Tempation Blocker

August 3, 2005 12:28 AM

Temptation Blocker So, have a major deadline looming or ripe opportunity closing and just don’t have time to waste playing Half Life 2 or checking Bloglines one last time? Well then, add Half Life 2 and Firefox to the list of programs you want to block in Temptation Blocker, set the timer for how long you want to block them and then hit the “Get Work Done!” button. [Windows freeware]
posted by srboisvert (25 comments total)

What is this, PCWorld? I guess self-control is hard to come by these days.
posted by bizwank at 1:01 AM on August 3, 2005

I need a temptation blocker blocker.
posted by Smedleyman at 1:57 AM on August 3, 2005

limited attention span + lack of self-control = typical internet user
posted by nightchrome at 2:00 AM on August 3, 2005

lack of self-control = typical human
posted by Plinko at 2:04 AM on August 3, 2005

temptation blocker = just what I was looking for.
posted by Espoo2 at 3:43 AM on August 3, 2005

temptation blocker = just what my other half told me I was looking for.
posted by ceri richard at 3:46 AM on August 3, 2005

Excellent.

Lack of self-control=me. Better to admit my failings and find a way around them than to stubbornly insist on my own will-power. I do unplug my modem when I'm supposed to be working on my novel, but there's always Solitaire.
posted by Jeanne at 4:00 AM on August 3, 2005

Can you control-alt delete out of temptation blocker?
posted by mert at 4:14 AM on August 3, 2005

WARNING: IT WILL KILL THE PROCESS OF THINGS YOU'RE BLOCKING, IF ALREADY OPEN!

I got it to block mozilla for a minute and sure enough it works, but it also killed the process when I moused over it in the taskbar. So be sure to save your work first! Kinda neat app, will give it a try at work today. It lets you back out of it by typing a 32 character string.
posted by furtive at 4:17 AM on August 3, 2005

furtive writes "It lets you back out of it by typing a 32 character string."

I wish all my relationships were that easy.
posted by OmieWise at 5:43 AM on August 3, 2005

Wow, nice. Unfortunately I frequently need to use Firefox for work, even though it is my biggest distraction.
posted by grouse at 6:02 AM on August 3, 2005

grouse, me too.

I can handle distractions and fattening food and stuff by not having them near and not buying them but the web is different.

Is there a Firefox extension that will block a set of sites, perhaps a group of bookmarks, for a period of time? I've googled and not found anything quickly but perhaps there is something out there.

Anyone have any ideas?
posted by sien at 6:14 AM on August 3, 2005

Dammit. No mac support? Guess I'm gonna be here all day again...
posted by klangklangston at 6:25 AM on August 3, 2005

What we need is a MetaFilter Blocker. Or maybe that's just what I need.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:49 AM on August 3, 2005

Siren: try Webolodeon - it's a greasemonkey script which pops up a window every x minutes telling you to get back to work. You have to type in an explanation of what you're doing before it will let you continue surfing.
posted by blag at 7:00 AM on August 3, 2005

what's there to stop me uninstalling it?
posted by MonkNoiz at 7:32 AM on August 3, 2005

Yeah! I can stop any time I want! It's not like I have to comment in every thread I come across. Oh wait...
posted by fungible at 7:46 AM on August 3, 2005

mert:

"(Note: During the blocked time, your Windows Task Manager is also disabled, in an attempt to save your from yourself and a quick Ctrl-Alt-Del. If you don’t like that idea, then you probably shouldn’t download the software)."
posted by solotoro at 8:26 AM on August 3, 2005

As the Cars sang, this is "just what I needed!"
posted by Quartermass at 8:28 AM on August 3, 2005

so you could flamebait a thread, activate habit-blocker, and have a perfect 'out' while the hive swarms angrily around your incendiary device? DL NOW!!!
posted by gorgor_balabala at 9:39 AM on August 3, 2005

Does this come with the time travel feature?

I need to go back to 1989 to prevent myself from playing all of that Civilization.

Better undergrad marks = grad school = better profession than the one I am in now.
posted by dreamsign at 10:52 AM on August 3, 2005

blag: Thanks heaps. Just what I needed.
posted by sien at 6:37 PM on August 3, 2005

This is wonderful. I have been waiting for this for ages. And just in time to finish my undergrad thesis (1 semester left).
posted by Hactar at 11:16 PM on August 3, 2005

And now, after downloading it, I seem to have found its bug and can't get the damn thing to run. And I've spent far too long fighting with it.
posted by Hactar at 12:29 AM on August 4, 2005

sien: another thing you can do is edit your hosts file. I find it too easy to edit back, though.
posted by grouse at 4:10 PM on August 5, 2005