Screen Break Enforcement Software

December 12, 2005 3:58 AM

I need some software that advises me to take a screen break

I've found some, but I don't want to pay.

posted by ajbattrick to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

A quick Google search reveals the freeware program Take A Break. I've not used it myself, so I can't vouch for its quality, but it appears to meet your requirements.
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:14 AM on December 12, 2005

Best answer: That link leads to v2.5 of the software. There is however a version 2.7 of it out there too. I'm sure that the differences between the two are minimal. Same disclaimer as before.
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:18 AM on December 12, 2005

Best answer: I've also found 'Time Out!', which, again, I've not used but appears to meet your needs. And with that, I shall promise that this will be the last post I make in this thread, and I shall now, rather aptly, take a time out.
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:23 AM on December 12, 2005

Minuteur would work for those on the Mac.
posted by wackybrit at 4:32 AM on December 12, 2005

Best answer: Previous questions indicate that you are running Windows. I have personally tried several and I have to say that I think that the open source Workrave is pretty close to ideal, is much more polished than the other programs I tried, and is very configurable. You can postpone the breaks as they come up, but it has an option to prevent one from doing this, which I find useful. (I didn't always have the willpower to really stop working when other programs suggested it.) Additionally, it suggests exercises or stretches for you to do while you are breaking. I use it on both Linux and Windows with the following setup:

30 sec break every 10 min
5 min break every 30 min
no more than 8 hours a day

If you aren't having wrist problems, you might pick a schedule that allows a bit more work.
posted by grouse at 4:46 AM on December 12, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks for all your suggestions.

I did search before asking, to no avail. I am using Windows too.
posted by ajbattrick at 5:46 AM on December 12, 2005

I can't blame you for asking here. I did a lot of searching but got bogged down in all the crappy Visual Basic apps that claim to do this sort of thing. I didn't find Workrave until it popped into my del.icio.us inbox (tags: rsi ergonomics).
posted by grouse at 6:03 AM on December 12, 2005

AntiRSI is another nice program for this for mac users.
posted by jimw at 6:50 AM on December 12, 2005

Click Here for the opposite effect...

Sorry, couldn't resist.

I've used Work Rave and I agree that it's about the best one out there.
posted by Mrs. Smith at 11:37 AM on December 12, 2005

I tried Workrave, but found it had too many bells and whistles. I'm using Win32 software called OosTime: tiny, free and does nothing more than show a succinct countdown of pausetime left. It can also sieze the focus to make sure you stop working. Unfortunately, the only place I've found reference to Oostime since is the University of Calgary's IT department.
posted by Mozai at 1:31 PM on December 12, 2005