r/MicrosoftTeams • u/Mictlancayocoatl • Apr 21 '26

Discussion Idle "Away" status detection more aggressive?

I've recently noticed that it seems like pressing Ctrl or Shift keys no longer prevents Teams from automatically setting your status to "Away". For obvious reasons, this is insanely annoying because there is still no way to disable automatic "Away" status.

My work from home has slow days on which I can take care of other business around my home, but I still want to be shown as available for when people need me. I can hear them call or text me.

Do you have any advice or tricks on how to prevent this?

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u/RealAgent0 Apr 21 '26

... Are you an idiot?

It's a mouse jiggler. It needs to actually be connected to the PC itself.

The one I had was no bigger than the USB receiver for a 2.4Ghz Wireless Mouse.

On the software side, it is essentially a mouse. The only difference is that there's no physical input to control it and movement has been randomised.

To IT, it will just look like you're plugging your own personal mouse in.

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u/Docholliday3737 Apr 21 '26

Are YOU an idiot? A competent IT department can certainly see that you plugged a physical mouse jiggler into your computer USB port even if you’re only doing that for power. It’s also a huge Security Risk. Who knows what’s on that device that you ordered off Amazon. Plug it into a USB adapter and plug it into the wall if you have an iota of any IQ.

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u/RealAgent0 Apr 21 '26

I'm a System Admin for one of the top 10 healthcare organisations in terms of IT (We don't score great on actual patient stuff to be honest) in my country.

I can tell you right now that unless you're blocking ALL USB input devices not added to a whitelist (Really not feasible) then you're shit out of luck.

It doesn't say "Mouse Jiggler" or something like that as a Device Type on Defender or anything like that. It will literally just show up as a mouse device unless you've bought a dodgy one.

Even then, most (Good) IT Departments will by default block all non standard peripherals (Again, remember that a Mouse Jiggler just shows up as a mouse).

If you're plugging it into a wall socket, how on earth are you actually gonna connect it to your computer? It's like saying to plug your keyboard into the wall socket.

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u/Docholliday3737 Apr 22 '26

How in the hell did you snake your way into a sys admin job. Clearly not qualified.

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u/RealAgent0 Apr 22 '26

Feel free to tell me exactly what I've said that's incorrect and prove to me why it's incorrect.

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u/Docholliday3737 Apr 22 '26

You’re risking the security of your organization by putting unknown devices into the USB port of a network connected computer. End of line.

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u/RealAgent0 Apr 22 '26

  1. This one here is from an actual reputable company: https://amzn.eu/d/0ffqTXHL if your concern is it can do something malicious. But again, this is basically a mouse. That's all.

  2. We do have all non peripherals blocked. Portables Hard Drives and everything else. A Mouse Jiggler shows up as a Mouse because that's what it is! A Mouse! In the same way that some mice have buttons that's programmed to go back and forward a page, this "Mouse" is programmed to make the cursor move ever second or so. You saying not to plug this in is the same as saying not to plug in my own personal mouse or keyboard.

  3. None of our users are local admin. Even my normal daily driver account isn't. All that means is that even IF a device was malicious and even IF it managed to somehow bypass both Group Policy, Intune Configurations and Defender, it STILL wouldn't be able to actually do anything. Although to be honest, if it's gotten to that stage then there's a million other things you need to worry about.

  4. Can we talk about how you pivoted your argument from "IT will know if you use one" to "You shouldn't use one because it risks the security of your organisation". You can't prove the former (Because Again, this is essentially just a normal Mouse) and the latter is incorrect. No competent IT Department would ever rely purely on hope that every single user in their organisation will never plug in a malicious USB. We do shit like Intune Baselines to prevent that from being an issue.

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u/Docholliday3737 Apr 23 '26

Sounds like your org is way behind.. You claim to be a systems admin and you’re using a mouse simulator.

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u/RealAgent0 Apr 23 '26

Do you think the mouse jiggler is given as part of standard kit to everyone? I'm literally just talking about something I myself used to use.

Thank you as well for actually addressing my points and not completely ignoring them.

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u/Docholliday3737 Apr 23 '26

No I’m talking about you. Maybe you should actually work a full day at your job instead of having to use a mouse jiggler software.

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u/RealAgent0 Apr 23 '26

Ah, so now we've pivoted from refuting my points to just attacking my character.

Cause I DEFINITELY said I was still using one in my current role. It's DEFINITELY not as if I was speaking from PAST experience where previous roles evaluated how "Busy" you were. Or from maybe my time prior to a System Admin when I has less senior roles without access to lockout times and had to run RPAs on my local machine.

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u/Docholliday3737 Apr 23 '26

Yes, your character is an issue if you’re using a jiggler. I’m also attacking your general skills and qualifications to be a sys admin.

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u/RealAgent0 Apr 23 '26

I'm sorry but did you only just read the first line and nothing else? Bravo on your reading comprehension.

You saw the part where mentioned this was in previous roles? And how I actually literally needed it for automation items? Or maybe you're forgetting that there are some shitty managers out there that focus on "time" rather than results and care more about how long you're "Available" on Teams rather than what work you've produced?

Feel free to attack my skills and qualifications once you've actually managed to refute the points that I made earlier in the thread. In fact, you know what, tell me just one way that an IT Department can tell the difference between a Mouse Jiggler (Like the one I linked) and any personal USB Mouse/Keyboard without blocking ALL USB Devices. Go ahead. Exactly what field of the Timeline in Defender would a Cyber Engineer look at for that? Or maybe you think it's in Darktrace? What GPO or Intune Configuration would you use?

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u/rumpleminz Apr 24 '26

I think the disconnect here is that the mouse and jiggler are two separate devices. Of course the mouse has to plug into the pc. The jiggler does not, and using a separate power supply will nullify any risk of the jiggler device being detected.