of the energy saver and screen saver settings, that my user is logged out due to inactivity.
Where is the setting where I can turn this off and not allow my user to be automatically logged off when inactive?
The option is found in the System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General > Advanced dialog.
The first option is a check box with text Log out after [NN - spin button] minutes of inactivity
The spin button enables one to set the number of minutes of inactivity.
Kudos to the user Alistair McMillan who posted the answer over in the AskDifferent stack exchange.
Read the full thread here.
You can prevent your Mac to automatically log out the current user after a set period of inactivity by this way -
You can also check OS X Yosemite: Set your Mac to log out when not in use
Go into System Preferences> Users & Groups> Then click on the button that says Automatic Logout.
If what you want is for your mac screen to stay on. The great answers above will only get you part of the way there. Under the security and privacy general tab de-select the require password. This will stop the request for a password and allow the computer to screen to stay on if all other "screen saving" is turned off.
Caution - This will forcibly remove apple pay.
i had mistaken require password for log out after X minutes of inactivity
that setting is also under the General tab of Security & Privacy near the top, first checkmark
(macOS catalina)
Choose Apple menu > System Settings..., then click Privacy & Security in the sidebar. Click Advanced at the bottom. Then switch off Log out automatically after inactivity.
