IDEA: forced coffee/tea/cigarette break reminder

[nudone]

i once had a program that would remind you at set intervals to take a break from the computer - you know, for health reasons.

of course - i uninstalled it and continued to spend hours sat staring at my monitor all day instead. yep, i'm probably going to get deep vain thrombosis as a result of using my computer - great.

how about a little program that you set to blank the screen every couple of hours or less - maybe it bring ups a message (visual and audio) telling you in a polite way that it's time to go and make a drink or whatever, thereby forcing you to take a break.

yeah, i know you'd ignore it and just carry on working - the crucial part is the screen would remain blank for 5 minutes (with more messages or whatever displayed) and you would have no way of overriding it - any attempt to do so would hibernate the computer.

(i know, i know, i'd uninstall it and never use it - let me just dream for a while that i would do the right thing and obey it.)

[mouser]

this is a good idea but i think there are a LOT of apps to do this already.

[nudone]

yes, sorry. i didn't really look for anything before posting - i'll have a look later.

[Steph]

one of them which is open-source : http://www.workrave.org/

[nudone]

downloaded and installed 'workrave'. 

looks like exactly the right kind of app for the job. nicely done all around.

(my problem is the lack of discipline to actually obey the break reminders though - i really do need something that can't be overridden.)

[mouser]

workrave is open source, it would probably be a snackable request to modify workrave to not allow you to override it

[nudone]

well, i'll certainly be grateful if anyone decides to modify it to prevent the breaks from being overridden.

if no one thinks it's worthwhile i'll understand - it would be better if i could make myself more disciplined instead (maybe i should learn to write code - it would be easier).

[skrommel]

TakeABreak - Locks the computer in user defined intervals

Features:
- Change the work and pause time.
- Careful! In pause mode the only way out is to restart the computer!



You'll find the downloads and more info at Skrommel Software.

Skrommel

[nudone]

thank you very much skrommel.

i had forgotten about making this request but i shall definately try out your script.

skrommel to the rescue once again.

[tempdonationcoder]

TakeABreak is great however it can be heavy on the CPU - it causes explorer.exe run heavy

edit:
Also adding dimming of the screen (like in ghoster) would be a cool feature

[tomos]

hi tempdonationcoder
have you seen app103's Instant Boss ?
http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=4602.0
http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=4430.0
it's got a different slant but certainly well worth a look

havent seen this one before must try it out, thanks!