Is there a customizable program that uses themes to control different programs on my computer?

Asked by jlm11f (12413

) November 6th, 2009

I am not sure if something like this exists yet. Here’s what I want: a program (doesn’t have to be free) that has different themes I can customize such as “Study” theme and “In bed by __” theme etc. In which, if I chose the study theme, it would block all instant chat programs and possibly block majority of websurfing except for few sites such as wiki. And then if I chose the “in bed by __” theme, the computer would automatically shut off or give me a five minute warning before doing so.

Essentially, I am looking for ways to further customize my laptop to help discipline my life. I know I could just do all these things individually (such as sign out of AIM), but a program doing it would be so much better.

My OS is Windows 7.

Observing members: 0

Composing members: 0

10 Answers

It’s in control panel; it’s called Parental Controls

patg7590 (4608

)“Great Answer” (4

) Flag as…

First answer and done! Close question.

erichw1504 (26453

)“Great Answer” (0

) Flag as…

Or different user accounts for each purpose.

dpworkin (27085

)“Great Answer” (3

) Flag as…

@pdworkin – I’ve considered that idea and will probably end up doing it if I don’t find a better solution.

@patg7590 – For parental controls, I would have to make 2 accounts – one admin and one standard. What I am looking for is a program that can easily block/unblock other programs with the click of a button and using only one user account.

jlm11f (12413

)“Great Answer” (0

) Flag as…

I don’t think it needs to be that complicated. Take a look at RescueTime. Their tagline is “Get serious about productivity.” You can set it to keep you on task for say 45 minutes, and it will block all distracting websites and it has other neat features too.

gggritso (5459

)“Great Answer” (3

) Flag as…

@gggritso – I’ll look into that – thanks!!

jlm11f (12413

)“Great Answer” (0

) Flag as…