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I am looking for a way to disable a Windows PC for x minutes every y minutes, ( 15 minutes every 1 hour for example ), where the pc is disabled/frozen, or the keyboard/mouse frozen for an interval and at the end of the interval becomes operable again, and to repeat this regiment in a loop throughout the time the software is activate - 45 mins on (for example) followed by 15 minute freeze (for example).

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  • if its guest user u could set for specific login time,but regular intreval is doubty
    – BlueBerry - Vignesh4303
    Jul 21, 2014 at 9:29
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    NickNo, it's still software recommendation. However, you can edit your question and re-ask in a more 'ingeniuos' way to imply the question without directly asking!
    – Dave
    Jul 21, 2014 at 9:30
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    What is the use case? maybe you have missed another more do-ble solution.
    – rob
    Jul 21, 2014 at 9:36
  • I created a software app to do this when I found it hard to revise for exams! It would disable mouse and keyboard input, and make the screen go black. Nick, If you can't find a solution, I could re-write something like this for you.
    – Joey
    Jul 21, 2014 at 9:44
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    @rob use case is an elderly person who sits in front of the computer all day and every day who needs to stand up and walk since cardiologist said with their peripheral artery disease, they will loose their feet if 15 minutes of every hour is not spend walking. My solution at first was a timer to let them know its time for 15 min walk, but it is ignored I think since they are getting worse. My new solution is software to force them to either stare at blank screen for 15mins or get up.
    – NickNo
    Jul 21, 2014 at 10:38

2 Answers 2

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Using Autohotkey, write a small script that opens device manager and disables the keyboard and mouse under 'human interface devices' - You will also need to write a script to switch them back on. Place disable script on a schedule for every 45 mins, then the enable script after that for whatever time you need it disabled.

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    I found a solution thanks to your answer, since it led me to the complete answer. Found Autohotkey code that will disable mouse + all keys and found how to transform AUtohotkey code into an executable file. Then stumbled on a 6 year old timer for win7 called Marxio Timer which executes or shuts down anything on a timer, is password protected and hidden once it runs. So I am running 2 instances of Marxio Timer, with the 1st instance executing keyboard-mouse-stop.exe at :00 of every hour, and the 2nd instance of the timer killing the exe at :15 of every hour. Thanks!!
    – NickNo
    Jul 21, 2014 at 11:15
  • @NickNo on Windows, you can use Scheduled Tasks to achieve the same effect as that timer in the future
    – Nick
    Jul 24, 2014 at 23:50
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if user is guest user you could allow specific time to login into the account,else two options come to mind

1) set a screensaver for specific time with some specific date and time

else

2) setting with some preferences for power scheme

According to this website

The first is to configure a screen saver with the required timeout and a password requirement. This can be done under User Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\Personalization. The required settings are: 'Enable screen saver', 'Screen saver timeout', 'Force specific screen saver' (this is important because if the system has no screensaver configured this won't work) and finally 'Password protect the screensaver'. The setting names and paths here are based on using the GP management console on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008/R2 since best practice is to edit GPOs using the most current OS in your environment. If using an older version of the console, the same settings are available in a different location (I think its under the display control panel but I don't have an XP or 2003 system to verify).

The second option is to use a group policy preferences power plan (or Power Scheme and options if using Windows XP) as Alan indicated. The plan should be configured to cause the computer to sleep after 15 minutes (just turning off the display wouldn't lock the computer) and set to require a password upon waking. This option is a little more involved since it not only configures the computer to enter sleep mode (which can cause delays and problems when waking) but also support for group policy preferences (available with Windows XP SP3, Vista SP1 and Windows 7).

Hope it helps

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