# Is there a program that can wiggle my mouse every 5 minutes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 2, 2007, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360 "2007-03-02T22:09:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/1 "2007-03-02T22:09:08Z")
Ugh, my place of employment recently implemented a patch that locks our Windows XP computers after five minutes of inactivity, thus requiring us to re-login. That would be find and dandy if my specific job didn’t require me to be away from the computer at about 6 minute intervals multiple times per hour. In short, relogging back in gets really annoying. The only way around this, that I can think of, is if I got a wireless mouse and carried it with me wherever I go, clicking one of the mouse buttons every 4 minutes and 59 seconds to avoid my computer from locking. But that really isn’t that practical. So is there a program that can do something similar automatically? Perhaps a little automatic jitter of the mouse, or the pressing of some benign key (such as the Print Screen key) to prevent my comp from locking itself? ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/2 "2007-03-02T22:18:56Z")
It would appear that programs do exist for your exact situation. Just Google “mouse jiggler”. A question: Does your company allow you to install software? Otherwise, get a hyperactive dog. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/3 "2007-03-02T22:22:46Z")
Oh yeah, we can install pretty much whatever we want, so far as I know. This was just a system wide update, that covers thousands of users, that sadly doesn’t jive with all of our work duties. I imagine it’s to prevent confidential information from being access whike someone is away from the computer, but in my work, I don’t deal with any of that. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/4 "2007-03-02T22:25:43Z")
Hmm, I tried the Google search, but it’s just giving OS X applications; are there any Windows Xp ones? ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/5 "2007-03-02T22:44:06Z")
Yeah, I’m only finding the Mac OS one as well. I’ll keep looking. I did find one reference to ‘stay online’ apps that, essentially, do the same thing, though for a different reason. Such as [this one.](http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Network_and_Internet/Keep_Alive_Tools/Move_This_.html)\* \*I just found it while searching; I have no knowledge as to its performance, security, or reliability. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/6 "2007-03-02T22:54:03Z")
Are you able to change your screen saver settings (in the Display control panel)? If so, changing that timeout may solve your problem. Where I used to work we could set the timeout and the screen saver to whatever we wanted, but if they were outside company specs they’d get reset to company defaults the next time we logged on. If that happened to be the case in your situation, you could just twiddle things to your liking once a day (or however often you log on). However, remember that it is never wise to call down the wrath of IT gods. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/7 "2007-03-02T22:54:39Z")
This one looks interesting: [http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Utilities/Mouse\_and\_Keyboard\_Utilities/Mouse\_Mover.html](http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Utilities/Mouse_and_Keyboard_Utilities/Mouse_Mover.html) ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/8 "2007-03-02T23:03:09Z")
[QUOTE=Canadjun] Are you able to change your screen saver settings (in the Display control panel)? [/QUOTE] Sadly, it seems that I can’t. It’s locked at “15 minutes,” although I think the screensave comes on even sooner. Thanks anyway though. [QUOTE=Scruloose] This one looks interesting [/QUOTE] Thanks Scruloose, but it looks like it’s not longer an active download ☹ Hopefully I can find that program elsewhere though. Thanks for helping me out 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/9 "2007-03-02T23:05:26Z")
I’ve never heard of any such patch - it sounds more like something like a security policy your IT department would have had to explicitly choose to install, in which case circumventing it like this seems like a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/10 "2007-03-02T23:19:48Z")
[QUOTE=Scruloose] Otherwise, get a hyperactive dog. 🙂 [/QUOTE] If you tied a piece of string between [one of these](http://ohgizmo.com/2006/12/13/usb-humping-dog-flash-drive/) and your mouse, perhaps with a few pulleys and such to keep things cyclical, you could keep your mouse moving whenever you are away from your desk. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/11 "2007-03-02T23:32:10Z")
get some connex? connects? those legoish things with little motors and gears and build yourself an automatic mouse jiggler from scratch. (in all seriousness there was a guy who did this in everquest, he made a machine that would fish for him even when he was sleeping) [http://www.ergodex.com/mainpage.htm](http://www.ergodex.com/mainpage.htm) get one of those, you can make a macro that will run for up to an hour. you dont need a mouse jiggle (its one option) you could make a macro that tabs a few times or maybe alt+tabs a few times and just run it whenever you get up. (yeah its expensive but it will change your gaming experience forever…and its good for stuff like work. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/12 "2007-03-02T23:34:45Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] If you tied a piece of string between [one of these](http://ohgizmo.com/2006/12/13/usb-humping-dog-flash-drive/) and your mouse, perhaps with a few pulleys and such to keep things cyclical, you could keep your mouse moving whenever you are away from your desk. [/QUOTE] OK, the pixelated plug in the video is freakin’ hilarious. And if all else fails, [plan “C”](http://www.backstreet.demon.co.uk/oddstuff/drinkingbirds/drinkingbirds.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Yag\_Rannavach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/858c86/32.png) [@Yag\_Rannavach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yag_Rannavach)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/13 "2007-03-03T02:45:05Z")
If you know a little scripting/programming try [AutoIt](http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/) If you don’t know any programming and send me an email, I might be able to dig up an old script of mine that’ll work. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/14 "2007-03-03T03:28:27Z")
If you know any engineers, I’m sure you could get them to design a capable machine. It would look cool to boot! ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/15 "2007-03-03T03:50:26Z")
[Saver Starter](http://www.brianapps.net/saverstarter/) might do the trick for you. It lets you manually disable or run your screen saver. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/16 "2007-03-03T04:49:37Z")
[QUOTE=Yag Rannavach] If you know a little scripting/programming try [AutoIt](http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/) [/QUOTE] A scripting language such as this is the way to go, IMHO. I’ve never tried **AutoIt** ; I use [AutoHotKey](http://www.autohotkey.com/) for my scripting needs. It’s free and easy to learn, and can make standalone .EXE executables that don’t need the Autohotkey program loaded in order to run. **RedBarchetta** , I recommend that you try the following steps (less than 5 minutes total). You can try it out at home first, then install the resulting .EXE file on your work computer tomorrow. [ol] [li]Download AutoHotkey from [this](http://www.autohotkey.com/download/) page, and install it on your PC.[/li][li]Create a new text document using Notepad.[/li][li]Copy and paste the following code into the new text document:[/li] ```auto StartWiggling: SecondsDelay=1 Distance=1 MouseGetPos,OldMouseX,OldMouseY MouseMove,OldMouseX+Distance,OldMouseY MouseMove,OldMouseX,OldMouseY sleep SecondsDelay*1000 goto StartWiggling ``` [li]Save the file as “ **WiggleMouse.ahk** ” _(note the .ahk extension – it’s important!)_. You can save it to any directory that you want, or on the Desktop.[/li][li]To test the program, double-click on “WiggleMouse.ahk” in Windows Explorer (or on the Desktop icon if that’s the path you chose). You should see a new icon in your PC’s Task Tray – it’ll be a green square with a white “H” in it. Look at the mouse pointer carefully; it’ll wiggle one pixel to right – and rapidly back – once per second. The one-pixel wiggle is set by the “Distance” parameter in my above script, and the delay between wiggles is the “SecondsDelay” parameter. [I found that the one-pixel wiggle didn’t affect normal operation at all, since anything that you’re aiming at is bigger than one pixel wide, so you can leave the program running all the time at work.][/li][li]Kill the program by right-clicking on the “H” icon in the Task Tray and left-clicking “Exit”.[/li][li]Once you’ve seen it work, open up the “WiggleMouse.ahk” in Notepad (or right-click it and select “Edit Script”, which is the same thing). Change the “SecondsDelay” value in the second line from **1** to **240**. Save the script file again. Now, when you run it, it’s wiggle the mouse every 4 minutes.[/li][li]If you want to save it as a stand-alone executable for use at work, click “Start -\> Programs -\> Autohotkey -\> Convert .ahk to .exe”. Load the “Source (script file)” field by Browsing to the “WiggleMouse.ahk”, leave the other fields blank, and click the “\>Convert\<” button. You’ll get a “WiggleMouse.exe” in the same folder as the .ahk file.[/li][li]e-mail “WiggleMouse.exe” to yourself at work, download it, and try it out! If all is fine, install it in the “Startup” folder so it launches in the background on bootup. [/li][/ol] The script took me about 2 minutes to write and test – much less than the time to write this post! 😉 It’ll be easy to modify if it doesn’t _quite_ work the way you want it to (for instance, if your work’s XP patch doesn’t recognize a single-pixel wiggle, we can make the wiggle bigger). We could also try making an .EXE that takes command-line parameters. However, this quick-and-dirty version **should** work for you. Don’t worry about having it running in the background all the time; on my PC it takes up 2.6MB of RAM when running, and consumes less than 1% of the CPU time (i.e. it reads as 0%) _even running at one wiggle per second_. ---
**Author:** ![Yag\_Rannavach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/858c86/32.png) [@Yag\_Rannavach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yag_Rannavach)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/17 "2007-03-03T06:13:31Z")
I seem to remember autoit and autohotkey being related sometime in the distant past. The last time I went looking was around two years ago though, so I might be misremembering. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/18 "2007-03-03T06:27:43Z")
I always thought one of [these drinking birds](http://www.thedrinkingbird.com/?gclid=CKC5qLz814oCFQGPWAodJkW-2w) might do the trick. On second look, it takes water to work. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/19 "2007-03-03T09:08:01Z")
[QUOTE=Yag Rannavach] I seem to remember autoit and autohotkey being related sometime in the distant past. [/QUOTE] You’re correct. The Help File for AutoHotKey says: > [@](#): > > A special thanks to Jonathan Bennett, whose generosity in releasing AutoIt v2 as free software in 1999 served as an inspiration and time-saver for myself and many others worldwide. In addition, many of AutoHotkey’s enhancements to the AutoIt v2 command set, as well as the Window Spy and the script compiler, were adapted directly from the AutoIt v3 source code. So thanks to Jon and the other AutoIt authors for those as well. The [C++ source code](http://www.autohotkey.com/download/) for AutoHotKey is available, which I don’t think is true for AutoIt (for what that’s worth). **Red Barchetta** , after playing around with the script I gave in post #16, I decided to tighten it up to solve two potential slight (and _extremely_ unlikely to occur) problems. I prefer this, which uses _inherently relative_ mouse positioning, (and is one line shorter!): ```auto SecondsDelay=1 Distance=1 StartWiggling: MouseMove,Distance,0,0,R MouseMove,-Distance,0,0,R sleep SecondsDelay*1000 goto StartWiggling ``` [This is for the 1-wiggle-per-second test version. Replace the “SecondsDelay=1” with “SecondsDelay=240” to give a once-per-4-minute wiggle rate as before.] ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360/20 "2007-03-03T09:44:12Z")
Thanks everyone for the help, but damn, extra special thanks goes to \*\*Antonius Block \*\* for that awesome program that works perfectly! I can’t wait to get this running on my work machine. Only on the dope can you find such helpful people. Thanks so much Antonius! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-program-that-can-wiggle-my-mouse-every-5-minutes/394360.md?page=2)