Q: I’ve got specific questions about Freedom for Windows.

A: For Windows support, see the Freedom for Windows Support Page.

Q: How does Freedom count down time? It seems to go longer than the time I set.

A: Freedom only counts down “active minutes.” If you set Freedom for 20 minutes, put your computer to sleep 10 minutes into Freedom, you’ll have 10 minutes of Freedom left when you come back.

Q: I can get on the internet during Freedom.

A: If you’re running Windows, make sure you’re running Freedom with admin privileges. See the Freedom for Windows support page for more information. If you’re on a Mac, make sure you’re not running a VPN or connection sharing. Just disable these prior to your Freedom session.

Q: I purchased a copy a while ago but lost it/got a new computer/etc.

A: Just email fred@fredstutzman.com. It helps if you include your receipt number, but I can generally look you up via your email address.

Q: How does Freedom work, and is it safe?

A: Freedom works by disabling your internet connections for the time period you specify. When you run Freedom, you’re not able to get online, so you’re forced to get work done. Freedom is completely safe because it makes no permanent changes to your computer. If you need to get back online, just reboot. On Mac computers, you will need to force-quit Freedom. I’ve made it somewhat difficult to stop Freedom because once you quit it, you will have to reboot you computer.

Q: How do I run Freedom?

A: Freedom is easy to use because it only does one thing: it blocks your internet. To run Freedom, double-click the Freedom icon, enter the number of minutes you’d like to run the program, and hit submit. That’s it!

Q: What are the terms of the license?

A: Freedom comes with a within-OS per-user license. This means if you have two Macs, you can install Freedom on both of your Macs. If you have both Mac and Windows computers, you’ll need to purchase the Mac and Windows versions, but a discount is offered. Each license also offers free updates within the major version cycle.

Q: Do you offer volume or enterprise discounts?

A: Yes, volume discounts are available. Please request a quote. Freedom can also be customized for your organization’s needs (longer time periods, etc.).

Q: Freedom sounds great, but I need to be online to do research!

A: If you’re looking to simply block distracting sites while you work, you might want to take a look at Anti-Social. Anti-social works just like Freedom, except that it only blocks distracting social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Q: Any tips on using Freedom?

A: Freedom is as much a psychological block as it is a technical block. You’ll notice how your computing actually feels different when Freedom is running. I suggest that your first few Freedom sessions be short: 20-45 minutes. Josh Kaufman, author of “The Personal MBA“, suggests using Freedom with concert with the Pomodoro Technique.

As you get a feel for working with Freedom, you’ll adapt some of your existing strategies. Instead of researching while I write, I now pre-research and store my materials in DevonThink (Evernote or Yojimbo also work), allowing search of my primary sources while I’m offline. For more inspiration, check out Steven Berlin Johnson’s strategies.

Finally, a technique I use when I am in a rut is multiple short bursts of Freedom. By chaining small Freedom sessions together, I find that it is easier to move from endless surfing to real productivity.

Q: I love Freedom, but I need to access email/Google Scholar/etc. for work.

A: Freedom’s design philosophy centers around the “total block,” but if you need access to a specific set of resources, Freedom can be customized to your needs.

Q: Why is your website Macfreedom.com if you also make a Windows version?

A: Freedom was originally a Mac-only product. I built a Windows version after receiving hundreds of requests. With Pagerank and all, I’m sort of stuck at this domain. Lesson learned.

Q: What new features are coming?

A: See the developer roadmap.

Q: What is your response to the “you can just shut off your router” criticism?

A: I have observed the emergence of a natural law in online discussion of Freedom. It is: For each post about how great/wonderful/useful Freedom is, a commenter will chime in and admonish the writer that they “can just turn off their router.” The commenter then laughs a smug laugh and then goes back to refreshing the Digg homepage. Actually, I don’t disagree with this criticism — if you can go shut your router off and get the same effect as Freedom and save ten bucks, you should do it. At the same time, we could all save lots of money on gym memberships if we just ran a few miles outside everyday and did pull-ups in our bedroom (actual, non-ironic good advice). Of course, our realities are a little more complicated: we work in offices or on campuses, we have multiple devices on our network, we don’t know what the heck a router is. This is all to say that you should use the strategy that works for you, and only you can figure that out. I created this software to give you another option as you seek the productivity strategy that works best for you.

Other Questions

Please contact me with your questions – I’ll add them to this thread!