WinBreak Help Contents
WinBreak Lite Help Contents

Copyright ©1994, Soos Creek Software.  WinBreak Lite is distributed by ASG, Inc.

Welcome to WinBreak Lite, a part of WOPR 6.0.

If you spend a fair amount of your time in front of a computer on a daily basis, you have no doubt heard that taking a periodic break from your computer is a good idea.  Unfortunately, remembering to take these breaks is not always easy to do.

WinBreak Lite helps you to remember to take a break.  By putting a reminder up on your screen (or playing a Wave file), you'll be prompted to take that break!

But WinBreak Lite is not simply an alarm clock that goes off every once in a while, it actually tracks your activity on your keyboard and mouse.  WinBreak will only remind you about your breaks when you do not take them!  If you do take your breaks at the intervals you pre-set, then WinBreak will take note of this fact, and you will not see the reminder come up!

Before using this product, please see the section Usage Guidelines.

Using WinBreak

Changing Break Settings

WinBreak Professional Information

Usage Guidelines


Changing Break Settings

The Break settings can be changed through the Options dialog.

To open up this dialog, do one of the following:

Select "Change Options..." from the WinBreak menu

Double-click on the WinBreak icon

Reminder Times

The Reminder Times at the top of the dialog allow you to change how often your reminder will occur.  There are 2 settings that can be changed:  the Required Break Length and the Interval Between Breaks.

The Required Break Length is your goal for the length of the breaks you want to take from your computer, in minutes.

The Interval Between Breaks is the maximum time you want between your breaks, in minutes.

For example, if you had your Required Break Length set to 3 and your Interval Between Breaks set to 20, this would mean that WinBreak is going to remind you to take a break if you do not take at least a 3 minute break every 20 minutes.  So with these settings, if you typed for 20 minutes straight, then WinBreak would put up a reminder.  But, on the other hand, if you typed for 15 minutes, took a 3 minute break, then continued typing, you'd be OK (and would not get a reminder), because you took the required 3 minute break in your 20 minute time period.

Reminder Method

The second section of the dialog (Reminder Method) allows you to change how WinBreak reminds you that a break is needed.

Selecting Play Sound will cause a multimedia Wave file (.WAV) that you select to be played as a reminder to take a break.  The Browse... button allows you to select which file to play, and the Play button will play the sound to make sure it's the one you want.  You can use either the standard Wave file shipped with WinBreak (DEFAULT.WAV), or one of your own.

NOTE: This option will only work if you have a sound card and a Windows multimedia sound driver installed on your system.  If the "Play" button does not function, then you likely do not have a sound driver installed. Please consult your Windows documentation for more information on installing a multimedia sound driver.

Selecting Beep and Display Dialog Box is useful for those machines which do not have a sound card.  It will display a dialog box and beep your computer's speaker as a reminder to take a break.

By upgrading to WinBreak Pro , you will have more options about how WinBreak reminds you to take a break, as well as the option to display suggested exercises to take during your breaks.

Result

The Result box displays what the result of your settings would be.  Try selecting different options, and note what is displayed down here in order to help understand what the settings do.


Using WinBreak
Using WinBreak Lite

WinBreak Lite is easy to use and customize to fit your needs.

To start WinBreak, just double-click on the WinBreak icon in the Windows Program Manager:

WinBreak should now be running, and will automatically remind you to take breaks at the standard interval.  To customize the break interval, see Changing WinBreak Options.

The WOPR setup program automatically adds WinBreak Lite to your Startup group in Program manager so WinBreak Lite gets started every time you start Windows.

If WinBreak Lite does not automatically start when you enter Windows, you can re-enable this feature by the following procedure:

 Drag the "WinBreak Lite" icon into the Startup Program Manager Group.


WinBreak Professional Information

You can upgrade this copy of WinBreak Lite to WinBreak Professional and gain the full power of the WinBreak software.

WinBreak Professional offers the following additional features over WinBreak Lite:

» Suggested exercises are provided at each break, along with a short animation of the exercise!

» Count-down timer counts time left till next break!

» WinBreak Icon can be hidden -- acts just like a part of the system!

» New, more versatile reminder features!

» Allows disabling of Keyboard and Mouse to force you to take a break!

» Password Protection -- great for system administrators!

» You will be notified of future WinBreak products!

Registered WOPR 6.0 owners can upgrade to WinBreak Professional for a US$19.95 upgrade fee.  To order the upgrade (excluding Australia and New Zealand) contact:

ASG Distribution

Orders only 	800-788-0787  24 hours

or	314-965-5630

Fax	314-966-1833

To upgrade to WinBreak Professional in Australia and New Zealand, please contact:

My Computer Company

25 Albert St (PO Box 99)

Erskineville  NSW 2043

Australia

Phone 	(02) 565-1991

Fax:	(02) 550-4459

BBS:	(02) 565-1044


WinBreak Lite Usage Guidelines

By using this product, you agree to the following terms and conditions:

Due to the inability of the Manufacturer, Distributor, and Copyright holder to control the ultimate use and application of this product, Manufacturer, Distributor and Copyright holder hereby give notice that this product is sold without any express or implied warranties of any type.  Any liability of Manufacturer, Distributor and/or Copyright Holder shall be limited to replacement of the product or refund of the original purchase price.  In no event shall Manufacturer, Distributor or Copyright holder be liable for damages, including incidental and/or consequential damages, other than replacement of the product or refund of the purchase price.  This product is sole and distributed without any implied or express warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Purchaser and/or user shall be solely responsible for determining the adequacy of the product for any and all uses to which purchaser and/or user shall apply this product, and the application or use of this product by purchaser and/or user shall not be subject to any implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose or for that purpose.

Manufacturer, Distributor and Copyright holder specifically deny that this product has any medical benefit.  This product is not a substitute for caution on the part of purchaser and/or user, and this products purpose is only to provide periodic reminders of the need for breaks.  This product will not provide periodic reminders of the need for breaks if used improperly, or in the event of the purchaser, user or equipment failure or defect.  This product will not prevent or treat mental or physical fatigue or other symptoms.  Certain individuals may develop fatigue or other medical symptoms despite use of this product.  If fatigue or physical symptoms develop, the purchaser and/or user should seek the advise of a physician promptly.  This product is not a substitute for medical care, advice, or treatment.