Isn’t it annoying when you’re presenting and, during some discussion about your slide, your screen saver kicks in or your computer puts itself in sleep mode? If you’re using a Mac, you can keep this from happening by giving your computer a little jolt of Caffeine.

Caffeine is a small, free program for the Mac only. When you start it up, you’ll see a small coffee cup in your menu bar. Click it off and on to enable or disable screen savers and sleep mode. When you’re done using Caffeine, hold down the Apple key (or the cloverleaf key–located to the left or right of your space bar), click the coffee cup, and select Quit.

Download Caffeine and give it a try! Windows users: Do you know of a similar program or trick for your computers? Share in the comments below.

By the way, if it’s your audience that’s falling asleep, this won’t be of much help. You’re on your own there.

Tags: macintosh, presenting