It can be rather distracting to work while checking social media, entertainment sites and so on. To counter this, Cold Turkey is a distraction-free program that can help in avoiding this when working.
Download and install it from here.
To use it after installing basically involves two steps :
- Install the Cold Turkey extensions for browsers
- Add the websites and apps that need to be blocked using a block list
Installing extensions : After Cold Turkey is launched for the first time, there will be a prompt to install the required browser extensions. It includes Firefox, Chrome and Opera. (It doesn’t support Edge or IE as of now and they will be closed when the program is active).
Also for the browsers in which the extensions are installed, make sure to enable the setting Allow in incognito mode.
This will be useful when browsing in incognito mode and still be able to block distracting websites.
Creating the block lists: By default, Cold Turkey comes with a default block list which can be changed using the Edit option. Or to add a new block list, choose Add new block list.
The default block list will have most of the popular websites covered but others can be added too if needed. Windows 10 apps can be added here too if needed. Also, exceptions can be set.
Once the block list is setup, choose Start a timer.
Over here, the duration for which the block list will be active can be configured.
Once the timer is set, the dashboard will show the duration for which it has been active for the associated block list.
There are a few settings related to timers that can be changed if needed. Choose Settings > Locking to either lock the timers, the schedule or set a time lock for schedule.
Once the block list is set and timer is active, browsing the sites or apps in that list will show some cool quotes instead of the website content.
These are the features that are enabled in free version. The paid version also has the option of setting password and scheduling in advance for different days.
However, for the usual distraction free work routine, the basic features are also effective as they simply stop you from wasting time on web and enable to focus on productivity.
Happy productivity.