Distractitus
In fact the existence of this column is a case in point. What I should actually be writing is a review of this GeForce 7800 GT card that, at time of writing, is out tomorrow. But Gordon’s just sent me that app and I’ve just thought of this column and I don’t won’t to let the moment pass, so there we go.
The author of Temptation Blocker clearly has the same problem. So bad in fact that he actually was distracted enough to write the application, probably instead of doing his taxes, I imagine.
When you launch it you are presented with a list of of your installed applications. You check the ones you want blocked and then just hit the rather optimistically named, ‘Get Work Done!’ button. When the alloted time is up you get this dialogue box alerting you that you can now indulge yourself. 
On the download page there are a number of comments on the program with many requests for enhancements ranging from a Mac version to one for Debian, a flavour of Linux. (Of course, how could he not have done one to start with!)
Unfortunately, the author has stated that he won’t be making any changes or updates to the program – it is as it is, unless someone else wants to continue to develop it. If there’s anyone out there willing to take up the gauntlet it might be a good idea, as it could do with a little more subtlety.
To prevent you from accessing Firefox, or heaven forbid, Internet Explorer, entirely, seems somewhat heavy handed, when it’s probably only certain sites that need blocking, and working often involves web browsing. Temptation Blocker also prevents access to the Task Manager, so that you don’t sneakily end Temptation Blocker that way, but that could be a problem if something else gives you trouble.
Temptation Blocker got me thinking though. What other useful programs could I dream up? Top of my list would probably be the ‘instant review’ button for I.T. journalists. One click and you’d have a complete product review, ready to go. On second thought’s maybe not. Yes it would save me time, but I’d probably also put myself out of a job.
