5 ms·

Okay but what about the unchangeable five minute idle timer in Teams?

by thesuitonym 6y ago

henryackerman 6y ago
Buy a mouse wiggler, problem solved.
- commandlinefan 6y ago
  Reminds me of a story I read - some company had a batch job that ran for hours and for some reason if the computer went to screen saver, the batch job crashed and had to be restarted. Rather than actually find the root of the problem (of course), or disable screensaver (not allowed per security policy), they just assigned somebody to move the mouse every few minutes to keep the screensaver from activating. So one day, the guy brings in a vibrating baby bouncer, puts the mouse in the baby bouncer, and kicks back for the rest of the day.
  - gruez 6y ago
    Both of the solution seems dumb to me. Can't you play a 24 hour video? AFAIK most media players prevent the computer from going to sleep. Or even better write a program that does it for you: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34836406/how-to-prevent-windows-from-going-to-sleep-when-my-c-application-is-running https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34836406/how-to-prevent-...
    - skavi 6y ago
      The entire situation is dumb.
- chronicsunshine 6y ago
  I don't think it's that simple. From my experience, if you are in certain non-Microsoft applications and the mouse is moving it will still set you as Away and won't set your status to Available until you click into an application it recognizes.
  - ardy42 6y ago
    > I don't think it's that simple. From my experience, if you are in certain non-Microsoft applications and the mouse is moving it will still set you as Away and won't set your status to Available until you click into an application it recognizes. Is it just ignoring mouse movement, or actually monitoring interaction with the app it recognizes? This mouse jiggler is programmable, and lets you insert keypresses and stuff into the script: https://www.amazon.com/WiebeTech-Programmable-Mouse-Jiggler-MJ-3/dp/B00MTZY7Y4 https://www.amazon.com/WiebeTech-Programmable-Mouse-Jiggler-...
    - DoingIsLearning 6y ago
      I'm no netsec expert but this type of programable usb devices sounds like a security risk specially on a company machine with access to an internal network.
      - ardy42 6y ago
        IMHO, it's not any more of a security risk than a keyboard and mouse, which is literally what it is.
- mouzogu 6y ago
  I've found having a youtube video, like 10 hours of black-screen open prevents my laptop from logging out. Not sure if that applies here though.
- reaperducer 6y ago
  Many (most?) companies that care to track your productivity in invasive ways will have security policies locking out USB devices. Even plugging in a charging cable at my company will get you a visit from the IT Security department.
Clubber 6y ago
If you install it on your phone as well, it will always stay green.
- tsukurimashou 6y ago
  that's hilarious if true "give away even more privacy in exchange for some pseudo feature"
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
thrower123 6y ago
One of the many regressions from what was available in OCS/Lync/Skype for Business...
DoingIsLearning 6y ago
Any decent manager shouldn't care but you can easily automate a python script to do some non consequential key presses every few minutes. I actually did that at a previous job where I had to use windows 10 and (I think) the sys admin policy was to 'lock screen' after 20 min of inactivity, so I eventually got fed up of having to login all the time.
- TeMPOraL 6y ago
  Look into AutoHotkey if you're on Windows. It's a nice automation tool, particularly shining for anything input-related. You should be able to whip up a script that moves your mouse around on idle quite easily.
  - DoingIsLearning 6y ago
    I remember using python at the time because I wasn't given admin rights on those machines (contractor) but they had python 3 already installed, it was just the quickest to do the job without admin escalation. Just to clarify you can definitely also do mouse moves with python and ctypes.
tsukurimashou 6y ago
you can put something to hold down the insert key, thats the best solution I found
enlyth 6y ago
Open teams in the browser, open console and paste: setInterval(() => {angular.element(document.body).injector().get('presenceService').setMyStatus(1, null, false); }, 15000) This snippet is my own, made by looking at the source code, maybe the 15 second interval is overkill so feel free to adjust as you need.
- bdefore 6y ago
  nice work. anyone aware of an analogous script for Slack?
  - machinelabo 6y ago
    Use mouse-move Autohotkey feature and a run a script to move the mouse 1 pixel ever 2 mins. Or on macOS use coffee app.
    - claudeganon 6y ago
      For macOS, you can just use Automator to record clicking into the Teams app, then something else, and put it on a loop. No external apps required.

Okay but what about the unchangeable five minute idle timer in Teams?

henryackerman 6y ago

Buy a mouse wiggler, problem solved.

commandlinefan 6y ago
Reminds me of a story I read - some company had a batch job that ran for hours and for some reason if the computer went to screen saver, the batch job crashed and had to be restarted. Rather than actually find the root of the problem (of course), or disable screensaver (not allowed per security policy), they just assigned somebody to move the mouse every few minutes to keep the screensaver from activating. So one day, the guy brings in a vibrating baby bouncer, puts the mouse in the baby bouncer, and kicks back for the rest of the day.
- gruez 6y ago
  Both of the solution seems dumb to me. Can't you play a 24 hour video? AFAIK most media players prevent the computer from going to sleep. Or even better write a program that does it for you: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34836406/how-to-prevent-windows-from-going-to-sleep-when-my-c-application-is-running https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34836406/how-to-prevent-...
  - skavi 6y ago
    The entire situation is dumb.
chronicsunshine 6y ago
I don't think it's that simple. From my experience, if you are in certain non-Microsoft applications and the mouse is moving it will still set you as Away and won't set your status to Available until you click into an application it recognizes.
- ardy42 6y ago
  > I don't think it's that simple. From my experience, if you are in certain non-Microsoft applications and the mouse is moving it will still set you as Away and won't set your status to Available until you click into an application it recognizes. Is it just ignoring mouse movement, or actually monitoring interaction with the app it recognizes? This mouse jiggler is programmable, and lets you insert keypresses and stuff into the script: https://www.amazon.com/WiebeTech-Programmable-Mouse-Jiggler-MJ-3/dp/B00MTZY7Y4 https://www.amazon.com/WiebeTech-Programmable-Mouse-Jiggler-...
  - DoingIsLearning 6y ago
    I'm no netsec expert but this type of programable usb devices sounds like a security risk specially on a company machine with access to an internal network.
    - ardy42 6y ago
      IMHO, it's not any more of a security risk than a keyboard and mouse, which is literally what it is.
mouzogu 6y ago
I've found having a youtube video, like 10 hours of black-screen open prevents my laptop from logging out. Not sure if that applies here though.
reaperducer 6y ago
Many (most?) companies that care to track your productivity in invasive ways will have security policies locking out USB devices. Even plugging in a charging cable at my company will get you a visit from the IT Security department.

Clubber 6y ago

If you install it on your phone as well, it will always stay green.

tsukurimashou 6y ago
that's hilarious if true "give away even more privacy in exchange for some pseudo feature"
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

thrower123 6y ago

One of the many regressions from what was available in OCS/Lync/Skype for Business...

DoingIsLearning 6y ago

Any decent manager shouldn't care but you can easily automate a python script to do some non consequential key presses every few minutes. I actually did that at a previous job where I had to use windows 10 and (I think) the sys admin policy was to 'lock screen' after 20 min of inactivity, so I eventually got fed up of having to login all the time.

TeMPOraL 6y ago
Look into AutoHotkey if you're on Windows. It's a nice automation tool, particularly shining for anything input-related. You should be able to whip up a script that moves your mouse around on idle quite easily.
- DoingIsLearning 6y ago
  I remember using python at the time because I wasn't given admin rights on those machines (contractor) but they had python 3 already installed, it was just the quickest to do the job without admin escalation. Just to clarify you can definitely also do mouse moves with python and ctypes.

tsukurimashou 6y ago

you can put something to hold down the insert key, thats the best solution I found

enlyth 6y ago

Open teams in the browser, open console and paste: setInterval(() => {angular.element(document.body).injector().get('presenceService').setMyStatus(1, null, false); }, 15000) This snippet is my own, made by looking at the source code, maybe the 15 second interval is overkill so feel free to adjust as you need.

bdefore 6y ago
nice work. anyone aware of an analogous script for Slack?
- machinelabo 6y ago
  Use mouse-move Autohotkey feature and a run a script to move the mouse 1 pixel ever 2 mins. Or on macOS use coffee app.
  - claudeganon 6y ago
    For macOS, you can just use Automator to record clicking into the Teams app, then something else, and put it on a loop. No external apps required.