Track Exactly How You Spend Time At The Computer

Internet and computers are addictive. In a survey, 65 percent of Americans said they spent more time with a computer than with their spouse.

So how do you exactly spend your time at the computer ? Are you doing something productive or just whiling away time that could otherwise be utilized for better things. What apps are you using most frequently ? What websites and blog consume most of your time ?

You will get answers to all these questions and more through RescueTime, a free tool for PC and Mac that's more like having Google Analytics for your computer.

RescueTime is a free tool that runs in the background and keeps a track of all your computer activities. Privacy experts may frown but all this data is uploaded every 30 minutes to the web and you can check your computer usage reports online from any computer. (see screenshot)

Since RescueTime is web+desktop solution, it can be used to track usage across computers (like home and work).

You can also selectively delete certain websites and software apps from your usage history. Or just add them to the ignore list and RescueTime would stop monitoring them.

Update: If you are worried about data that RescueTime is transferring from your computer to the web, check the log files available at the following location:

Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\RescueTime.com\logs\pending

Windows Vista:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\RescueTime.com\logs\pending

Tweet