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Mouse Jiggler

 Prevents the screen saver from coming on
  (+3, -1)
(+3, -1) 		  [vote for,
against]

Here at work, my computer automatically locks after 10 minutes of non-use; then I have to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete and type a password to unlock it again.

This is annoying, particularly when I'm running a long-duration macro and the screen saver comes on right in the middle of it.

The solution is an electronic ball that I can stick inside my mouse, which, when it detects that it's been still for 2 minutes, shakes.

—phundug, Jul 01 2005

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       Not sure if this will work [phundug], but you might want to try the following:   

       1) Open your cd tray.
2) Place your mouse on the cd tray in such a way as to obstruct it's retraction
3) Wait.
   

       Hopefully your cd-try will be of the auto-retracting kind and after a pre-determined amount of time, will attempt to close itself. This in turn will jiggle the mouse a bit (if it doesn't cut a strip of paper and lay it behind the ball in the mouse, securing the other end underneath you keyboard) and stop the screensaver activating.   

       It might not work, but worth a try?
—zen_tom, Jul 01 2005
   

       My cat is terribly disappointed...she was expecting a device that jiggles the long-dead mouse and makes the cat think it is still worth playing with.
—normzone, Jul 01 2005
   

       There are many baked software solutions for your problem. 'Stay Online' apps and the like.
It's also very easy to write your own mouse jiggler in VB using a couple Windows API calls: GetCursorPos() and SetCursorPos().
I do like zen_tom's approach. It has flair.
—UVApostrophe, Jul 01 2005
   

       :) [zen-tom!]   

       [UVA], software or macros will not work, because the screensaver comes on while a 100% cpu- using program is already running. Can't run anything else at the same time.
—phundug, Jul 01 2005
   

       zen-tom rocks or rather his cd tray does.   

       failing that a hamster and a wheel with the mouse inside...
—po, Jul 01 2005
   

       Granted, but can it be adapted to do anything for my cat ?
—normzone, Jul 01 2005
   

       not really but cats are well used to disappointment - they have lived with us for too long.
—po, Jul 01 2005
   

       Eek! Eek!
—wagster, Jul 01 2005
   

       god forbid one should go into the control panel and have a look at... oh nevermind.
—oxen crossing, Jul 01 2005
   

       Either I don't understand this or I don't believe it. You're saying you can't turn off your screensaver?
—Basepair, Jul 01 2005
   

       This is a corporate screensaver. Employees can't disable it.
—phundug, Jul 01 2005
   

       I. Well then, the solution is to disable your employer. Do they trust you with sharp pencils?
—Basepair, Jul 01 2005
   

       The solution, then, is never to allow more than nine minutes of non-use elapse.
—waugsqueke, Jul 01 2005
   

       You need to go to the IT department and give them a good whipping. If you can't do your job comfortably, then give them hell. Worked for me, back when I had a job.
—oxen crossing, Jul 01 2005
   

       When I first read this I thought it said "mouse jigger" and I wondered why mice would need a jigger when it is so obvious they drink straight from the bottle. Do you know why mice have such small balls? Not many of them know how to dance.   

       I had a vision of zen_tom's idea backfiring when the mouse falls through the hole in the middle of the cd tray and the tray closes, slicing the mouse's umbilical cord guillotine-like, the lifeless mouse-corpse falling to the floor, with no amount of Ctrl-Alt-Del to revive it....
—Canuck, Jul 02 2005
   

       When working from home at night, I now use a six-foot-long rod that I assembled from a metal pipe, a cardboard tube, a plastic report binder spine, and two wooden chopsticks. I keep this on my bed at home and when the computer is about to lock up because I'm watching TV, I reach over and nudge the mouse with it.
—phundug, Mar 01 2011
   

       I think a cell phone vibrator on a timer will do nicely for this. Velcro it to the mouse and activate when needed. Have a small rotary dial going from 1 to 15 minutes. If it's a track pad, you're on your own...
—cowtamer, Mar 01 2011
   

       //If it's a track pad,// a severed finger on a timer should do the job nicely.
—pocmloc, Mar 01 2011
   

       I tried hanging my optical mouse over my laptop screen so its sensor can see something moving like an animated gif, it has the effect of sometimes fooling the mouse into thinking it's been moved.
—DenholmRicshaw, Mar 01 2011
   

       Baked in software: There used to be a Mac OS X (back when it was called that) app literally called Jiggler that did this, among others. But maybe you can't install that on your work computer, which makes [Denholm]'s solution especially interesting. Or maybe…   

       // software or macros will not work, because the screensaver comes on while a 100% cpu- using program is already running //   

       You still used a cooperative multitasking OS in 2005?   

       // The solution is an electronic ball that I can stick inside my mouse, which, when it detects that it's been still for 2 minutes, shakes. //   

       Bit hard to implement that implementation nowadays, and your mouse might be wireless (meaning you can't hang it in front of the screen). So maybe put it on top of your phone, and use an app or play a video to generate constant motion below it?
—notexactly, Apr 08 2019
   

       Just change the settings so it doesn't turn itself off after 10 minutes of no keystrokes or mouse movements.   

       Choose any longer time you feel better suits you or "never".   

       Or aren't you trusted to use those settings yourself by your tech guys, get them to do it then.
—Skewed, Apr 08 2019
   

       You might see if you can find a desk pet with a long USB lead that has an app that lets you program it to trundle up & nudge the mouse every few minutes, the mostly appear to be remote control only though but some of them are controlled via smart phones so you might be able to find apps for those that move them automatically without direct user input.
—Skewed, Apr 08 2019
   


 

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