# Build a better mouse jiggler and the world will beat a path to your door **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 6, 2024, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-a-better-mouse-jiggler-and-the-world-will-beat-a-path-to-your-door/998519 "2024-03-06T03:31:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-a-better-mouse-jiggler-and-the-world-will-beat-a-path-to-your-door/998519/21 "2024-03-10T06:04:40Z")
I once met a Weasel Fluffer. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-a-better-mouse-jiggler-and-the-world-will-beat-a-path-to-your-door/998519/22 "2024-03-10T06:19:29Z")
A Swiffer? ---
**Author:** ![ColdBrew50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@ColdBrew50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdBrew50)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-a-better-mouse-jiggler-and-the-world-will-beat-a-path-to-your-door/998519/23 "2024-03-10T07:54:20Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Amex logs me out after just _5 minutes_ of inactivity when I’m researching charges on other websites. I don’t have an AmEx card any more (tired of small convenience shop owners yelling at me to use Visa!), but I suspect their site works similarly to many others I use for work and play. Don’t think just jiggling the mouse will do the trick, pretty sure, though. That would be nice, but no dice, I don’t think. But, as always, there are browser extensions to refresh pages like that. There’s a good one for Firefox (don’t remember the name) that is easy to set refresh intervals and recall settings for each site or specific page from a site, as one revisits such-and-such a page over the months and so forth. IME, eventually a given site will time out anyway, but I’m certain it depends on how picky the site is about user interactions &c. Agreed that is an annoyance…security, sure, but if one is at home or some “unidentified secure location,” you know, one can use one’s own discretion. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-a-better-mouse-jiggler-and-the-world-will-beat-a-path-to-your-door/998519/24 "2024-03-10T08:41:39Z")
Yes, Please! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-a-better-mouse-jiggler-and-the-world-will-beat-a-path-to-your-door/998519/25 "2024-03-10T19:27:02Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > I think the real question is ‘Do many employees believe their managers have nothing better to do than spot-check their subordinates’ mouse-movements? Lots of managers have plenty of better things to do… but waste their time on the stupid picayune stuff anyway. > [@Grestarian](#): > > But then the next generation of cameras and software had soft-switches and remotely accessing someone’s computer started becoming easier (particularly with the installation of malware from various Internet sources). Or institutional devices, that have remote-access software built in by the institution before the device ever reaches the user. There was a scandal some years back where a school district was using the cameras in the school-issued laptops to spy on students when they were at home. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-a-better-mouse-jiggler-and-the-world-will-beat-a-path-to-your-door/998519/26 "2024-03-10T22:49:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@Grestarian](#): > > > > I think the real question is ‘Do many employees believe their managers have nothing better to do than spot-check their subordinates’ mouse-movements? > > Lots of managers have plenty of better things to do… but waste their time on the stupid picayune stuff anyway. My wife was just wondering why I was laughing so hard… In my anectdote above, we in IT ultimately determined that the untrusting manager was simply that: An untrusting manager. One sarcastic guy 🫣 suggested responding with “Well, who’s the idiot who hired such a slacker?” but his colleagues figured that wouldn’t go over well. One of the reasons we set our policy of getting HR involved at the early stages was to curb that kind of ‘supervisory paranoia’ without completely eliminating it. We weren’t saying his suspicsions were always wrong; we were just saying HR should be a part of the matter so that, if he was getting to be too spy-happy& HR also had the authority to rein him in. Eventually, the employee in question (in my anectdote above) simply wasn’t making his monthly quotas and that was enough to let him go.$ Essentially, he didn’t survive his probationary period. –G! & ‘Wilbur, you’re complaining about your team members slacking off while you’re spending 90% of your day analyzing their mouse-clicks? You don’t find that ironic?’ $ Sales is a tough job! I couldn’t do it. My understanding is that a corporate salesperson has to exceed a certain goal by a certain percentage, each year. Then having done that, their number for the successful year becomes their baseline for the new year, which they must then exceed by that percentage. That just seems like an ever-increasing spiral that can’t possibly be maintained. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-a-better-mouse-jiggler-and-the-world-will-beat-a-path-to-your-door/998519/27 "2024-06-15T16:10:54Z")
> **[Remote workers using “mouse-mover” technology are getting caught](https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/14/24178582/remote-work-mouse-jiggler-mover-wellsfargo)** > > The jig is up for mouse jigglers. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-a-better-mouse-jiggler-and-the-world-will-beat-a-path-to-your-door/998519/28 "2024-06-15T17:01:24Z")
Frustratingly, that doesn’t say how they got caught, or what sort of jiggler (hardware or software) was used. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-a-better-mouse-jiggler-and-the-world-will-beat-a-path-to-your-door/998519/29 "2024-06-15T17:13:48Z")
At my previous job, it wasn’t just about you being seen as idle, the management was also tracking what time you left a “timestamp” by performing an action on files, in software, etc. So a jiggler would have done no good. It’s possible that the bank was able to tell that even though the workers never went “idle,” they went 1-2 hours without entering into a customer’s bank account and performing any work, or something of that sort. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-a-better-mouse-jiggler-and-the-world-will-beat-a-path-to-your-door/998519/30 "2024-06-15T17:30:55Z")
The IT department at my employer looks for those because they leave the computer unlocked, though it’s supposed to lock automatically after ten minutes of inactivity. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-a-better-mouse-jiggler-and-the-world-will-beat-a-path-to-your-door/998519/31 "2024-06-15T18:31:57Z")
I saw a variant of that article & knew exactly what the bump would be w/o even opening this thread; I was right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-a-better-mouse-jiggler-and-the-world-will-beat-a-path-to-your-door/998519.md?page=1)