I have no willpower

June 22, 2006 7:52 PM

Can anyone suggest good (and hopefully free) software that will prevent other applications from running during specified parts of the day? The idea is to block certain non-productive applications (media players, games, etc.) during the day when I should be working. Ideally it would allow me to specify which hours each program was blocked and to allow the programs to be unlocked with a password if needed.
posted by Mbarron2896 to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Mac OS X Parental Controls
posted by Mr. Six at 8:14 PM on June 22, 2006

Best answer: Well I can't answer the direct question, but maybe a peripheral cousin to it. If certain websites also tempt you away from work all day (damn you, Ask MeFi) in addition to certain applications (don't lie), there's a Greasemonkey script for Firefox called Invisibility Cloak, made by one of the editors at Lifehacker. You can specify which sites you want to disable and set the times when they should be non-functional. Try to visit one of those banned sites and it'll scold you and not let you. You can edit the scold.
posted by kookoobirdz at 8:22 PM on June 22, 2006

Best answer: Temptation Blocker almost does what you want. You set it to block for hour increments, rather than calendar-style. It can be unlocked with a password but it takes some doing -- which is the point, I guess....
posted by gnomeloaf at 8:43 PM on June 22, 2006

One question that you might want to ask yourself is, "is this a technical solution to sociological problem?"
posted by msittig at 8:58 PM on June 22, 2006 [1 favorite]

And just for the record, although of absolutely no help to you right now, Windows Vista has this as a built in control set for "parental controls."
posted by disillusioned at 10:44 PM on June 22, 2006

And also, some other answers to your question were already posted here, here, here, and here. Just in case those threads have something not given in this one.
posted by bibbit at 6:50 AM on June 23, 2006