my cats like to sit/walk on my keyboard when I'm out of the room. (y'know, cats and warm stuff to sit on)

I have made it a habit to turn on my screensaver when I leave my computer, and it's set to get a pw when it is woke, so that stops random posts to chat rooms etc, but they are still hitting my F keys and doing things like turning on itunes, adjusting volume, and tonight they apparently found how to open the Sound control panel while I was mowing the lawn.

I don't see an option to disable f-keys during screensaver. Is it possible?

I know it's a pain in the patootie (and likely not what you're looking for), but how about yanking the keyboard's USB cord, batteries or flipping its power switch, whichever applies?

PS, your cat(s) accessing Sound control is hilarious. Like one of mine plucking the carpet in front of the closed bedroom door...

PS2, if you've got a laptop, start saving for a new carpet.

Well, you could always make it a habit to lock your screen when you're out of the room. Checking the Keychain Access -> Preferences -> Show Status in Menu Bar checkbox puts a padlock icon among your menu extras; the first menu item is Lock Screen. Screen saver starts immediately.

And then, there are always the hard/acrylic keyboard covers: http://www.viziflex.com/store/template.cfm/ses_/c,list,x,44,441,x/Retail%2FPOS:%20Protection/Pet%20Proof/

Though that may preclude the next Great American Novel.

The Apple wireless keyboard has an off/on switch.

That's what I'm already doing. the F keys do not trip the screensaver password box even. They just function as usual, which was a bit surprising. I can somewhat see the screen brightness being immune, but itunes play?

Yes, this is a laptop, cannot turn off or unplug keyboard.

And incidentally, I've gone one step quicker on starting my screensaver with lock. I have a dock item I can click that immediately starts the locked screensaver.