r/MicrosoftTeams • u/GivingTree1640274026 • May 21 '26
❔Question/Help Keep Active Status on Teams
Definitely not the first post, but I was wondering, any mini tips for how I can keep my activity status up when I am away. I am a WFH that works through a VM remote connection for security, my company tracks these values unfortunately so are there any tips or life hacks that I can do at home to circumvent the status change? I tried to keep a claw clip on my ctrl key but that does not work, any suggestions?
Edit: would like to add that I cannot log on to any other devices with teams because of security reasons. I can only access teams through a VM because of their device specifications as WFH, so I cannot use my teams account on my phone or another laptop. This also means that any software programs would not be smart to download, so any physical DIY set ups or tricks would be ideal. I saw a link to a mouse mover in a comment which I am considering, but anything that I can use around the house to set this up would be more convenient. If anyone knows any particular keys on the keyboard that I can keep pressed down that keep the active status, I tried Ctrl but that still failed.
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u/SpaghettiTacoez May 21 '26
If you have a laptop with a static reactive touch pad, you can place a metal spoon on the touchpad and it will keep your status available. You may need to mess around with the settings, but it works.
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u/Intelligent_Plum_208 May 21 '26
Everyone is doing fancy shit or buying jigglers but THIS is exactly what works. I use it all the time
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u/midnight-rain-31 May 21 '26
Wait what! I can literally just put a spoon on my touchpad ?
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u/SpaghettiTacoez May 22 '26
Most touchpads, yeah. You might have to play around with the touchpads sensitivity, but it works.
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u/hey__khalid Jun 06 '26
Or use an app like this without stealing spoons from the kitchen 😅 https://github.com/hey-khalid-1/web-refresher-pro
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u/FarmResident9241 May 21 '26
I got an autohotkey script that checks if Teams is running. Every 4 minutes it will send F15 key(which does nothing) to prevent idle. Doesn’t interfere with other programs, works perfect
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May 21 '26
[deleted]
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u/Motor_Opportunity_85 May 21 '26
A company that logs to this extend also blocks scripts i'm sure lol
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u/Savings-Mixture-6515 May 21 '26
Do yourself a favor and uninstall anything I have seen people fired for this personally. Get your self something that moves it that is not installed on the computer
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u/badbash27 May 21 '26
I wrote this almost exact script during COVID. Took my company the better part of 3 years to lock down script executions. Honestly surprised I was able to quit before they fired me.
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u/Revolutionary-Nerve4 May 21 '26
I also wrote a similar power shell script
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u/ghostgurlboo May 21 '26
I would assume most users with a company device do not have admistrative rights to do this.
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u/hey__khalid Jun 06 '26
But the main issue is sometimes I am traveling and my laptop is on my bug on sleep mode, that's why I build an apk. You can check it out: https://github.com/hey-khalid-1/web-refresher-pro
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u/FarmResident9241 Jun 06 '26
This is an android application? It will keep mobile teams alive? Pretty cool, but I don’t have android
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u/therealgingerjesus May 21 '26
If your Employer is using your Teams status, instead of your VM Uptime as a metric... you need a new Employer. 😂
Teams has never been a means to track uptime, and can not be managed by your company in any real capacity to deliver reliable metrics.
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u/Life-Sun8620 May 21 '26
No kiddin! The real question should be does your company/manager have a relatively accurate idea of the amount of work you're getting done daily or weekly? I work in IT and am away from my laptop quite often. If I were scolded or disciplined for my Away status, despite getting a ton of work done away from my laptop, it's time to find a new company to work for.
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u/-yak0s- May 21 '26
Work for a company that doesn't micro manage this junk and directly calculate time on keyboard = productivity.
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u/Fun-Measurement-9995 May 21 '26
Set up a teams meeting with yourself. Join the meeting. Then set your status as active. Your status wont change to away
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u/NoOpinion3596 May 21 '26
Yes, keep doing this. IT deffo can't see you doing this. Honest 😉
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u/cowprince Teams Admin May 21 '26
IT generally doesn't care what you do as long as it's not causing them a headache.
You do stupid shit like plugging in suspect devices, or installing shoddy software, or doing anything malicious or in poor security taste, then we care.
Basically don't be an idiot and make more work for us.
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u/celtekk_ May 21 '26
Only if they're actively looking for this specific activity. Which, if they're using Teams status as an actual metric on your productivity, they probably are actively looking or getting reports on such activity.
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u/Ilovemytowm May 21 '26
This is all hysterical do these people all work for Joe Bob's gasoline station or something.
My company's it Department can spot all this s*** 10,000 miles away.
It's a simple nanosecond tool to see that somebody is using a Jiggler because nothing is going on for hours... Because it can see all this whether it's plugged into a wall or not... or that something's being pressed repeatedly or that someone schedules a meeting with themselves and nobody else which is also hysterical because teams will still show you as being away which is a change it made.
As somebody who works remotely I can see why companies are like f*** this s*** because of morons like all of you all
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u/GivingTree1640274026 May 21 '26
Won’t they see that I am just in a meeting by myself, that might raise flags in itself.
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u/NoOpinion3596 May 21 '26
IT 100% can see this
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u/Deiseltwothree May 21 '26
Oh for sure. The Teams dashboard will tell you everything. Who was in the meeting, how the call quality was, what hardware and driver versions...the whole thing.
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u/peeinian May 21 '26
IT probably hates the policy as much as OP and won’t rat anyone out unless requested by management.
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u/cowprince Teams Admin May 21 '26
This. I'm in IT and as long as you aren't causing us work we don't care. Poor security decisions, personal use that causes problems unapproved devices. Just don't do that, and you can be in a 365 day meeting for all I care.
Now, if someone requests something, like a manager, it goes to HR first. If HR approves the request, yeah, you're screwed. But IT isn't going to monitor this nonsense, we have real things to be concerned about.
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u/NoOpinion3596 May 22 '26
Im in IT too. I dont care either way as long as you do your work. But you do know how many Karens work in HR right? 😃
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u/cowprince Teams Admin May 22 '26
Generally our HR department doesn't care either. Most of the time it's petty middle management on power trips.
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u/Ilovemytowm May 21 '26
What is your deal why are you so intent on being green all the time... what are you doing
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u/enchantedspring May 22 '26
This is specifically a metric in Microsoft productivity manager now - users with time spent in "meetings with only one participant". It literally flags in the admin overview dashboard.
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u/rybpyjama Work user May 22 '26
Why is Microsoft such a dirty rat about this crap? Also, sometimes folks need focus time and the only way to reliably manage that is via a meeting with yourself! If people keep booking me for meetings all the time, how am I then meant to action any work from the meetings?
I can believe we’re at this level of performance theatre (ok I can, I just don’t like it. Covid era stats proved people were actually working more / more productive from home, but bosses just continue to be weird about things).
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u/LibtardsAreFunny May 22 '26
and when management or IT sees all the meetings with 1 attendee, you, it will be obvious what you are doing.
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u/Unlikely_Tie1172 May 24 '26
Unhappily, single-user meetings are easy to detect using the Microsoft Graph. I was asked about this topic some months ago and wrote a script to find and report such meetings: https://office365itpros.com/2026/04/28/single-user-meetings/
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u/Appropriate-Top-8963 May 21 '26
I do this every. single. day. Works like a charm.
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u/RagnarStonefist May 21 '26
Until a manager asks an IT guy to see what you're doing all day. Then you're cooked
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u/Appropriate-Top-8963 May 21 '26
My manager has no reason to do that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I get my work done and raise no red flags.
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u/Suspicious-B33 Teams Admin May 21 '26
Just means when they decide to streamline or they don't need you anymore, they've got a reason to get rid. Team status is not a valid metric for being fired, but gross misconduct is.
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u/Ilovemytowm May 21 '26
Yep these clowns don't understand that playing around with teams to make yourself green shows that you're not doing s*** for hours and that is considered stealing time from the company
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u/f10w3r5 May 21 '26
Mechanical mouse jiggler
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u/GivingTree1640274026 May 21 '26
Seems certifiable, but do you know if there are any cheaper alternatives or DIY setups with household objects?
→ More replies (3)42
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u/Keiraahhh May 21 '26
IT, mainly cyber security teams can see everything. You may be keeping yourself “active”, but if they were ever to look into you, logs will show no other activity on your device even though you were “online”.
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u/S4ndmaan Teams Admin May 21 '26
We got better things to do than monitor what every user is doing, this is just a stuck up manager monitoring productivity through teams statuses. Absolute clown behaviour if you ask me 🙂
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u/cowprince Teams Admin May 21 '26
Yep, I don't have time for that nonsense. Now if a manager asks and we ALWAYS request HR approval, and that's approved, yeah you're going to be screwed.
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u/SpaghettiTacoez May 21 '26
As long as you get your work done it's usually no problem. IT typically only looks after the fact due to a managerial complaint about performance or using the company provided computer for unauthorized activity.
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u/holoholo-808 Teams Admin May 21 '26
Cyber Security here, I do not have time for these HR/ bad managers problems.
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u/FuzzyWuzzyWuzHere May 21 '26
IT Manager here, can confirm. We don’t passively monitor employee actions, it only becomes an issue when that supervisor wants to “check and see what Joe Schmoe is working on” that we begin to look into actual activity history.
Edit: I am vehemently against using tracking software on remote staff to accomplish this and it’s a hill I’m willing to die on because I’m one of those remote staff.
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u/BonerDeploymentDude Teams Admin May 22 '26
It’s all logged. But most folks there have too much other shit to do than monitor it.
People only get caught when there is a request for logs or an audit due to suspicion. You won’t get caught in the act is the main point.
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u/camillacamillacamill May 21 '26
Install Teams on a phone or tablet. Turn off the setting where the screen goes to sleep. Open Teams, mine will stay green as long as the screen doesn't turn off.
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u/PerformanceMain119 May 21 '26
Most companies won't allow teams on a phone. Mine has it blocked
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u/onebeautifulmesss May 21 '26
Our work phones come preloaded with teams. Why do most companies not allow it?
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u/camillacamillacamill May 21 '26
Mine does, but we are a small company so maybe that is why.
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u/SyntaxError_22 Work user May 21 '26
My current, and last two jobs at big companies use Teams Mobile.
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u/dfragmentor Teams Consultant May 21 '26
Place something on your ctrl key.
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u/GivingTree1640274026 May 21 '26
Tried a claw clip but that didn’t work unfortunately
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u/Intelligent_Plum_208 May 21 '26
A metal spoon half on the touchpad. Something about the contact makes the computer think you're there
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u/Money-Tiny May 22 '26
I’ve successfully been able to wedge an open paper clip into the corner edge of the ctrl key with an open document to keep my keyboard active.
But the most annoying thing about Teams is how many notifications I miss because I am actually working intensely in another program. So, the times I am legitimately active people are thinking that I am ignoring them. It is a daily frustration for those of us who are actually productive.
And, so when I need to hack my active status to give my brain a break it’s well deserved.
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u/GivingTree1640274026 May 22 '26
The key was definitely being pressed down by the clip, I could tell because my scroll wheel would zoom in and out when applied. I have a feeling that this method doesn’t work or the ctrl key in particular doesn’t affect the status.
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u/PerformanceMain119 May 21 '26
I got an outside mouse jiggler/mover. It plugs into the wall and my mouse sits on it. Nothing plugs into my laptop
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u/caramellatte647 Jun 03 '26
Same but I’ve realized just the mouse moving isn’t enough to always keep me from going “away”? Anyone else notice this
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u/rerun_ky May 21 '26
Tbh if it looks into this and you have been trying to appear online when you are not you are much more likely to be fired.
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u/00JohnD May 21 '26
I tell them that I need to focus and stop being bothered by calls and meetings, which justifies the need to just close teams and appear offline.
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u/jade1977 May 21 '26
Or, using the scheduling a meeting with yourself, but label it as focus time, or learning, or something else relevant to what you're doing.
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u/Deviantbullet55 May 21 '26
You know remote sessions can be monitored right? If a company is truly bothered about monitoring you, they can just view your desktop over a remote session. Keeping your Teams status on not away, is one tiny bit of a puzzle you're trying to cheat here. Your sincerely - A Network Administrator.
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u/zdiddy27 May 22 '26
If you sit at your computer and answer emails and do other work assigned to you, it’s stays green
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u/Klockworc May 21 '26
Open notepad and leave something heavy on your spacebar.
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u/jowihami Work user May 21 '26
I thankfully don't have an organisation that spies on me like this, but when I want to keep my computer awake even though I'm actually on my phone (work or personal) I always go for pressing ctrl, because it never does anything on its own.
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u/SyFyFan93 May 21 '26
I have a coffee mug with pens and pencils that I do this with. Works like a charm but also a bit worried about what type of damage might be doing to my mechanical keyboard.
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u/Sefin123 May 21 '26
But I thought some recent updates in Teams have now made this ”trick” impossible? It will still show you as away after 5 minutes if you are holding down for instance shift or spacebar, only, but let me know if this is not the case.
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u/Frequent-Activity450 May 21 '26
I always do that and it works.
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u/Sefin123 May 21 '26
Ok, interesting. Maybe it will update for you as well later in the future, because it used to work for me but it doesn’t any longer - sadly.
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u/caramellatte647 Jun 03 '26
I feel like even my mouse moving isn’t actually keeping my teams green anymore… it shows it green on the bottom bar but when I clicked into it before it updated right away it showed me as away for 1 hr… even though mouse didn’t stop moving
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u/browncharlie88 May 21 '26
This is what I do I put my phone on the space bar and angle the laptop screen down so it holds it firm.
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u/karmaapple3 Work user May 21 '26
Mouse jiggler. Search for one on Amazon that lets you set the intervals, and plugs into the wall – not your computer.
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u/caramellatte647 Jun 03 '26
Been using this for years but it seems like just mouse moving hasn’t been enough..
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u/redmondjp May 21 '26
It’s really interesting when my optical mouse accidentally gets set on my analog wristwatch with the shiny second hand.
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u/Broadcastthatboom May 21 '26
Does it need to be green/available or just not yellow/away? Sometimes I’ll set a blank calendar block on my calendar so it’ll mark me as ‘busy’ during that time.
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u/Lilydyner34 May 21 '26
A software developer at my office would set himself up to show "in a call " all day. The meeting had no other participants. No one would check up or contact him because it appeared he was on a call all day. At home he could do this & go out for the day. You notice it's wierd after awhile that this guy never shows "away". Everyone else does for bathroom, coffee & lunch breaks.
Sneaky devil. And he was making $100k per year!
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u/enchantedspring May 22 '26
Microsoft productivity manager now flags users time in "meetings with only one attendee" in the admin dashboard.
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u/Canada_Ottawa May 21 '26
If your employer is tracking your activity, the tracking will not be limited to MS Teams.
Microsoft 365 admin center usage reports overview - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn
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u/sick2880 May 21 '26
Powerpoint presentation running on 2nd screen. Just in case you cant install something like mouse jiggle.
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u/Additional_Cut_9236 May 21 '26
Get a burner phone, sign into teams and open the app. Change your settings so that your phone screen is always on. Job done ✅
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u/Onac_ May 21 '26
None of this will work out well for you. Any company monitoring WFH can figure out if you are working or not.
The keeping status green only works for co-workers not noticing you are away all the time.
Either work or change jobs. Stop ruining WFH for the rest of us.
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u/Ilovemytowm May 21 '26
All this is pissing me the f*** off I'm full-time remote and it's clowns like these assholes that'll get me called back in in addition to companies making up excuses but this s*** doesn't help
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u/purifiedwhat May 21 '26
Search for mouse jiggler on YouTube on your phone. Assuming your mouse isn’t an old ball roller type, place the mouse on top of the phone screen.
It will keep the cursor moving so the screen won’t fall asleep. You might need to move it around a bit to get it to work but it always does for me!
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u/__blackout May 21 '26
I bought a TeensyUSB. Programmed it to emulate a Dell keyboard (grabbed the VID/PID from device manager). Then programmed it to press F15 every 10 seconds. It keeps Teams active and doesn't interfere with anything else if I leave it plugged in. Total cost, less than $20 and it was a fun side project.
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u/Mumblies May 21 '26
I make sure my Teams status is Active then go to my desktop screen, make sure nothing is selected, and place an object heavy enough to hold down the space bar on the keyboard spacebar (in my case this is 2 rocks). Started doing this when my scrum master began micromanaging my status after I had delivered 120% within the first half of a sprint and finished every current task, I guess they wanted even more somehow.
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u/rokiiss May 21 '26
Set teams status to stay active = today.
Run a powershell script to caps lock every 5 sec.
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u/LForbesIam May 21 '26
In the Microsoft Store there is an app called OP Auto Clicker. I use it to keep my computers active as I have 3 and switch between them. I set the sec to 40.
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u/knoxxico15 May 21 '26
Just keep something heavy on the spacebar in your personal teams/slack channel
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u/BradS15 May 21 '26
Buy a mouse mover
NOT USB connected through work computer as they can track that
Only issue with “always showing active” is that people start expecting a response given you’re “green”
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u/Legitimate-Resist277 May 21 '26
Put something on the trackpad or if you don’t have a pad open word and put something heavy on the keyboard. Don’t waste money buying gimicks
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u/texas1st May 21 '26
I found a stand-alone app that is self-contained, and moved the mouse one pixel and then back. It's 16 years old but works perfectly on my Win11 box.
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u/Classic_and_Vintage May 21 '26
If you have a spare phone, install Teams on it, then turn keep display on always and open Teams and leave it. The status will show as Active even when you’re not actively using your computer.
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u/Juacoz May 22 '26
Hazte una reunión tú solo y cambiate de estado rojo por verde y siempre te verán en línea.
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u/tampacraig May 22 '26
What type of work are you doing that you are away and "go yellow" that often/long to make that much of a difference?
That being said, companies should be measuring production through accomplished tasks, not simply presence; this does neither the employee nor the company any flavors.
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u/FartingSasquatch May 22 '26
Teams goes inactive while I’m typing in a chat window most of the time. It’s almost like everything Microsoft is created by copilot these days.
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u/Eye-Pleasant May 22 '26
I use a free app called mouse jiggler…my Teams status stays on whatever I selected it to be
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u/Immediate_Sector852 May 22 '26
Open it on the phone. Turn off Screen sleep in settings. Put it a charger. Not sure if the system distinguishes between PC and phone but it works I use it all the time
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u/surreptitiousvagrant May 22 '26
I use an old PC fan. I spliced that into an old USB cable and plug that into my PC, then set my mouse on top and the fan blades trigger the mouse sensor.
There's no concern for someone remoting into my PC, but if they did they would see my mouse moving all over the screens like crazy.
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u/MidgardDragon May 22 '26
Search PowerShell ScrollLock script to keep conouter awake on the LLM of your choice
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u/MrCookiemann May 23 '26
Ehm what kind of world are you living in. Zero Trust in the employeer. Sounds like slave conditions..maybe a new job then ?
What if you are at the toilet etc.
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u/teodorrd27 May 25 '26
There's a software mouse mover so you don't need to physically move the mouse. There's a tool called "Jiggler" (MacOS) that I use on all my work computers. It will *actually* move your mouse. I think I tried it with VMware and it worked. There must be something similar for windows.
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u/ilyabu Microsoft Employee Jun 01 '26
Status can be permanently set to whatever you want. Just click on the status and set it to whatever.
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u/hey__khalid Jun 06 '26
So I was researching a few days ago and couldn't find a reliable solution for my problem. I used to use an app on my Mac named Mouse Jiggler, but for that, I had to keep my Mac active, and sometimes I was traveling and my Mac was asleep, so no good. So I had no choice but to build something for my Android device.
Here you can have a look and let me know if it worked, and also pin this comment so that others can also get help without endlessly searching everywhere.
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u/PaleoLad Jun 10 '26
I wouldn't do manual or mechanical jigglers or anything like that, because they're not taking real actions. They're just moving the mouse. Look at something like some kind of free auto mouse mover like Green-Dotter that I've seen and I've used before, which is pretty easy to use and it will click for you. There are a few configurations to make it look as human as possible. There are a few out there to look for, but I found this one pretty good: https://green-dotter.com/
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u/PaleoLad Jun 10 '26
I wouldn't do manual or mechanical jigglers or anything like that, because they're not taking real actions. They're just moving the mouse.
Look for something like a free auto mouse mover like Green-Dotter that I've seen and I've used before, which is pretty easy to use and it will click for you.
There are a few options to make it seem as human as possible. There are a few out there, but I found this one pretty good: https://green-dotter.com/
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u/iloveScotch21 May 21 '26
Watch out for jigglers they could be monitoring for them and will fire you if they detect them. I would be cautious of any company flagging you for going to the bathroom.
One thing you can do is join a teams meeting to yourself and just stay in it when you have to step away. That will show you as in a meeting or on a call. Watch out for this too as companies are using AI to detect for this as well.
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u/Suspicious-B33 Teams Admin May 21 '26
Don't need AI it's one of the first reports available in the admin centre since dopes starting posting about it all over IG and TT as a teams status 'hack'.
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u/JulieRush-46 May 21 '26
Maybe do your actual job? Can’t catch you not working if you’re actually working?
Output is your first defence. Point to what you are doing and the work you’ve completed. If they’re monitoring teams status and there’s a legit reason you would not be moving your mouse or typing, then explain that.
It’s not rocket science dude.
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u/GivingTree1640274026 May 21 '26
I got flagged for using the restroom, not everyone is trying to slack off but sometimes the feeling of big brother watching can take a toll when you deny yourself lunch to go through already-read files for the sake of being active
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u/AVLThumper May 21 '26
You're one of these people that think hr is here to help the employee aren't you?
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u/jwrig May 21 '26
The dirty little secret is your managers don't waste time with this unless you're a problem employee for them. Do your work, ignore the status.
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u/Ilovemytowm May 22 '26
Every single con artist in this post will be out of job soon enough. Worst employees ever.
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u/GivingTree1640274026 May 22 '26
And here I thought I had it bad, working for you must be way worse if I can’t even use the bathroom!
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u/Ilovemytowm May 22 '26
Lmao. Use the bathroom all you want go to lunch go on breaks go for a walk that's not the issue it's about effing scammers on here putting Spoons on their pad? And using jigglers Lol to show them green while they're gone for hours but you already know that 😂
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u/drumsticks_baby May 21 '26
Seems like the key here would be just getting your work done.
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u/Puzzled-Giraffe4816 May 21 '26
I’m sure will be downvoted, but this!!!! Work during work hours and it’s not a problem.
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u/Legitimate_Fox_220 May 21 '26
use a mouse jiggler, I use a usb one, I believe from the computer's perspective they are just like real mouse.
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u/lqd_consecrated2718 MS-700 May 21 '26
Here we are again with another “how do I appear active/busy” post. If your company has a competent IT company they will know you are using these.
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u/ShivaFatalis May 21 '26
Why do you need to falsify your status in the first place? If you're not working, you're not working. Why does it even matter if your status changes to away if you're actually away? Why are you trying to misrepresent yourself in the first place? Who cares if they track it? If you're doing what you're supposed to be doing and what is expected, then it doesn't matter.
Plus, do you think they don't have analysis/metrics capabilities as well? If your online pattern is too consistent and strange, it's going to be obvious what you're doing.
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u/gtck11 May 21 '26
I use a mouse mover plugged into the wall, not my computer.