Instant Boss is simple to use. The program doesn’t require installation, and the Readme file contains full instructions. Just double-click the executable to launch the program, then set your Work, Break, and Repeat parameters and click the Work button. Instant Boss begins counting down your work time.
When it’s time for a break, you’re alerted with the sound of pouring coffee. You can choose to take a break or continue working. When your break time is up, a chipmunk-like voice alerts you with “Oh, man!” You can get back to work, take a longer break, or hit Cancel. However, you can close the program only by right-clicking the taskbar icon and choosing Exit.
Instant Boss keeps track of the total time you’ve worked since launching a session, which could be handy for billing purposes. A Reset button sets the Work, Break, and Repeat times back to their defaults and rolls the Total Work time back to zero. Oddly enough, it doesn’t affect Total Work to Date, which tracks all the time that you’ve logged since you first used the program–so I’m not sure how useful that information is.
This simple little program could come in handy for folks who spend a lot of time at the keyboard, since it’s important to take frequent breaks.
Note: This program is donationware. It is free to try, but the author accepts and encourages donations towards further development.
–Kim Saccio-Kent