Grindstone

The internet is addictive (see: Dilbert). The web is filled with new and shiny things that can be distracting when you want to be productive. And multitasking only makes it harder to get things done.

Grindstone is a Greasemonkey script to help block websites that steal your focus. You tell it which sites to block and when to block them. Think of it as a safety net for staying productive.

Getting Started

Steps to install the current version 0.9:

1. Install the Greasemonkey extension for FireFox 2 or 3. (There are steps to run Greasemonkey scripts within Safari that I haven’t tried.)
2. Install the Grindstone script
3. Watch this 60 second screencast for a quick tour:
   Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Known Issues

Please report any problems here, on the userscripts page or

• There is an issue with Greasemonkey where certain iframes can cause an error of “unsafeWindow cannot call GM_getValue”. The site will not be blocked as expected but nothing bad happens. (Unfortunately Digg, a site which can be quite distracting, has this issue.)

Similar Tools

If this doesn’t fit the bill, there are several other tools worth checking out:

• LeechBlock – FireFox extension to block time-wasting sites.
• Invisibility cloak – GM script to that blanks out time-wasting web sites till after a certain time of the day.
• 8aweek – FireFox extension to track browsing habits and limit distracting sites.
• PageAddict – FireFox extension to monitor your internet usage.