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Comment by fbelzile | Hacker News Reader

I created the 5th app in this list (Cold Turkey Blocker). I'm actually surprised they didn't mention my other app called Cold Turkey Writer. It runs full-screen and doesn't let user out of the program until a goal (word count or timer) is reached. I have lots of writers that swear by it: https://getcoldturkey.com/writer/

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I used your blocker last week, changing the system clock time (from time and date preferences) made your app useless (doesn't block anymore), so went back to editing /etc/hosts again. If circumventing the block is easier than editing a hosts file I don't see the point.

For many, I don't think changing the clock time is an uncommon thing to think about if the desire to procrastinate arises again.

I think the problem isn't the blockers at that point.

Maybe you should see a specialist.

Cold Turkey uses NTP to get time from the Internet and falls back to the OS time if that fails. You might just need to add a firewall exception somewhere. Also, you can block the system settings so you can't change the time: C:\Windows\ImmersiveControlPanel\SystemSettings.exe

You could look into this app called Sprintwork. I set the profile to be fixed for thirty days and so far I've yet to find a way to circumvent it.

If on iOS, the parental restrictions are awesome.

If on Android, restrictions are worthless so I usually use a blocker, set the phone to unlock by fingerprint and in addition have a system password (because of the possibility of logging in via "safe mode" which I so regret having discovered) written down on a piece of paper and hid inside my neighborhood Starbuck's sofa.

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