TimeSnapper

TimeSnapper is a free software utility able to track your PC activity for as long as you want. It does so by regularly taking desktop screenshots and saving them as image files. When you want to review your past activity, you can ask the tool to load all snapshots in a built-in slideshow player.

The program doesn't contain complicated options or customization preferences, so it can be handled with ease by casual users. However, it shouldn't be mistaken for an app to be used for spying on other people, because it's not equipped for this purpose.

Once launched, it creates an icon in the systray for quick access and it gets minimized there during recording sessions. It captures the screen silently, without showing any notifications messages, so it doesn't interrupt your current computer activity.

Before starting the recording, you can specify the saving directory for the snapshots and capture frequency (in seconds). Additional options can be configured when it comes to the preferred image resolution and file type (PNG, JPG, GIF, WMF, TIFF, BMP, EMF).

TimeSnapper can capture all screens, the first, second or third screen, or the active application only. What's more, you can disable the confirmation dialog on exit, delete all history, compress all screenshots into an archive, set a maximum allowed space (in MB), as well as ask the tool to automatically remove old images and indicate the storage time (in days).

The screenshots are automatically organized into folders by days. After stopping a recording session, you can load all images into an integrated slideshow player, where you can control the speed (in milliseconds), consult a calendar to select a specific day, play the previous or next day, as well as seek a position in the playback by moving a slider.

The software tool worked smoothly during our tests, without triggering the operating system to hang, crash or prompt error dialogs. It didn't hog system resources, thanks to the fact that it needed low CPU and RAM to work properly. The screenshots were taken stealthily.

To wrap it up, TimeSnapper offers a convenient solution for helping you monitor your desktop activity through regular automatic snapshots, and it's backed by practical configuration settings for all user levels. Too bad that it doesn't implement an option for exporting the slideshow to file (GIF animation or video).

More features are available the professional edition, called TimeSnapper Professional.