KMB IdlePlayer

Chances are you leave your computer running to perform a specific task while you’re not around, but you don’t actually want to sit idly by for too long. There aren’t really any default methods to prevent idle time, but you can use third-party party applications like KMB IdlePlayer to have an alert triggered when no input is detected.

Audio alerts on idle time

One of the application’s main advantages is portability. On the one hand, this saves you the effort of going through a setup process. On the other hand, it can easily be carried around on a USB flash drive to be used without downloading it on other computers. Note that functionality is strictly tied to .NET Framework, so you need to be sure it is installed on the target PC.
The application’s specialty is to play an audio file whenever user input is not detected for a specific amount of time. All options you can configured can be found in a compact, but pretty intuitive main window.

File support and process tweaks

There are no preset tunes or audio files, so the alert needs to be a file from your computer, which can be under formats like MP3, WAV, or WMA. The overall volume can be set from a corresponding slider, with the possibility to have the audio file repeat itself until you stop it. Additionally, you can have sound automatically stopped when input is detected again.
A few general properties are also at your disposal. You can make it run with Windows and even have monitoring enabled once the application starts, so that everything is armed and ready by the time you reach the desktop. Monitoring is done for keyboard and mouse input, with minimum idle trigger time supported to one minute.

To end with

In conclusion, KMB IdlePlayer might not offer much, but it can alert you the computer is idly sitting by awaiting input so you can start new tasks. File support allows you to select from a variety of popular formats, while general properties can have the process ready by the time you reach the desktop.