So you know that paper is due tomorrow, but you’ve been watching Susan Boyle on youtube all afternoon and can’t seem to tear yourself away to actually get your work done. Or you do pull yourself away for a few minutes then back to Boyle once you lose focus. Well I have a special little program that will help end your Boyle addiction.
Leechblock is the ultimate Boyle killer; very simply, it enables you to restrain your web surfing through restricting certain websites. By either restricting the amount of time you access the site each day or by restricting you from accessing the site completely. I’ve tested many web surfing time management tools but have not come against anything as easy to use as leechblok.
How to Install Leechblock
Instillation is easy; here is what you are going to need.
- A copy of Mozilla Firefox
- A copy of the Leechblock add on
- 5 minutes
Go to www.firefox.com is you still don’t have a copy of Mozilla firefox. Then go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4476 to pick up a copy of the leechblock add on and download it, follow the instillation instructions (don’t worry you can check out the video below for a full tutorial).
Once installed go to tools, add-ons, leechblock, and then open up the options for the leechblock add-on. From that point you want to put in the websites that are the greatest source of procrastination for you. Youtube, facebook, myspace, twitter are all great examples. From this point you can customize every aspect of your surfing habits for each websites. You can block the websites during certain hours or restrict yourself to a set amount of time per hour or day. You can also allow access to a site only on certain days or certain hours of the day. For instance, you can restrict your twitter use to 10 minutes a day during the week and give yourself an hour on Friday and Saturday.
When you Visit a Site that is stopping you from studying
When you visit a site two things can happen. If you’ve set the site to be blocked during the hours you are accessing the site, leechblock jumps in and tells you that you can’t access the site. If you have set a pre-determined amount of time to access the site, you will notice a small timer at the bottom of the site that counts down your available time on the site. Once you hit zero, you’re blocked from accessing the site until the next available time you’ve programmed in for yourself.
What if I’m a student who really wants to watch my Boyle video?
You’re probably thinking to yourself, “well I’m not a regular procrastinating student; I’m an uber procrastinator and can just disable the restrictions”. If you’re in this boat, don’t worry, I have some more help for you. Leechblock has options to restrict changes to its settings during the affected hours. You can also password protect the entire system so that you’ll have to punch in a password each time you want to change the settings. My personal favorite is to simply lock the settings down as this completely ensures you won’t be able to watch Boyle and will get back to your studies.
Has anyone tried this? Do you have another program you use? Please comment below!
Also, as always if anybody is interested check out my Online tutoring programs for university students.
Liam McIvor Martin
P.S. Here is a quick video I made outlining leechblock, enjoy
