If you are doing things you shouldn’t be doing or you just don’t want people that come into your office seeing what you are looking at or that game of solitaire you are playing on your computer, then you really need to get yourself the Stealth Switch. This handy little gadget will allow you to keep other people’s eyes off of what you are doing for a miniscule $25.
The way it works is simple, this device is hidden away and controlled by the tap of your foot. The device plugs in to your computer through usb and hides in the shadows under your desk. So when you hear or see someone approaching your desk/office/cubicle, one light tap with your foot and PRESTO! no more personal stuff on your screen. With the included software you can change your preferences to hide the current window, or all windows except for a specified one. And it is not just going to minimize them but completely erase them from your screen. This device can also be used to mute sound, hide desktop icons, and even hide the taskbar. When the coast is clear, one swift tap with your foot and you are back to your lovely game of solitaire. You can check out device and other uses for it at www.stealthswitch.com… So what else is there to say besides have fun gaming at work!
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This is great until someone says “Hey, what’s that thing under your desk you keep stepping on whenever I enter your office/cube”? 🙂 Personally I’m very quick (and stealthy) with my Alt+Tab abilities. That and I have a privacy screen on my laptop.
I agree with BEN. I got the switchblade fingers on the A+T buttons.
I understand what you mean, however the way my office is set up and my desk is set up nobody would ever see it! But I am probably one of the lucky few that might have that going for themselves! 🙂
My back is to the only door that wandering eyes would go past to spy on me, I think I need this plus a C.H.I.M.P. from ThinkGeek.
Also agree. Alt-tab is friend at home or work. If you have many windows open, you should always check what will pop into place with Alt-tab to make sure the right one will be visible. Also, many work PCs restrict installing software, and a thunk-click of the foot seems like it would be more noticeible that the scruntch-click of the Alt-tab (depending on how loud your keyboard is).
Well I’d be tempted to mount it upside down under my desk surface, maybe under my keyboard tray. Then a discreet bump with my knee and no one’s the wiser! (unless you have someone crawling around under your desk, then you have other issues, lol)
Oh and I remember, many years back, there was a utility that did something like this and it was very discreet. You could have it setup to hide things just by you moving the mouse into a certain place, no clicking or anything. Worked really well too. Just can’t remember it’s name to save my life. Something like panicware, or dont panic… now I gotta go look for it.
Tim,
All I can say to your comment is if you have someone crawling around under your desk then the least of your concerns woould be trying to hide what you have on your monitor. lol
But i do like the idea of attaching it under your keyboard tray to hit it with your knee… that is a slick and handy idea. As soon as I get mine in the mail and put it to use I will let everyone know how loud and of coursehow well it actually works!
Tim, you jogged my memory. Remember Leisure Suit Larry used to have the “Boss Key” that would immediately pop up a fake looking letter? 🙂 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boss_key
Have we “progressed” to the point that a key stroke is replaced by a $25 min-Polycom (it really looks like one)? 🙂
Actually, what would be awesome is to map a button on your mouse to the software so you could just casually activate it.
Isn’t everyone forgetting that it doesn’t matter because your company can see what you are doing at all times times regardless if they catch you red handed. They can always see behind the scenes everything you do and every key stroke you make on your PC if they want.
How fun, yes, it was Don’t Panic! and it is still around, but mostly out of date.. it is fun to see something like this come up again, when yes, most employers have full access to everything you do, regardless of what folks can actually see on the screen. We love this site though!
We all know that our companies can see everything we do, but I think the point is that everyone likes to feel like they are in control and with a small gadget like this we have that feeling even if it is only for somethiing as minor as hiding the game we were playing instead of updating that spreadsheet we were supposed to be working on!