Caffeinated

For every single iconic phrase “nothing in life is free” mentioned, there are hundreds of open-source applications designed to fulfill niche requirements of a user base’s smallest portions without subjecting them to expensive licensing fees or privacy-breaking terms and conditions.

One such example is Caffeinated, an app ported from its macOS counterpart and forked by a developer who wanted to continue supporting it for longer than its creator intended.

When it comes to projects of this type, the concern is usually directed towards the longevity and compatibility with newer versions of its target operating system.

However, given the openly available source code, other passionate community members tend to pick up the work when the program is no longer receiving updates, unlike certain licensed products that cannot be used at all once the company behind them is shut down and the purchase links are made unavailable.

While Windows does allow you to change the default screen timeout settings in order to prevent the computer from turning itself off or going into sleep mode, doing so requires digging into the Settings app every single time a particular set of circumstances requires it.

As a result, the app at hand places a convenient shortcut in the system tray that lets you click it once to toggle the always-on mode whenever an important task is running in the background, and you wish to avoid losing its progress.

Compared to the original, this version implements support for changing between three different icon sets to suit users’ preferences and requirements in terms of better visibility regarding the status. The program is now conveniently listed on the Microsoft Store for an easier update process.

If you usually have your computer set to shut down or dim its screen after a certain amount of time spent being inactive to limit the power consumption, Caffeinated’s ability to prevent it from doing so for 15 minutes up to 8 hours should come in handy for unusual circumstances.