blackScreen

Chances are you spend most of your time in front of the computer, either playing or earning a living. This isn’t really a healthy practice, even though a deadline is just around the corner. However, you can use some specialized applications like blackScreen to remind you it’s a good idea to take five every now and then.

A straightforward break reminder

First of all, you need to check whether or not your computer is fitted with Adobe AIR, because it’s a mandatory requirement to both install the application, and be able to benefit from all it has to offer. As the name might suggest, a black veil covers your entire desktop when the program is launched, with a set of behavior controls.
The veil is completely transparent, and even if you use the task switcher, you’re not able to use anything else, because the veil stays on top of every other window. However, you can return to what you’re doing either by quitting the application, or choosing to go back to work.

Easily set the reminder time

You might want to pay attention to the set of options at first, because you can end up with the black veil back on the screen and wonder why. This is because the application is meant to remind you it’s good to take a break now and then, and there’s a built-in timer to take care of this. You specify the interval in minutes.
Closing the application is either done when the veil is up, or through the Task Manager, because it only runs as a background process to count when it shows back up. In case you want it ready by the time you reach the desktop, you need to manually place a shortcut inside the system startup folder.

A few last words

Taking everything into consideration, we can state that blackScreen is a pretty straightforward application with some degree of flexibility when it comes to purpose. It can either be a method of keeping the lights out for a period of time, or to remind you it’s time to take a break.