Health Alarm Clock

Sure enough many daily activities keep your eyes glued to the computer screen for hours on and. However, this isn’t pretty safe, with the risk of developing Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). On the other hand, there are computer applications which also help fight this, and one suitable example is Health Alarm Clock to remind you to take a break every now and then.

Mostly stays in the tray area

Once installed and launched you can find it minimized to the tray area where it stays as long as you need to work, until the alarm kicks in. An additional status panel is attached to the upper side of your screen, but it’s only visible when you need to take a break so it doesn’t take up any precious desktop space.
The tray icon gives you the possibility to access the settings panel in order to set up general behavior and visual options. There’s a decent variety of color themes to choose from, but you need to close the settings panel for changes to take effect. Sadly, there’s no option to load your own picture to use as a theme.

Only a few customization options

The application can also be made to run on startup so that it’s ready and activated by the time you reach the desktop. Needless to say that here is also the place where you get to set the interval for the alarm clock. There are no suggestions, with only two intervals available to specify hours and minutes.
When the time comes, the upper panel slides down and an audio alert is triggered. However, you need to be in front of the computer for notifications to have any effect, especially since the audio tone barely lasts a couple of seconds, and so does the info panel. It is used to show a health warning which includes total time from last break, health risks, and advice based on current progress.

To sum it up

All things considered, we come to the conclusion that Health Alarm Clock is a lightweight application which comes with good intentions so you don’t put your health at risk because of too much time spent in front of the computer. Although customization options feel a little shallow, it’s sure to remind you both visually and acoustically.