WinCaffeine

There might be times when you leave your PC working on something even if you are not physically in front of it. Evidently, you don’t need it to load the screensaver or enter sleep mode in this situation. Luckily, there are applications that can prevent that from happening by blocking the screensaver and any attempt to suspend activity. One of those applications goes by the name of WinCaffeine.

The name is pretty suggestive. WinCaffeine does to the computer what coffee does to you: keeps it up and running and does not allow it to enter sleep mode. As long as WinCaffeine is active, the screensaver will not be loaded and the computer will continue to carry out the tasks you assigned it to.

There is no need to install WinCaffeine: it loads automatically as you double click on the executable file. It is one of those lightweight applications that is handy to have around on a PC, with a small footprint and a no-setup policy.

As you launch WinCaffeine, you might be surprised that no window is loaded onto your desktop. That is because the application runs silently in the system tray, sending wake up messages to your computer and shutting out any attempt to suspend activity.

As long as WinCaffeine is active, the PC will not turn on the screensaver or take a break to eneter sleep mode. This is particularly useful during operations that take more time to complete, such as large software installations, file downloads, video encoding or cryptocurrency mining, for instance.

WinCaffeine is a small but useful tool to have around. It keeps the computer alive and it prevents the screensaver from loading, if your PC has an active one. As long as WinCaffeine runs in the system tray, the PC is continuously served “digital coffeine”, meaning signals to avert sleep mode and screensaver loading.