# A mouse wiggling program? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2002, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-mouse-wiggling-program/125092 "2002-08-22T16:18:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-mouse-wiggling-program/125092/1 "2002-08-22T16:18:43Z")
Hi all! I’m looking for a program that will wiggle my mouse (not physically mind you, that would be scary). The problem is I have AOL (enough said?) and sometimes I’m chatting with friends and I step away from the computer for a bit and the away message comes on. The away message comes on due to computer inactivity. So instead of every ten minutes of walking to the computer and wigglin’ my mouse, I was wondering if there’s a program (freeware/shareware/ or somethin’ under $10) that I can get to do it for me… I have no idea what to call it so I’m not sure where to look either… Thanks, josh ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-mouse-wiggling-program/125092/2 "2002-08-22T17:02:46Z")
Look for a thing called an “Idlebot”. They are small programs that run, and will click yes when that messagebox pops up. Be careful where you get them from , because sometimes they can have a trojan in them. ---
**Author:** ![grey\_ideas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@grey\_ideas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grey_ideas)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-mouse-wiggling-program/125092/3 "2002-08-23T15:03:47Z")
stpauler, Is it the AOL instant messenger you are talking about? Although I don’t use AOL (phew! :)) I know that many instant messengers (MSN messenger for example) allow you to set it so that you never show as ‘away’ when you are away from the keyboard. I don’t know whether this is the problem you are having so apologies if I’ve misunderstood. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-mouse-wiggling-program/125092/4 "2002-08-23T15:23:12Z")
Grey, it’s just the standard ol’ AOL that is being problematic. AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) seems to be good, too good sometimes actually. I’ve logged on to AIM on my cell phone and forgot about it and had it go off at 3 am with messages like “I can’t believe you’re up!”. So I’ve learned not to leave it on on the cell phone. I have found a couple idlebot programs on [download.com](http://download.com) but they weren’t for AOL 7.0 /Windows XP and the programmer seemed iffy at best about them working on that level. I guess the best solution may be to get a cat and train it to wiggle the mouse… ---
**Author:** ![peri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@peri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peri)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-mouse-wiggling-program/125092/5 "2002-08-23T15:30:33Z")
I use XuMouse, available here: [http://www.torrez.org/projects/xumouse.shtml](http://www.torrez.org/projects/xumouse.shtml) This site’s minimalism is scary. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-mouse-wiggling-program/125092/6 "2002-08-24T00:29:38Z")
I could write a program that would wiggle the mouse around in about 3 minutes. Just the other day (out of boredom) I wrote a program that wiggled it’self around (violently) for a set period of time. using a rather self-explanatory windows API function called **SetCursorPos** I could modify my original program to do it. Yes, I might just do this when I get home from work this morning. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-mouse-wiggling-program/125092/7 "2002-08-24T00:33:14Z")
I am not sure sure if it would work though. I suspect that aol checks for activity by polling for input from the mouse port rather than simply checking the position of the cursor. I could be wrong though. You could try leaving a chat room open. that will surely stop aol from turning it’self off. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-mouse-wiggling-program/125092/8 "2002-08-24T17:53:55Z")
peri, thanks for the link! this diffused the aol auto away message perfectly. I tested it out and left the puter alone for 4 hours whilst at work. The away message didn’t pop up. (But i did have to apologize to friends that im’d while I was away, who thought I was around.) ---
**Author:** ![peri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@peri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peri)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-mouse-wiggling-program/125092/9 "2002-08-24T20:16:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by stpauler \* > \*\*peri, thanks for the link! this diffused the aol auto away message perfectly. I tested it out and left the puter alone for 4 hours whilst at work. The away message didn’t pop up. (But i did have to apologize to friends that im’d while I was away, who thought I was around.) \*\* I accidentally left it running when I went out of town for the weekend. Still online (AOL) when I got back 3 days later. And not one automated telemarketer message on my answering machine 😉