Do you have a problem that needs a solution? There’s an app for that. There’s also Mac apps that are solutions looking for a problem.
My latest find is a free Mac tool that does what you never thought you needed done. It keeps your Mac from going to sleep. I know. It’s annoying when your Mac goes to sleep unexpectedly. I feel your pain. I share your grief.
Free Sleeping Macs!
It’s crazy. As smart and useful and powerful as modern Macs are, they just don’t seem to understand the need to be personal as a personal computer.
Where’s the personal service, Fabio (my Mac’s name)? I slave away over a hot keyboard, take a break, and come back to a sleeping Mac.
Who needs that? Get back to work, Fabio! I’ve got things to do.
Fortunately, all those extra seconds that are lost waking my Mac can be saved by using Caffeine. It’s one of the most popular free apps on the Mac App Store. No, seriously. Lots of stars.
Over 1,600 gave Caffeine a five star review. What’s all the excitement? First, Caffeine is free. That’s worth two or three stars, right? Second, it’s a Menubar app. That’s worth a star by itself.
Finally, when you click it, Caffeine prevents your Mac from going to sleep. It even prevents it from getting a little drowsy, and won’t let screen savers come on, or, my favorite—it prevents the Mac from dimming screen. Bingo. Another star.
Though Caffeine is free, it’s absolutely chock full of features. Check out the Preferences. There are four options (one is pull down menu). There’s even a keyboard shortcut.
Clicking on the Caffeine icon in the Mac’s Menubar simply toggles it on and off. When you have to step away from your Mac, and you don’t want to lose those precious seconds waking your Mac from sleep when you return, click on Caffeine.
How much time can be saved?
I figure it this way. If I invoke Caffeine 123 times a day, save at least three seconds with each click, that’s a grand total of 369 seconds, which translates into over six minutes.
Do the math. Caffeine could save you six minutes day. That’s almost a week of work time saved every year. It’s the complete Mac app. Well, all seriousness aside, Caffeine is useful for anyone who watches Hulu or Netflix and doesn’t want a dim screen or a pesky screensaver showing up at the wrong time.
About Alexis Kayhill
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