How many times has your boss found you playing games, checking facebook or browsing websites during the working hours? If you work for long hours, then you deserve to have small breaks in the middle to relax or you would go crazy. But some of the bosses do not seem to understand this. After all we are not machines and cannot work non-stop without any rest. Do not worry, SmokeScreen is here to help you. SmokeScreen is a little Windows application that swaps your computer screen between work and pleasure as you move your mouse cursor to an edge.
SmokeScreen is a nifty little tool that can save you from being caught red-handed by your boss. The program allows you to take a full-screen capture of your working screen and displays at a single stroke of your mouse in any direction. This results in hiding your pleasure seeking activities (watching videos on youtube, hanging out with friends on Facebook) with a fullscreen image of your working screen – giving an illusion to your boss that you are working.
Here are some of the features of SmokeScreen:
- Runs in your System Tray.
- System Tray icon can be visible or invisible (to hide from your boss).
- Quickly hides whatever you are doing, replacing it with a screen image that looks like you are working.
- It can also mute the computer, preventing your boss from hearing any music, games or videos that you are playing.
- Several different ways to instantly activate hiding.
- Password protection for un-hiding your actual screen.
- Enable or disable program with just a keystroke.
You can download SmokeScreen from the Harmony Hollow Software website. The download is around 3 megabytes setup installer. After the installation is done, it automatically runs. You can also run it from its desktop shortcut. When you run it for the first time, it displays the Options window.
In the Options window, you can select different methods of hiding your screen – minimize all open windows or show a pre-captured fake screen. You can capture the current screen by clicking on the Capture new screen image. You can select an invisible or normal system tray icon. You can different ways to hide the screen, like moving the cursor to a screen edge, roll the mouse wheel, clicking middle mouse button etc. You can also set password protection options.
Once you have set the program options and it is running, you can simply move your mouse cursor to any edge of the screen (or use any other hiding options that you have selected in the Options window) to activate hiding. Your screen would be immediately replaced with the fake-screen image (or all open windows would be minimized). Your computer’s volume would also be muted to further cover up anything you might have been doing that was making noise, like playing games, watching videos, etc.
So if you often find yourself in uncomfortable situations when your boss or spouse sneaks behind you to find you wasting time on facebook, then SmokeScreen can be of great help to you. Although we advise not to engage yourself in such situation that you need to hide from your boss or spouse, but if you cannot do that, then SmokeScreen can help you save from many embarrassments.
You can download SmokeScreen from http://www.harmonyhollow.net/smokescreen.shtml.