Software to Put Your Computer on Autopilot

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 05 Feb 2009

Automatically close inactive tasks, automatically save your work in progress, receive an SMS message whenever you get an email in your inbox, automatically launch applications at predetermined intervals, and schedule other tasks. These are all things you could easily perform with the software applications presented below: JustCloseSomeTasks, EverSave, GSN, Freebyte Task Scheduler, and TimeComX.

The way I see it, computers are great at performing repetitive, monotonous, boring tasks, while we are naturally inclined to discard unused info from our heads. As a matter of fact some of us get so distracted that they need help remembering things. These software apps will give your system the power to perform certain tasks that you should do yourself, but would rather not bother with it.

JustCloseSomeTasks is a piece of freeware that works with the Windows OS and will monitor all the applications running on your machine. The apps that are inactive for longer periods of time will be marked to be closed, thus freeing up much needed system resources – all you have to do is hit the hotkey. Alternatively, you might not want to close every application that JustCloseSomeTasks flags (like the music player running in the background). If that is the case, you can simply set it up to be excluded for the current session or for all sessions, or you could uncheck the box next to that app and then hit “Close Tasks”.

EverSave (Mac OS X only) performs a very simple task – it automatically activates the Save option for all your open documents and applications. You get to choose which apps EverSave has control of, and you also get to set up when the automatic save tasks will be performed: when you move from one active window to another, or after a certain amount of time.

GSN SMS Notifier, as the name so adequately explains, will notify you by means of a text message whenever you get an email in your inbox. Works with POP3 and Gmail accounts and sends the SMS message out through ICQ (free) or Skype (needs credit).

Since you are out having some fresh air, it stands to reason that you will need Freebyte Task Scheduler to enable your computer to automatically launch applications, things like disk defragmenting , virus scans and other maintenance programs. Alternatively, you might want to change the state of your machine (restart, shutdown, etc) with TimeComX. This piece of software allows you to specify a time when your computer will be automatically shutdown for example, or issue an audio warning when a certain amount of time has passed.

If you would like to get JustCloseSomeTasks, a download location is available here.
If you would like to get EverSave, a download location is available here.
If you would like to get GSN, a download location is available here.
If you would like to get Freebyte Task Scheduler, a download location is available here.
If you would like to get TimeComX, a download location is available here.


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