What do you do on a computer to thwart boredom?
 

If you are using a computer and have the option of no games what do you do to pass the time?

I usually click and drag a few times on the desktop. In Opera I also like to drag the images around the screen. That's really fun too.

What do you do when you are bored and have no other option but to find a way to occupy yourself?

I hardly play online games now, I'm more occupied with forums and replying to my mailinglists.
If there's that time when I'm bored, I read online comics. Or watch flash videos. :)

Camille

Update my sites, research domain names. I'm a dull guy when it comes to computers - I ruthlessly strip them of all games and similar distractions (no more Minesweeper or Solitaire for me)

I have been searching around for various multimedia and other material for use in one of my interests. Also on how to convert or edit multimedia to use with a data projector.

I find that if one leaves this search until one actually needs the material I usually run out of time. Also requesting permission to use copyright material and waiting for a response also takes time.

I play solitaire a bit and have the program Pretty Good Solitaire which is very good.

Managing my email and moderating on the forum also keeps me occupied.

Jeff

I am mostly checking my email when I'm bored and I am roaming the forums which I am on.

I don't get bored online. I love skyping and iming with my friends and I love being here so I don't get bored. I have a problem tearing myslef away from the pc at times though...

:D Susan.

If you were refrained from games, and restricted to just doing stuff that passes the time, what would it be? You know, like moving icons, dragging the mouse around, etc.

I know a looong time ago a friends' kid used to(when he was extremely bored) play out wars with icons. He was like 5, so, not like he needs a shrink. I thought it was funny come to think of it, just imagine a fight between Solitaire and Halo :D

If I couldnt play games??

Probably move stuff about.. Open calculator and do stuff with that.....

But I do usually play games alot... I have emulators and I have alot of fun :)

YouTube is my lifesaver against boredom. I love just listening to music at full volume with earplugs in, I can literally do that for hours. It includes both re-listening to my favourite songs and favourite bands, or do some random searches to discover new music. Like, the past weekend I discovered a good Russian postpunk/alternative band called Agata Kristi (written like that) ; I never heard of them before, but I was bored and bounced on this band's music on YouTube, and it was a great discovery! :) (PS: people, check out this band online, Agata Kristi from Russia, the lyrics are in Russian but the sound is good enough that not understanding the lyrics is not even important)

What I also do sometimes is reading travel-related articles on sites such as wikitravel.org and wikivoyage.org. I am an avid traveler, and I read a lot of travelogues and travel guides, put me in any random library and I'll be in the travel books section for a couple of hours. When I am online and bored, reading online travel guides is a source of distraction and makes me daydream away to the places I'm reading about.

I don't work anymore, so I can play games. But if I don't, I like to mess with Rainmeter's skins on my desktop. And stream and play with music. And look for wallpapers. Fix up my Pinterest board. Or research something. There's always stuff to do and I just don't get bored.

Organising and editing my photos

Usually I get lost in the Wikipedia. Almost every page I start to read leads to several additional open tabs I want to check.

Here's a combination I don't recommend:

1. Access to a computer
2. Access to a credit card
3. Too much too drink!

I usually reserve playing games for my cell phone. I do have Steam installed and play games on it occasionally. I scan through my RSS/Atom Newfeeds (176 of them).

I watch YouTube, I follow 339 channels, I watch quite a few that I'm not subscribed to. A wide range of channels from machining, welding, towing, trains, trucking, science, political (all side of the fence), lock picking, dash cam (not those silly crash ones), Anime, etc. I spent a good three hours on YouTube the other day after watching @somdcomputerguy link to The Steeldrivers in What are you listening to?.

I use with Slackware64-current the testing branch of Slackware. Keeping it up to date occupies some of my time. I also write bash scripts to install and upgrade some of my third party programs for Slackware. Most of those are done, but I have made some revisions and I am slowly rewriting them all.

Yeah I spend sometime on Facebook, mostly reading. I post occasionally. When I am really bored read reddit or logging to some of those alternative "social media" sites I am registered with to see what's being posted.

I do a lot of research too, I am a skeptical as skeptics go. I make up my own mind based on my research.

For humor I also enjoy reading those silly sites the for example say the earth is flat, I like watching those in YouTube too, Amazing the things some folks believe in.

What I need to do is organize my photos.

@FredOnline's post is spot on, not that I've even done that. ;)

I did spend money on stupid games on my phone once. One day I decided to review how much I've spent to date. Yikes!!!! That came to a screeching halt. A little here, a little there adds up. I did drink back then, but wasn't drinking while playing. I quit drinking in 2010 though for other reasons.

Read news, longer pieces, watch YouTube videos, but I am never really bored. I have so many interests that a computer is a drug that I could just keep browsing forever if I had the time. I find myself learning about things that I never knew existed or how to do something that I probably will never do, but sometimes that miscellaneous knowledge comes in very handy.