Busy - 1.0

The biggest problem I have with these fake-busy programs is that in the year 2006, there are not a lot of apps that will lock up an entire computer (Mac or Windows) and make you have to wait until they're done before you can do anything. And I think most people know that, so they're not particularly convincing.

It's hard to be certain from the screenshot for this program, but I'm guessing that it hides everything else including the desktop while the fake task is running? (Just because, the desktop is plain blue, per boot-up, not even the Aqua Blue picture.) That would be a more successful strategy.

The other question is that if the computer is busy doing something, what is the person doing? You still have to look fake-busy yourself. You're just sitting there, picking your nose, waiting for the computer?

In my experience, it's better to keep at least one of your real programs open, and get in the habit of moving around a lot in it. Remember the window and app switching (and tab switching in a browser) commands, and use them. If you're playing a game in the background and jump to your "work" when someone comes along, keep switching around to other programs/windows, so that it looks like you're hunting for something or trying to consolidate info or something, rather than that you quickly switched from something else when the person came along. And for gawd sake, move your fingers back to the touch-typing home keys; don't keep them on the arrow buttons/numeric keypad/fire buttons/whatever.