You know. Quickly check Facebook or watch that video on YouTube before you go back to studying or writing that miserable report. Before you know it, an hour has passed and you haven't made any progress. Cold Turkey must cure procrastination.
Cold Turkey
Price
Free ($14.99 for the PRO version)
OS
Windows XP/Vista/7/8
Website
getcoldturkey.com
8 Score 80- Pros
- Easy to set up
- Also blocks programs
- Negatives
- Not completely waterproof
- No mobile app
To quell something like procrastination, tough measures are needed. It's not for nothing that the program is called Cold Turkey. And so the goal is to completely block distracting websites for a period of time. Also read: Healthy into the summer: 10 iPad apps to break bad habits.
After you download the tool, you can divide websites into three groups. As a group, you disable the websites later. In some situations it can be useful, for example, to keep news sites enabled and not add those sites in Group B. The groups you create are saved, but you cannot save them separately. So if you want to create more than three scenarios, you cannot avoid adjusting the previously created groups. It is possible to import a text document containing the websites into Cold Turkey. In the PRO version of the program, for which you pay just over thirteen euros once, you can even shut down the entire internet by adding *.* to a group.
Does it really work?
After you select the created group that you want to block for a certain time (this is possible in the free version up to three days), press the Go Cold Turkey!-knob. With the same ease, you are locked out of the distracting websites for the set time. A simple trick like closing the program with the right mouse button on the icon is not enough to get Cold Turkey out of the way. The tool will disappear from the system tray, but will remain active in the background. There is nothing to do but sit out the time or actually get to work with your work.
If you really can't take it anymore, there still appears to be a way out. By restarting the PC, you can clear blocks sooner. Unfortunately, this emergency solution takes away the feeling that you really can't go anywhere.
no app
You can also still grab your smartphone to go to Facebook or to answer Whatsapps. The program does not take this into account and there is no special app to shut down your mobile data traffic. Cold Turkey goes further than blocking websites, by offering the PRO version an option to also exclude applications. A game of Call of Duty between the companies is no longer possible.
Conclusion
Cold Turkey is a versatile program to curb your procrastination. By temporarily blocking websites, you can fully focus on your studies or work. The tool does what it is supposed to do, but at the same time offers a way out to remove the blockages early. A separate mobile app should also belong to the program. Now there are just too many options to deceive Cold Turkey (and yourself).
