Use AppleScript to run tasks if computer has been idle

Member leenoble_uk at macosxhints cooked up a way to shut down Mail at night unless he was working late, to avoid noisy late-night ‘new mail’ notifications that were disturbing sleep in the next room. The AppleScript solution involves a trick to determine the system idle time and shut down or leave the app running depending on whether or not the machine was in current use.

Clever idea, and the system idle time routine can surely be used to cook up other handy scripts to make your Mac computing experience that much better. I think AppleScript must surely be the unsung hero of the Mac OS, and I’m thinking it is high time I learned to speak it fluently, myself.