WorkRave

Just found this great program That is essential for Graphic Artists as well as anyone who uses the computer often. Its a free program called Workrave.


We spend ALOT of time with our eyes locked on our monitors, typing away madly at the keyboards, clicking our mouse around every so often. Let's face it, we're all working too hard. Aside from the fact that none of this typing and clicking seems to have reduced the amount of time we spend working, it has introduced other problems: lack of exercise, sore eyes, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other repetitive strain injuries (RSI). The easy fix to these last problems is to take breaks, walk away from the computer, and do a couple of exercises.

Workrave is a free program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). The program monitors your activity. Using this information, It frequently reminds you to take breaks, and restricts you to your daily limit.

Micro-pauses
Studies have revealed that taking several short pauses an hour (i.e. micro-pauses) helps in keeping yourself healthy and help injuries to heal.


Subtle, yet persistent Workrave alerts you to take a break in an undisturbing manner. When it is time for your break, a friendly small popup window appears asking you to take a break. This window automatically moves out of the way if you keep on working. However, if you ignore these hints too often Workrave acts less friendly and pops up the break window for your own good. The break windows can be configured to completely block your Computer for the duration of the break.

Activity monitoring
Workrave continously monitors your keyboard and mouse activity. Hence, if you leave your computer running while you are at a meeting, Workrave will notice that you are taking a natural break from the computer.
Get this program here.

For more cool programs, click here.