Help me get paid, plez.

July 12, 2008 9:51 AM

Because of my time clock at my online job, I have to log in every two hours or else the system thinks that I forgot to log out and I don't get paid for that time. I need an online timer that, at the 2 hour mark or whatever I set, a window will flash on my screen to remind me to go log in again. For your info, I'm running Vista.
posted by damnjezebel to computers & internet (12 comments total)

Get AutoIt v3

Make a macro that every 2 hours, it'll lock out your mouse and keyboard, do all the steps to login, close the window and give you back control.
posted by PowerCat at 9:57 AM on July 12, 2008

For the programmatically inclined, there's twill.
posted by Mach5 at 10:03 AM on July 12, 2008

Do you use outlook or thunderbird for e-mail? Both of those programs allow you to set reminders for appointments. You could set one to go off every 2 hours.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 10:19 AM on July 12, 2008

[Distracting detail excised. If it needs a discussion, take it to Metatalk.]
posted by cortex at 11:02 AM on July 12, 2008

For your info, I'm running Vista.

When I have to remember to visit a website at a certain time, I use 'scheduled tasks', built into Windows XP (Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Scheduled tasks)

I set the schedule to launch my web browser pointed at a certain site - i.e. by running the command

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" http://www.example.com

which launches Firefox and opens www.example.com

It's not really designed to be a reminder system, but it does the job for me and it's built into Windows so there's no extra software to run.
posted by Mike1024 at 11:25 AM on July 12, 2008

It's not computer related but your standard garden variety kitchen timer would work and it is useful for cooking too.
posted by mmascolino at 11:25 AM on July 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

This is about as low-tech as you can get, online-timer wise, but it's reliable and it will ring loudly at you so long as you don't mind keeping the tab open.
posted by sciapod at 12:12 PM on July 12, 2008

If you want a computer alarm clock, I really like Speaking Clock, at http://www.lux-aeterna.com/clock/. It's free. Set it and walk away, tho' you should be in the same room. I use it to remind me ro make the 11 a.m. coffee.
posted by lungtaworld at 12:38 PM on July 12, 2008

Jabirnet's Countdown works for me.
posted by Dr.Pill at 2:04 PM on July 12, 2008

If you have Outlook, don't complicate things by adding another app.

Schedule a daily Outlook appointment scheduled for the start of your day and with a reminder. When the reminder comes up, you tell it to snooze for 2 hours. You will keep getting reminders and you will keep clicking Snooze. At the end of the work day, click Dismiss. The next day, you'll get another reminder for that day's appointment.
posted by pracowity at 3:00 PM on July 12, 2008

Okay, at first, I immediately tried the Vista tasks. Unfortunately, it'll only repeat the task every hour. I need to ask my boss if me logging in every hour is going to piss him off.

I don't have email set up on this computer yet, as I had to get the harddrive replaced recently and I'm still having to reinstall/set up everything. But I'll set that up and see what it does for me.

And I'm checking out the other options right now. I'll come back with an update in case someone else is looking for something remotely like this. Thanks again.
posted by damnjezebel at 11:32 AM on July 13, 2008

Okay, at first, I immediately tried the Vista tasks. Unfortunately, it'll only repeat the task every hour.

In XP I can go to 'Scheduled Tasks', right click the task and select properties, then select the 'Schedule' tab, press the 'Advanced' button and set it to run every two hours from there - is that option gone in Vista?
posted by Mike1024 at 1:48 PM on July 13, 2008