Comments on: I Made A Taskbar Timer To Keep An Eye On Wasted Time

By: Shaun Cheah

Shaun Cheah — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 20:11:48 +0000

Thanks to Tentaculat’s review, I will be acquiring a copy of Tom’s Timer to test on my computer. I would be interested in seeing this Visual Studio knock-off, though. Efficiency is fun!

By: Tentaculat

Tentaculat — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 14:57:07 +0000

So you used Game Maker Studio to write a clock application? You’re trolling, aren’t you? What about efficiency? This is an outrage! THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. School children have been ARRESTED recently for doing something similar.

You can download Visual Studio Community edition. Start a desktop application project. Drag a label or whatever c# or vb.net uses these days to display text. Drag a timer, set the interval to 1000s, set enabled to true.

Drag a button. Double click, write some code.

This application used 3.4mb, as opposed to 8.4mb, and it didn’t touch the CPU%, whereas Tom’s Timer fluctuated up to 0.8%.

Hang on, why the fuck is this using 3.4mb? Fucked if I know.

Publish, anyway.

It also had a smaller install footprint. Since .NET is cross platform these days, you could probably port it to other major platforms.

I give Tom’s Timer 70%; it sets out what it intended to do, but with little flair or concern for optimisation.

By: R Flaum

R Flaum — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 05:32:35 +0000

I use ManicTime for similar purposes. The advantage is that you don’t have to set it yourself — it automatically keeps track of what you’re doing. The disadvantage is that you have to pay for it.

By: Gustav

Gustav — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 08:06:49 +0000

TR: Then you might as well install a dedicated program such as RescueTime. It tracks and organizes what you do on the computer.

By: Iajawl

Iajawl — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 07:23:41 +0000

The secret is out. Tom Francis wastes time writing blog posts about wasting time. I then waste my time reading and replying. Possibly someone else will waste their time reading what I am writing now.
When will this madness end !

By: TR

TR — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 06:26:12 +0000

Depending on your work habits, if you get the app to check the currently active window title/class, you could perhaps get it to automatically determine whether you’re working or not.

If a window with “gamemaker” in the title is the active one, you’re working. If you find “facebook”, “twitter” or “gmail” in the title, and the class contains “Chrome”, then you’re clearly not…

If you have access to the Windows API in GM, it’s

::GetWindowText()
and
::GetClassName()

Tom

By: Gustav

Gustav — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 21:49:50 +0000

Cool. I once made a small app to counter a similar problem. At random intervals, a window would pop up and ask me “what are you doing right now?” I would then write a few words about what I was currently doing (“game dev”, “browsing Reddit”, ” doing homework”, etc.). I also saved these words with time stamps, which is a bit funny to look back at once in a while.

As you wrote, just the mere act of having to be conscious aware of what you are doing helps a lot with minimizing procrastination.