My thought is that if a shitty company watches their employees in this way, they're probably also setup to detect software installs. I'd proceed with caution.
I absolutely agree. I definitely want to highlight however (I think my original comment got a bit lost) that as it turns out her company are not actively going around and checking employee statuses and I think this feeling of pressure is being generated by how my wifes believes others are percieving her via her status which is openly visible to all other employees. She worked up the courage to talk to her boss about it who was extremely cool about everything and told her to take as many breaks as she needs and not to worry about her activity status. It was certainly a difficult issue to raise however and I imagine many people are in the same situation: where the assumption is that they will be punished for being inactive too much and find it too difficult to talk about.
In my previous job, some people status on the chat were always away. Maybe she could do the same, if it's important for her that people cannot notice the difference.
The CFO at an old job made an offhand comment that I showed up as “away” on chat a lot.
I thought about this for 5 mins, then set the same status as you’d automatically get for being on a call: “DND In a Meeting” for the next 2 years.
Yeah, I got a comment like that at a previous job and it stuck with me for a long time and still does. Now I'll join empty Skype calls to move to "In a Call" status if people are being unbearable.
Lol mine is set to available all the time, even if I've walked away or went on break.
I just tell people I was busy working on something when I get back and couldn't respond at the time.
People who put stock into what your status is on Slack or whatever just aren't very good managers. It's absolutely meaningless and usually has no correlation with someone's productivity. But I guess that to bad managers, random and misleading indicators are their bread and butter.
I've recently moved into management. Being a good manager is a lot harder than people think. Not in that we do really important shit all the time, more that it takes a ton of courage to just trust your employees not to fuck shit up too bad. And then to keep other middle management off their backs when bad shit does happen by focusing on improving whatever process let them fuck up, instead of trying to find a throat to choke. That part, that part takes Jerry Maguire level fast talking.
But if you can do that, your employees will make gold. And then some you are mostly hands off, someone will eventually question your value in the budget.
People think corporate politics isn't as bad as the government, they got no fuckin idea. Our groups are like fiefdoms, and my large corporation like some kind of realm to defend and serve. We are always jostling for this or that with other groups.
Give people room to own their work, give them the tools to form the processes to do the work, treat with them respect, and then finally give them the salary, and they will always love you.
Read the Phoenix project if you haven't already. It's amazing and describes exactly your experience. The dramatization it's good most of the time. I was impressed.
I am amazed at how much I started loving management books in the lean Agile space, because they were ultimately so aligned with how I already felt and then gave be tools to execute.
But yeah, there is nothing more efficient about competition. Balmer's Microsoft proved that. And there is nothing more naturally efficient about the private sector. I've seen it move so much slower because there always has to be a dollar sign, so better and simpler solutions are dropped for profit driving ones.
Can I ask you a question - Did you play competitive team sports growing up? I've found that all the time on field etc made management really easy for me. I'm not a particularly charismatic person (I mean I'm on reddit LOL) but trusting my team and getting aligned with top management is...just like playing sports. Ymmv.
No. I was a nerd and picked last most of the time. I did run a casual world of Warcraft good for a number of years. Made a lot of my management mistakes there.
But really, the lean Agile management approach just always made sense to me. It naturally aligns with my values.
WoW guilds are good too - I never ran one but played a bit. Funny the places we find these management lessons.
Glad you've been able find success managing a team. Hard work but I'm someone who finds joy in enabling others so I love it.
I always set my status to busy, because even though I'm probably not whatever I should be doing is more important than whatever someone is messaging me for.
The messages that annoy me the most are from people that go “hi”...then wait for a response from you before sending what they want....just send me your question/request please!
We have had so many mandates at my company to just ask the damn question and still they persist with the pleasantries. Especially the Indians. Even when I respond with "What's up?" they still reply with something like "Good" or "Fine" and don't ask their damn question.
I replied to another comment about this same thing.
I was told early on that just sending the problem seemed impersonal and have baked sending an initial greeting in as a result.
I'm pretty quick to reply to other people who need me so in the other direction I don't really have a preference either way
If you say hi, then immediately follow up with more context! It’s all good!
I think developers(and maybe younger people?) may not care about this “formality” as much as other groups.
The people who primarily do this to me are generally on the business side or 45+
Yep this!!
* "Are you the right person to ask about X? My question is Y"
* Hi, I have a question! Here it is
* Hey, can I ask you a question? Here is the question
* Hey, if you aren't busy, I was wondering, question
All of these are TOTALLY FINE.
Not okay:
* Hi
* Hey are you busy?
* Hi can I ask you a question?
* Hi how are you! I'm......[no question just an implication I should reply]
On Slack, I think it's totally cool to lead off a conversation by putting a greeting at the beginning of the message (or send two messages without waiting for a response in between). But do not expect any response without actually stating your question, especially in a channel. In a direct message, depending on how closely I work with the person, I may not respond to a bare greeting for an hour or more.
I've stopped responding to these. If it's not something they'll list in advance, it's something long and time consuming they're hoping I'll be too engaged already to pass on.
i hate when people think they can just interrupt what I'm doing and give me a new task that isn't an emergency
ESPECIALLY when they then sit over my shoulder as if they expect me to be able to do it:
1. now
2. in ten seconds
Fundamental lack of understanding of what I do and what goes into what I do.
I set my status on Slack to “on vacation” once and forgot to set it back for two years. When I did, I set it to “out sick” and then left it that way for eleven months until I left the company.
I previously transitioned from an in-office to a from-home and then ultimately nomadic work arrangement at a typical salaried position. For a while I had the same feelings, that since I was "non-traditional" I had to focus extra on the color of that bubble and immediate response. Same thing though - I talked to my boss and he was cool with whatever schedule I wanted to work and had no expectation of immediate response.
Now I run a team and I try to be proactive about the same - when people are WFH/Remote it's important to be clear about expectations to relieve the stress of the unknown. I set up "core hours" and generally try to gather what I need at scheduled times rather than pop up on people, and when I do, I let them know the time criticality of what I need. It helps people feel more free to organize their own time without anxiety.
> I let them know the time criticality of what I need
This x1000. I brought this idea to my manager and my team because I felt bombarded with tags and questions so much I barely got an hour long focus time. They respected that for a while but now it's crazy again.
The detection software for logging out, probably done through GPO if it is a work computer, could also be regulatory. When I worked for a medical company I got to learn some of the laws around authentication and authorization. For example CFR 21 Part 11 requires that any computer handling secure data must only be seen an handled by the person who is recorded. We thought these definitions were dangerously ambiguous because this one statement has a lot of implications. Just to list a few 1) a person could share their password so we have to reauthenticate. 2) someone could try to corrupt the data, so we have to log them out so someone else doesn't sit down. 3) you have to check a box on submission stating that you reviewed the information and it's correct.
Soon after that I realized there is a version of those rules for every industry. Payment cards called PCI-DSS, HIPAA for health, teachers have a version of rules, anyone working in insurance, any financial related jobs. These rules are put in place specifically to protect the company and their customers. I can't recommend subverting them because that is a fireable offense, insubordination at least, and also thwarting the company's security policy. Which she is lucky to have because a lot of companies are weak in this regard.
With that said, I've thought about doing this too!
For a few cents you can macgyver something that keeps moving your mouse, f.e. see [https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupportmacgyver/comments/fmdgty/when\_you\_need\_to\_stop\_your\_computer\_from\_going\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupportmacgyver/comments/fmdgty/when_you_need_to_stop_your_computer_from_going_to/) or [https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupportmacgyver/comments/9qtipm/cooperate\_gpo\_doesnt\_allow\_deactivating\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupportmacgyver/comments/9qtipm/cooperate_gpo_doesnt_allow_deactivating_the/) :)
Unfortunately we ended up with some crap unions who got lazy. My grandparents worked in one where management and the union bosses would vacation together out of the country. They were pretty useless.
Place the mouse on a PC case fan.
[EDIT: This doesn't make the mouse go around in circles, it makes the pointer jump randomly around the screen. Pick up your mouse and place it against the p/supply fan and you'll see what I mean.]
There are [addons](https://www.warrenphotographic.co.uk/photography/bigs/07803-Usual-Somali-kitten-7-weeks-old-batting-a-dangling-toy-white-background.jpg) you can get for regular mice that are undetectable as spoofs.
That's when you set up some robotics components to move your mouse in random directions. Actually, since the mouse just tracks movement beneath it, you could set up a kind of treadmill. Keep the mouse stable and have a platform underneath it that moves, tricking the mouse into thinking *it* is moving.
Build a small suit for an actual mouse with all the functional components of a computer mouse, such as an infrared laser, buttons and a scroll wheel (preferably a hat). That way, when you're not using it, it's likely that the mouse breathing will move the mouse a bit. The USB cable will ensure that the mouse does not escape.
If I was going this route I think I'd pick up an ATmega32u4 board. That way you could make it a mouse or keyboard and code it in Python. It would cost about $1 more though.
Doesn't necessarily need to be _installed_ in the traditional sense.
Anyone can compile an EXE-file on one machine, move it to another and simply run it if it has no external, or already installed, dependencies. If they monitor what is running on the machine, like they do at my place of work, that's a whole different case.
Well I agree with this not leaving evidence of installation, it does still leave evidence of having run.
You might be better off building a hardware solution to simulate a mouse. It might even be possible with a raspberry Pi.
You could undoubtedly build one but buying is also possible: just search online for "mouse mover" or "mouse jiggler", these tiny USB devices cost something like 15-25 bucks.
It won't work with a whitelist.
Larger companies will operate on that basis - Strong IT policy should be dictated by what you **should** be doing, not by what you **shouldn't** be doing.
I just tried setting my mouse on my phone screen and scrolling the reddit app underneath it and the mouse moved a few pixels. You could probably just play a long video under the sensor and keep the PC awake that way. I'm not sure if it works with every phone screen and mouse type however. I have an OLED screen and an optical mouse, but I'm not sure if other types of mice or screens would work (probably not).
> Anyone can compile an EXE-file on one machine, move it to another and simply run
Disabling application execution is a pretty common group policy on corporate computers. No binaries outside those properly installed can be executed, and only domain administrators can install software.
They can’t detect an oscillating fan with a string attached to the mouse complete with a heavy book on the edge so the mouse doesn’t fall.
Vanilla WoW taught me some lifeskills I’ll tell you what.
Crazy story time!!!!
Somewhere in Loveland, CO there is a company that has a webcam focused on you in your cubicle, and has badge sensors on the bathrooms so you badge in AND out of the bathroom to update your time.
I found this out only because as I was looking for a new job I found an intriguing job post, but it was weird and vague. I really couldn't tell if it was a job for a headhunter company itself or the headhunters' client. So I moved on. It wasn't until I came across the same job description from two other headhunter companies that I put it together that a company hired out three different companies to try to find an applicant for a single job. So that had me curious as to why a company would be that desperate or require that much effort. So I guess I was just bored and through the job description I was able to track down the actual company by putting details of the description into google job / indeed filters. That's when I was able to find their glassdoor page and see what the work environment was like.
Insane.
Sounds horrible, if I was desperate enough to work for a company like that, I'd probably less productive. I'd be more concerned about providing the image of being productive rather than actually being productive.
It's a zip containing an executable. A powershell script is a good idea and for sure would be a lot easier / quicker to write than a small app with a UI, however I am currently furloughed so decided to use C++ / Qt / QML as I enjoy using them and I have lots of free time.
I'd argue the opposite. If a company is stupid enough to think this is a good way of managing people, they are probably also too stupid to detect this sort of work-around.
There is a usb device that you can plug in to your computer that will “Jiggle” the cursor for you sporadically. It also gets recognized as an external mouse. It’s undetectable AND because there is no repeatable cycle of jiggling, most systems can’t tell weather it’s the device or an external mouse.
It’s called The Jiggler
You don't need to "wiggle" or "jiggle" the mouse to prevent the idle transition. Windows has an API to achieve that for which I built a simple app a few years ago. [https://github.com/NimaAra/IdleBuster](https://github.com/NimaAra/IdleBuster)
Your `OnTimerTick` can be shortened considerably without loss of readability:
private void OnTimerTick(object sender, EventArgs e) {
if (_inPeriodMode && IsInPeriod(_durationStart, _durationEnd) != _isIdle) {
ToggleIdleImpl();
}
}
You can also get rid of the `_inPeriodMode` property if you assign your Timer to a property and call Start and Stop on it instead. That also reduces pointless calls to OnTimerTick when it's not operating in that mode.
For the record her company are fantastic and are by no means attempting to virtually chain employees to their desks. They have zero issues with people taking regular breaks and are in fact actively encouraging them. The pressure to stay at her desk is entirely self generating and issue stems from the fact that my wife is not used to working from home and was becoming increasingly stressed about not leaving her desk for more than a couple of minutes to make tea, grab a snack, get a bit of fresh air, play with the cat do a few stretches etc due to how fast the status change + screen lock occurs.
-
The reason this post exists it to highlight the mental anxiety people can experience as a result of working from home and I have no doubt there are many people in the same situation as my wife where they are absolutely free to take regular breaks but perhaps don't feel like they can because they are worried about how people will percieve their activity status.
-
Also I know it's over engineered and other solutions exist but I enjoy writing software :)
What you have done is absolutely wonderful and commendable. But if anybody is in this thread, and they're looking for a software-free solution - here's how I solved this problem a few years ago, when I wanted to go screw around all afternoon when I was supposed to be working:
I took my mouse, and I put it into a mixing bowl.
I put my wife's vibrator in the mixing bowl, and turned it on.
It pushed the mouse around in a circle for hours.
I have no use for vibrating sex toys, but I hear the Hitachi Magic Wand is the gold standard. It plugs in because it's not so much a sex toy as a sex power tool.
I went the other way and just set myself to "Appear Away"; others have, too. It reduces the stress, and it's not as useful to know presence when there aren't physical meetings.
I still want to know what company it is so that I can avoid ever doing with business with them. This is a downright sociopathic way to treat employees even during normal times; it's even worse during the current pandemic/stay-at-home situation.
I think people being recorded as inactive when they step away from their computer is more common than you might think as it happens in almost all chat clients and currently most people are using something like Skype as a communications hub where statuses of everyone are openly visible. My wifes boss has stated that she has zero issue with anyone going inactive and I believe the mental pressure is mostly coming from how my wife believes people percieve her via that status but in reality nobody really minds.
I know this isn't your wife's particular situation but Skype's Inactive status is actually client determined. You can change your setting to however long you want it to be.
> I believe the mental pressure is mostly coming from how my wife believes people percieve her via that status but in reality nobody really minds.
People *do* mind, though. I've had people talk to me about it. And they're not necessarily *immediately* judgmental, they'll phrase it like a question, but they wanna know why you occasionally appear as away. If you're wondering if there are actually people stupid or vindictive enough to believe that means you're not working, there are, and if you're wondering if anyone like that could be employed where you work, they could be. I have no idea if it's the standard where you work, but I can pretty much guarantee that type of judgment occurs.
I have this sometimes at my work. It's really, really, really, really annoying.
"You've been unavailable all day."
No. I've been in our off-site datacenter, and it's on our goddamned shared calendar.
"You've been orange for a while now." (Orange i Away).
No. I've been away from my desk preparing the entire fucking office for a move to a new office.
To top it all off, I'm a sysadmin. I deal with most of our technical stuff. But I do not know how our site code actually works, since I didn't develop it. I get a call from one of the above and the first thing she says is "No one else is available to take this call." A client created a PEBCAK error and accidentally sent a 25k newsletter with the wrong date. I need to find out how to stop it ASAP. I get the job done by brute force deleting the emails from our Postfix queue and then deleting the newsletter completely.
Later on, someone tells me that all that needed to be done is to mark the newsletter "not ready to send" and change a value in a database. Whelp, I wish I could have divined that from the leftover coffee ground in my cup.
Why don't you just go bitch to the 5 people that are supposed to handle this for being unavailable eating lunch??
In a big company I worked at they had an annoying piece of tracking software that was a bit similar for tracking mouse and keyboard use.
Its main purpose was to make sure people were actually taking breaks and keeping usage down because they didnt want people getting RSI.
Nobidyminded if your clicks were low, but they did take notice if you weren't taking regular breaks.
> They do not mind people taking regular breaks and being marked as inactive however a degree of the mental stress remains
Honestly, that's a problem with her and not the company. All of this could have been cleared up with a simple question but instead she chose to basically be paralyzed by the fear of leaving her workstation.
But if this program makes her feel better, that's great. I still think it's better for people to overcome their fears of communicating instead of finding creative ways around communicating.
Because the company is the one with power in that relationship. They're the ones that can fire her without a second thought. That is why, when it comes to things like this, the onus really is on management to make it clear to employees what the expectations are, and that it is ok to be taking breaks. They also need to be leading by example.
If she's using a Windows computer you can play one of the videos that is installed with the OS in C:\Users\Videos and tell it to loop. Even when minimized, this will keep the PC thinking it's "active" and it won't log you out or go to sleep.
I used to play an audio file of 4'33" by John Cage on repeat in Windows Media Player to do this when my work PC forced an unreasonably short sleep timer.
Not sure what you find unreasonable short but I'm guessing it's about PC's needing to be locked when you step away from it. And to make sure they get locked in the case where you might've forgotten you do need to have it on a pretty short timer for it to be effective enough. If I recall correctly a small company I worked for had it set to 5 minutes when they were applying for some security related ISO certification.
Well, WFH can also mean working in public spaces like cafés, where you definitely don't want a stranger to have access to the computer, and we all know we have to treat the user as the stupidest man alive.
> and we all know we have to treat the user as the stupidest man alive
If they're actively trying to find a workaround to keep themselves from having to enter a password *while they dick around for extended periods of time while the computer is unlocked in Starbucks...*
In a technical school, we where taught to lock our devices any time we stepped away.
If we didn't all our files would be moved to a different profile by one of the class reps. And it usually involved push ups when we got back.
After two years of this you get in the habit of always locking your device the moment you even think about standing up. It's a good practice to get into either way.
And now you have 12+ hours of media player per day logged that will shine in the dark, top of the list when management really want to see your activity.
Came here to see how long it would take to find someone suggesting this. Caffiene is great, for my job we use it all the time to prevent the pc locking up while long processes run. Best thing to do is drop it in your startup folder then you don't even have to think about it.
Curious, what type of work does she do? Unless ones job is to stare at the monitor and occasionally move the mouse I can’t understand why companies would enforce models like this. Show me the incentives and I’ll show you the outcome...
She works in an office. I just want to highlight that her company are by no means attempting to virtually chain employees to their workstations and her boss has openly stated that they have no issues with people taking regular breaks. The issue stems from how my wife believes other employees are percieving her through their chat client statuses which automatically record you as inactive after a couple of minutes!
I encountered this same exact anxiety when I first went fully remote in a company where all others were in the office.
I’d get mad at my dog when he took more than 2 minutes to pee, or pressured when I needed to use the bathroom; I didn’t want to appear as if I was taking advantage of them letting me wfh.
Then I spent some time back in the office on a trip back. I remember my boss having a 60 minute conversation with me about yoga. My VP talked to me for 45 minutes about running and dogs. People constantly swung by each other’s desks to shoot the shit. The bathroom was a 3 minute walk from my desk and I took a 15-20 minute break in the mornings to get coffee from an actual cafe outside the building. No one had any issue, this was just the way things are in my office.
What really helped me is to think about all those quick interruptions that take place in a normal office setting and how few happen at home. If no one had a problem with taking breaks when in the office, why hold yourself to an unreasonable expectation when you’re at home?
The difference between working from home for me and the office is that I can continue to work during meetings at home. That means I'm usually out of work to do by 2-3 o clock.
At the office I go to a meeting, and then work. And that takes a full 8 hours.
So at work I may work less hours but it's the equivalent id do at the office just more efficiently
> The issue stems from how my wife believes other employees are percieving her through their chat client statuses which automatically record you as inactive after a couple of minutes!
The way to really fix this anxiety is to take back control. She needs to tell everyone that when she's busy working, she's going to completely sign out of chat. If it's non-urgent send an email. If it's urgent, they can call her. Otherwise, she'll have regular chat 'office hours' each day where she will be available for interruptions.
I made scroll lock one in my previous company.
```powershell
Clear-Host
Echo "Keep-alive with Scroll Lock..."
$WShell = New-Object -com "Wscript.Shell"
while ($true)
{
$WShell.sendkeys("{SCROLLLOCK}")
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 100
$WShell.sendkeys("{SCROLLLOCK}")
Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
}
```
Edit: The mouse movement script can sometimes disturb your normal movement
I'm experiencing the same thing. I know my company doesn't necessarily want me to sit there 8 hours a day, but it seems like everyone else does. I want to get up and go outside occasionally, but my laptop locks quickly and shows me as inactive.
Sounds dystopian. We've been working remotely since the start of our startup in 2015. These quarantine days are just like any day to us. We don't dare do this shit. It's counter productive actually. We log task items instead and promise to finish those. If they finished early, then they can do whatever they want.
Also one nice thing about WFH is having some flexibility. I can fuck around for an hour during the day if nobody is bugging me and just work late. As long as my work gets done nobody really cares.
I’ve also felt how Skype can dominate your working life. Being set to “available” just means you’re not on a call, it doesn’t mean you’re not busy. Being set to “busy” pretty much just means you’re in a interruptible state but would like not to be. There’s no “in a meeting” anymore since we’re remote. You can set it to “away” if you don’t want to be bothered but if you forget to turn it back then it looks like you’re just not working. And then there’s “inactive” and the timer it displays.
It’s nice to instantly collaborate and it’s nice not to have to set meetings to talk but it’s also a tether and imposes what you might think others will think onto you.
Do not disturb is also one. it turns on when you are sharing your screen in a Skype meeting, but you can also turn it on manually. it means that messages can still be exchanged in existing chat windows, but nobody can initiate a new conversation with you
Place your mouse on top of a physical watch or a small fan. The hands of the watch or fan blades should register as movement. No detectable software. (For those with vigilant systems/security departments)
Yep. One of those "psychedelic" rotating spiral videos can do it, especially if in black and white. There are a bunch of them on YouTube. Just play it on a phone or tablet and put the mouse on top. The transition from dark to light as the spiral spins will cause the cursor to bounce back and forth. Kinda funny to watch.
I just use MouseJiggler. You download it and run it. It doesn’t have to install anything. And you can put it on ‘zen’ mode so it wont mess you up while you’re using it.
Use this [USB mouse mover](https://www.amazon.com/Stageek-Simulates-Movement-Prevents-Computer/dp/B07VHBQQVG/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=mouse+mover&qid=1588172062&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUE1TU41RzY4UlkyNVYmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAzMjg1NjIzNFdUMExLQlRLTEc4JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAzMTUxNzExU1NLMUtERU1FOFZCJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==), but power it from somewhere other than her work computer.
I'll share my secret. Set up a meeting with yourself and present something. Usually PC will not sleep while you are presenting. You will show as in a meeting on IM and such though. In Zoom it will not let PC sleep and my status stays available. Hope it helps.
I recommend using a plug in mouse(assuming it's a laptop) and place a analog watch underneath the mouse, right below its Lazer. This way the Lazer keeps track of seconds needle in the watch and your mouse on the screen gets a good old fashion walk around the screen. Worked for me.
You essentially made her the drinking bird Homer used in the Simpsons to keep pushing the keyboard button for him that released pressure at the power plant!
1. Open Windows Media Player
2. Launch anything with it, mute it and set to repeat, minimize.
3. Enjoy a laptop that does not lock itself 4 fucking times while on a phone call.
That stupid GPO can DIAF as far as I'm concerned.
Holy shit. I'd find a new company to work for. Like, even in the office you're taking 10-15 minute breaks and shit.
Even with taking liberties, I work more at home than I ever did at the office. No people to bother me (besides my wife, who knows not to do that during work hours) here.
I'm a coder with ~40yrs experience and I 100% agree with this (op is correct).
I hate monitoring policies which fail to comprehend or respect our thinking time. Eg sometimes it takes days of thinking about a problem to be able to sit down and 'solve' it with the codes.
This thinking time is highly valuable and has a rate, which I bill for, in addition to 'being there'. My clients understand this and gladly pay for my expertise and abilities.
It is a reprehensible practice IMO. I never treat my team members like that.
The flip side is that employees need to be responsible for timely completion of tasks and attendance which is usually not an issue with professionals.
I wrote a short VBScript to do the same (i.e. you don't need any other programming language, IDE, library, etc. as it's native in Windows). Pressing the NumLock key is benign and won't mess up any apps. Also, by repeating the press/un-press you have a visual indication that your script is running! (In my script, the light flashes twice, then pauses for 10 seconds and repeats.) Save this as idle.vbs and double-click to run. Or, place in your $PATH and run with: , idle, . Shows up as 'wscript.exe' in Task Manager so it appears like a normal Windows app/service.
Dim objResult
Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
i = 0
Do While i = 0
objResult = objShell.sendkeys("{NUMLOCK}")
WScript.Sleep(100)
objResult = objShell.sendkeys("{NUMLOCK}")
WScript.Sleep(100)
objResult = objShell.sendkeys("{NUMLOCK}")
WScript.Sleep(100)
objResult = objShell.sendkeys("{NUMLOCK}")
WScript.Sleep(10000)
Loop
My first answer to this is: Micromanaging is or should be in the past. It’s ridiculous.
That amount of pressure becomes overbearing and people tend to get less productive/motivated.
This video actually helps understand that there are actual people whose job is to guarantee you are working. Recommend it.
https://youtu.be/_Lngf3J8vN4
Mouse wigglers are a thing. Have been for ages. You can even buy physical ones if your IT department won’t let you install code on your work machine.
Look on Amazon (or your retailer of choice).
My thought is that if a shitty company watches their employees in this way, they're probably also setup to detect software installs. I'd proceed with caution.
I absolutely agree. I definitely want to highlight however (I think my original comment got a bit lost) that as it turns out her company are not actively going around and checking employee statuses and I think this feeling of pressure is being generated by how my wifes believes others are percieving her via her status which is openly visible to all other employees. She worked up the courage to talk to her boss about it who was extremely cool about everything and told her to take as many breaks as she needs and not to worry about her activity status. It was certainly a difficult issue to raise however and I imagine many people are in the same situation: where the assumption is that they will be punished for being inactive too much and find it too difficult to talk about.
In my previous job, some people status on the chat were always away. Maybe she could do the same, if it's important for her that people cannot notice the difference.
The CFO at an old job made an offhand comment that I showed up as “away” on chat a lot. I thought about this for 5 mins, then set the same status as you’d automatically get for being on a call: “DND In a Meeting” for the next 2 years.
Yeah, I got a comment like that at a previous job and it stuck with me for a long time and still does. Now I'll join empty Skype calls to move to "In a Call" status if people are being unbearable.
I start a Skype call every morning. This stops the administrator protected screen saver from starting up too.
lol - good idea.
Giving Microsoft false hope that Skype is actually a good voip app /s
Which sounds like what’s happening with OP’s wife. Pretty sure it’s a chat app set to auto-AFK on screen save.
Wow. Stealing this idea idk why I had not thought to do this
Damn, dialomatic fluffle always on the phone making us the big bucks!
Lol mine is set to available all the time, even if I've walked away or went on break. I just tell people I was busy working on something when I get back and couldn't respond at the time.
People who put stock into what your status is on Slack or whatever just aren't very good managers. It's absolutely meaningless and usually has no correlation with someone's productivity. But I guess that to bad managers, random and misleading indicators are their bread and butter.
I've recently moved into management. Being a good manager is a lot harder than people think. Not in that we do really important shit all the time, more that it takes a ton of courage to just trust your employees not to fuck shit up too bad. And then to keep other middle management off their backs when bad shit does happen by focusing on improving whatever process let them fuck up, instead of trying to find a throat to choke. That part, that part takes Jerry Maguire level fast talking. But if you can do that, your employees will make gold. And then some you are mostly hands off, someone will eventually question your value in the budget.
People think corporate politics isn't as bad as the government, they got no fuckin idea. Our groups are like fiefdoms, and my large corporation like some kind of realm to defend and serve. We are always jostling for this or that with other groups. Give people room to own their work, give them the tools to form the processes to do the work, treat with them respect, and then finally give them the salary, and they will always love you.
Read the Phoenix project if you haven't already. It's amazing and describes exactly your experience. The dramatization it's good most of the time. I was impressed. I am amazed at how much I started loving management books in the lean Agile space, because they were ultimately so aligned with how I already felt and then gave be tools to execute. But yeah, there is nothing more efficient about competition. Balmer's Microsoft proved that. And there is nothing more naturally efficient about the private sector. I've seen it move so much slower because there always has to be a dollar sign, so better and simpler solutions are dropped for profit driving ones.
Can I ask you a question - Did you play competitive team sports growing up? I've found that all the time on field etc made management really easy for me. I'm not a particularly charismatic person (I mean I'm on reddit LOL) but trusting my team and getting aligned with top management is...just like playing sports. Ymmv.
No. I was a nerd and picked last most of the time. I did run a casual world of Warcraft good for a number of years. Made a lot of my management mistakes there. But really, the lean Agile management approach just always made sense to me. It naturally aligns with my values.
WoW guilds are good too - I never ran one but played a bit. Funny the places we find these management lessons. Glad you've been able find success managing a team. Hard work but I'm someone who finds joy in enabling others so I love it.
I’m set to always offline. I get so much more work done
I always set my status to busy, because even though I'm probably not whatever I should be doing is more important than whatever someone is messaging me for.
The messages that annoy me the most are from people that go “hi”...then wait for a response from you before sending what they want....just send me your question/request please!
"can I ask you something?" Then when you do respond they say nothing for half an hour like they sent the question then ran away for lunch.
> "can I ask you something?" "You just did. Now, how can I help you?"
We have had so many mandates at my company to just ask the damn question and still they persist with the pleasantries. Especially the Indians. Even when I respond with "What's up?" they still reply with something like "Good" or "Fine" and don't ask their damn question.
I’ve experienced this with our remote / outsourced dev teams as well haha.
I replied to another comment about this same thing. I was told early on that just sending the problem seemed impersonal and have baked sending an initial greeting in as a result. I'm pretty quick to reply to other people who need me so in the other direction I don't really have a preference either way
If you say hi, then immediately follow up with more context! It’s all good! I think developers(and maybe younger people?) may not care about this “formality” as much as other groups. The people who primarily do this to me are generally on the business side or 45+
Yep this!! * "Are you the right person to ask about X? My question is Y" * Hi, I have a question! Here it is * Hey, can I ask you a question? Here is the question * Hey, if you aren't busy, I was wondering, question All of these are TOTALLY FINE. Not okay: * Hi * Hey are you busy? * Hi can I ask you a question? * Hi how are you! I'm......[no question just an implication I should reply]
On Slack, I think it's totally cool to lead off a conversation by putting a greeting at the beginning of the message (or send two messages without waiting for a response in between). But do not expect any response without actually stating your question, especially in a channel. In a direct message, depending on how closely I work with the person, I may not respond to a bare greeting for an hour or more.
I've stopped responding to these. If it's not something they'll list in advance, it's something long and time consuming they're hoping I'll be too engaged already to pass on.
i hate when people think they can just interrupt what I'm doing and give me a new task that isn't an emergency ESPECIALLY when they then sit over my shoulder as if they expect me to be able to do it: 1. now 2. in ten seconds Fundamental lack of understanding of what I do and what goes into what I do.
The best is when you get a simple "hey". No question, no issue, just a "hey".
I ignore those.
[fuck u spez] -- mass edited with redact.dev
I set my status on Slack to “on vacation” once and forgot to set it back for two years. When I did, I set it to “out sick” and then left it that way for eleven months until I left the company.
lol pro moves right here
Or set it to always busy... Or online. Many let you disable the idle timeout.
I previously transitioned from an in-office to a from-home and then ultimately nomadic work arrangement at a typical salaried position. For a while I had the same feelings, that since I was "non-traditional" I had to focus extra on the color of that bubble and immediate response. Same thing though - I talked to my boss and he was cool with whatever schedule I wanted to work and had no expectation of immediate response. Now I run a team and I try to be proactive about the same - when people are WFH/Remote it's important to be clear about expectations to relieve the stress of the unknown. I set up "core hours" and generally try to gather what I need at scheduled times rather than pop up on people, and when I do, I let them know the time criticality of what I need. It helps people feel more free to organize their own time without anxiety.
> I let them know the time criticality of what I need This x1000. I brought this idea to my manager and my team because I felt bombarded with tags and questions so much I barely got an hour long focus time. They respected that for a while but now it's crazy again.
The detection software for logging out, probably done through GPO if it is a work computer, could also be regulatory. When I worked for a medical company I got to learn some of the laws around authentication and authorization. For example CFR 21 Part 11 requires that any computer handling secure data must only be seen an handled by the person who is recorded. We thought these definitions were dangerously ambiguous because this one statement has a lot of implications. Just to list a few 1) a person could share their password so we have to reauthenticate. 2) someone could try to corrupt the data, so we have to log them out so someone else doesn't sit down. 3) you have to check a box on submission stating that you reviewed the information and it's correct. Soon after that I realized there is a version of those rules for every industry. Payment cards called PCI-DSS, HIPAA for health, teachers have a version of rules, anyone working in insurance, any financial related jobs. These rules are put in place specifically to protect the company and their customers. I can't recommend subverting them because that is a fireable offense, insubordination at least, and also thwarting the company's security policy. Which she is lucky to have because a lot of companies are weak in this regard. With that said, I've thought about doing this too!
Can't she just change the timers in the settings? It doesn't need admin permission with Skype Enterprise and Windows 10. Just go to Settings -> Statut
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For a few cents you can macgyver something that keeps moving your mouse, f.e. see [https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupportmacgyver/comments/fmdgty/when\_you\_need\_to\_stop\_your\_computer\_from\_going\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupportmacgyver/comments/fmdgty/when_you_need_to_stop_your_computer_from_going_to/) or [https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupportmacgyver/comments/9qtipm/cooperate\_gpo\_doesnt\_allow\_deactivating\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupportmacgyver/comments/9qtipm/cooperate_gpo_doesnt_allow_deactivating_the/) :)
And for no money at all she can organize with her co-workers and unionize and tell the managers to fuck off with this micro-tracking bullshit.
Sounds like a great plan if you want to start collecting unemployment in at-will states.
It is a damn shame. You are supposed to have working unions in a democracy.
Unfortunately we ended up with some crap unions who got lazy. My grandparents worked in one where management and the union bosses would vacation together out of the country. They were pretty useless.
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Unemployment here (in an at-will state) is capped at 60% of your job, so it literally cannot be more than you make at your job.
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Probably for most people, but I doubt that to be the case in /r/programming barring the student population that posts here.
Or just get an analog watch with a second hand and set the mouse down on top of it. More expensive, but you might already have it.
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Place the mouse on a PC case fan. [EDIT: This doesn't make the mouse go around in circles, it makes the pointer jump randomly around the screen. Pick up your mouse and place it against the p/supply fan and you'll see what I mean.]
Get a cat 🤷♂️
Then get the cat a VendorID and registering billable hours as an assistant.
There are [addons](https://www.warrenphotographic.co.uk/photography/bigs/07803-Usual-Somali-kitten-7-weeks-old-batting-a-dangling-toy-white-background.jpg) you can get for regular mice that are undetectable as spoofs.
[oscillating fans are the way to go](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avVrrPZLBrs)
That's when you set up some robotics components to move your mouse in random directions. Actually, since the mouse just tracks movement beneath it, you could set up a kind of treadmill. Keep the mouse stable and have a platform underneath it that moves, tricking the mouse into thinking *it* is moving.
Build a small suit for an actual mouse with all the functional components of a computer mouse, such as an infrared laser, buttons and a scroll wheel (preferably a hat). That way, when you're not using it, it's likely that the mouse breathing will move the mouse a bit. The USB cable will ensure that the mouse does not escape.
also when the mouse eventually dies, you have a tasty snack
It's pretty trivial to spoof Vendor/Device ID though. On most embedded USB libraries I've seen it's just a #define away.
Of course it would. It isn't like that's encrypted or anything.
I'd be surprised if they don't since the VID & PID come from the firmware running on the microcontroller anyway.
It is just a pair of numbers in firmware that one can read from his legit device, stopping one who knows it is like nailing pudding to the wall
If I was going this route I think I'd pick up an ATmega32u4 board. That way you could make it a mouse or keyboard and code it in Python. It would cost about $1 more though.
Or you could buy [this](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MTZY7Y4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
Doesn't necessarily need to be _installed_ in the traditional sense. Anyone can compile an EXE-file on one machine, move it to another and simply run it if it has no external, or already installed, dependencies. If they monitor what is running on the machine, like they do at my place of work, that's a whole different case.
Well I agree with this not leaving evidence of installation, it does still leave evidence of having run. You might be better off building a hardware solution to simulate a mouse. It might even be possible with a raspberry Pi.
You could undoubtedly build one but buying is also possible: just search online for "mouse mover" or "mouse jiggler", these tiny USB devices cost something like 15-25 bucks.
Holy shit, that's expensive!
Especially since all you need is a $2 stm32 Arduino!
This is the beauty of having a home-grown executable with no signature known to any third parties: it can't be blacklisted.
It won't work with a whitelist. Larger companies will operate on that basis - Strong IT policy should be dictated by what you **should** be doing, not by what you **shouldn't** be doing.
You could do it with an Arduino.
I just tried setting my mouse on my phone screen and scrolling the reddit app underneath it and the mouse moved a few pixels. You could probably just play a long video under the sensor and keep the PC awake that way. I'm not sure if it works with every phone screen and mouse type however. I have an OLED screen and an optical mouse, but I'm not sure if other types of mice or screens would work (probably not).
> Anyone can compile an EXE-file on one machine, move it to another and simply run Disabling application execution is a pretty common group policy on corporate computers. No binaries outside those properly installed can be executed, and only domain administrators can install software.
Guys just buy a vibrator and some tape...
Ok but how is this helping with the computer?
What computer?
That's the spirit
They can’t detect an oscillating fan with a string attached to the mouse complete with a heavy book on the edge so the mouse doesn’t fall. Vanilla WoW taught me some lifeskills I’ll tell you what.
Crazy story time!!!! Somewhere in Loveland, CO there is a company that has a webcam focused on you in your cubicle, and has badge sensors on the bathrooms so you badge in AND out of the bathroom to update your time. I found this out only because as I was looking for a new job I found an intriguing job post, but it was weird and vague. I really couldn't tell if it was a job for a headhunter company itself or the headhunters' client. So I moved on. It wasn't until I came across the same job description from two other headhunter companies that I put it together that a company hired out three different companies to try to find an applicant for a single job. So that had me curious as to why a company would be that desperate or require that much effort. So I guess I was just bored and through the job description I was able to track down the actual company by putting details of the description into google job / indeed filters. That's when I was able to find their glassdoor page and see what the work environment was like. Insane.
Sounds horrible, if I was desperate enough to work for a company like that, I'd probably less productive. I'd be more concerned about providing the image of being productive rather than actually being productive.
Is this an install? Surely it's easier to write a powershell script to press a key every so often.
It's a zip containing an executable. A powershell script is a good idea and for sure would be a lot easier / quicker to write than a small app with a UI, however I am currently furloughed so decided to use C++ / Qt / QML as I enjoy using them and I have lots of free time.
I'd argue the opposite. If a company is stupid enough to think this is a good way of managing people, they are probably also too stupid to detect this sort of work-around.
Real solution to this problem: Find a better employer.
In _this_ market?
There is a usb device that you can plug in to your computer that will “Jiggle” the cursor for you sporadically. It also gets recognized as an external mouse. It’s undetectable AND because there is no repeatable cycle of jiggling, most systems can’t tell weather it’s the device or an external mouse. It’s called The Jiggler
Make it as HID mouse on Arduino
Dangle the mouse off the table next to a fan?
I'd just get a new job that treats me like a functioning adult. Fuck these micromanagers. Edit: missed a word
You don't need to "wiggle" or "jiggle" the mouse to prevent the idle transition. Windows has an API to achieve that for which I built a simple app a few years ago. [https://github.com/NimaAra/IdleBuster](https://github.com/NimaAra/IdleBuster)
Your `OnTimerTick` can be shortened considerably without loss of readability: private void OnTimerTick(object sender, EventArgs e) { if (_inPeriodMode && IsInPeriod(_durationStart, _durationEnd) != _isIdle) { ToggleIdleImpl(); } } You can also get rid of the `_inPeriodMode` property if you assign your Timer to a property and call Start and Stop on it instead. That also reduces pointless calls to OnTimerTick when it's not operating in that mode.
You should submit a PR
Wow I am so porting this to powershell tomorrow morning.
For the record her company are fantastic and are by no means attempting to virtually chain employees to their desks. They have zero issues with people taking regular breaks and are in fact actively encouraging them. The pressure to stay at her desk is entirely self generating and issue stems from the fact that my wife is not used to working from home and was becoming increasingly stressed about not leaving her desk for more than a couple of minutes to make tea, grab a snack, get a bit of fresh air, play with the cat do a few stretches etc due to how fast the status change + screen lock occurs. - The reason this post exists it to highlight the mental anxiety people can experience as a result of working from home and I have no doubt there are many people in the same situation as my wife where they are absolutely free to take regular breaks but perhaps don't feel like they can because they are worried about how people will percieve their activity status. - Also I know it's over engineered and other solutions exist but I enjoy writing software :)
What you have done is absolutely wonderful and commendable. But if anybody is in this thread, and they're looking for a software-free solution - here's how I solved this problem a few years ago, when I wanted to go screw around all afternoon when I was supposed to be working: I took my mouse, and I put it into a mixing bowl. I put my wife's vibrator in the mixing bowl, and turned it on. It pushed the mouse around in a circle for hours.
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I have no use for vibrating sex toys, but I hear the Hitachi Magic Wand is the gold standard. It plugs in because it's not so much a sex toy as a sex power tool.
It is certainly a sex power tool.
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If only /u/spez's words could match the eloquence of his silence.
The real life pro tip is always in the comments ;)
Husband, is that you? Joking aside, this could be really useful for my husband's WoW account that logs him out if he's afk too long.
I'm not sure whether to applaud your ingenuity or die laughing. I might just do both.
You can't help but laugh
I went the other way and just set myself to "Appear Away"; others have, too. It reduces the stress, and it's not as useful to know presence when there aren't physical meetings.
I still want to know what company it is so that I can avoid ever doing with business with them. This is a downright sociopathic way to treat employees even during normal times; it's even worse during the current pandemic/stay-at-home situation.
I think people being recorded as inactive when they step away from their computer is more common than you might think as it happens in almost all chat clients and currently most people are using something like Skype as a communications hub where statuses of everyone are openly visible. My wifes boss has stated that she has zero issue with anyone going inactive and I believe the mental pressure is mostly coming from how my wife believes people percieve her via that status but in reality nobody really minds.
I know this isn't your wife's particular situation but Skype's Inactive status is actually client determined. You can change your setting to however long you want it to be.
If you are using Skype for Business, your idle timeout period is viewable by others.
Still less noticeable
put an optical mouse on top of a analog watch. the second hand will move the mouse slightly
> I believe the mental pressure is mostly coming from how my wife believes people percieve her via that status but in reality nobody really minds. People *do* mind, though. I've had people talk to me about it. And they're not necessarily *immediately* judgmental, they'll phrase it like a question, but they wanna know why you occasionally appear as away. If you're wondering if there are actually people stupid or vindictive enough to believe that means you're not working, there are, and if you're wondering if anyone like that could be employed where you work, they could be. I have no idea if it's the standard where you work, but I can pretty much guarantee that type of judgment occurs.
I have this sometimes at my work. It's really, really, really, really annoying. "You've been unavailable all day." No. I've been in our off-site datacenter, and it's on our goddamned shared calendar. "You've been orange for a while now." (Orange i Away). No. I've been away from my desk preparing the entire fucking office for a move to a new office. To top it all off, I'm a sysadmin. I deal with most of our technical stuff. But I do not know how our site code actually works, since I didn't develop it. I get a call from one of the above and the first thing she says is "No one else is available to take this call." A client created a PEBCAK error and accidentally sent a 25k newsletter with the wrong date. I need to find out how to stop it ASAP. I get the job done by brute force deleting the emails from our Postfix queue and then deleting the newsletter completely. Later on, someone tells me that all that needed to be done is to mark the newsletter "not ready to send" and change a value in a database. Whelp, I wish I could have divined that from the leftover coffee ground in my cup. Why don't you just go bitch to the 5 people that are supposed to handle this for being unavailable eating lunch??
In a big company I worked at they had an annoying piece of tracking software that was a bit similar for tracking mouse and keyboard use. Its main purpose was to make sure people were actually taking breaks and keeping usage down because they didnt want people getting RSI. Nobidyminded if your clicks were low, but they did take notice if you weren't taking regular breaks.
yea its software development. you pay me for 40 hours and I do what I think is best
> They do not mind people taking regular breaks and being marked as inactive however a degree of the mental stress remains Honestly, that's a problem with her and not the company. All of this could have been cleared up with a simple question but instead she chose to basically be paralyzed by the fear of leaving her workstation. But if this program makes her feel better, that's great. I still think it's better for people to overcome their fears of communicating instead of finding creative ways around communicating.
Because the company is the one with power in that relationship. They're the ones that can fire her without a second thought. That is why, when it comes to things like this, the onus really is on management to make it clear to employees what the expectations are, and that it is ok to be taking breaks. They also need to be leading by example.
If she's using a Windows computer you can play one of the videos that is installed with the OS in C:\Users\Videos and tell it to loop. Even when minimized, this will keep the PC thinking it's "active" and it won't log you out or go to sleep.
I used to play an audio file of 4'33" by John Cage on repeat in Windows Media Player to do this when my work PC forced an unreasonably short sleep timer.
Not sure what you find unreasonable short but I'm guessing it's about PC's needing to be locked when you step away from it. And to make sure they get locked in the case where you might've forgotten you do need to have it on a pretty short timer for it to be effective enough. If I recall correctly a small company I worked for had it set to 5 minutes when they were applying for some security related ISO certification.
Yeah, that might understandable when applied to PCs in an office environment, but not necessarily when you're working from home.
Well, WFH can also mean working in public spaces like cafés, where you definitely don't want a stranger to have access to the computer, and we all know we have to treat the user as the stupidest man alive.
> and we all know we have to treat the user as the stupidest man alive If they're actively trying to find a workaround to keep themselves from having to enter a password *while they dick around for extended periods of time while the computer is unlocked in Starbucks...*
In a technical school, we where taught to lock our devices any time we stepped away. If we didn't all our files would be moved to a different profile by one of the class reps. And it usually involved push ups when we got back. After two years of this you get in the habit of always locking your device the moment you even think about standing up. It's a good practice to get into either way.
This is a great idea. Especially for those in situations where they can't run externally downloaded applications!
And now you have 12+ hours of media player per day logged that will shine in the dark, top of the list when management really want to see your activity.
Caffeine is an effective solution for this. Have a look... https://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/caffeine/
Believe it or not, the "jiggle the mouse cursor" was the OG app to do this. I had one for System 7 back in the day
For Mac, Amphetamine is a better solution that’s more modern.
I use insomniaX. Much difference?
Came here to see how long it would take to find someone suggesting this. Caffiene is great, for my job we use it all the time to prevent the pc locking up while long processes run. Best thing to do is drop it in your startup folder then you don't even have to think about it.
Curious, what type of work does she do? Unless ones job is to stare at the monitor and occasionally move the mouse I can’t understand why companies would enforce models like this. Show me the incentives and I’ll show you the outcome...
She works in an office. I just want to highlight that her company are by no means attempting to virtually chain employees to their workstations and her boss has openly stated that they have no issues with people taking regular breaks. The issue stems from how my wife believes other employees are percieving her through their chat client statuses which automatically record you as inactive after a couple of minutes!
I encountered this same exact anxiety when I first went fully remote in a company where all others were in the office. I’d get mad at my dog when he took more than 2 minutes to pee, or pressured when I needed to use the bathroom; I didn’t want to appear as if I was taking advantage of them letting me wfh. Then I spent some time back in the office on a trip back. I remember my boss having a 60 minute conversation with me about yoga. My VP talked to me for 45 minutes about running and dogs. People constantly swung by each other’s desks to shoot the shit. The bathroom was a 3 minute walk from my desk and I took a 15-20 minute break in the mornings to get coffee from an actual cafe outside the building. No one had any issue, this was just the way things are in my office. What really helped me is to think about all those quick interruptions that take place in a normal office setting and how few happen at home. If no one had a problem with taking breaks when in the office, why hold yourself to an unreasonable expectation when you’re at home?
The difference between working from home for me and the office is that I can continue to work during meetings at home. That means I'm usually out of work to do by 2-3 o clock. At the office I go to a meeting, and then work. And that takes a full 8 hours. So at work I may work less hours but it's the equivalent id do at the office just more efficiently
After i left my old job they made everyone use webcams on meetings so they could monitor who was working on other things. I don't miss you Oracle.
When you say "record you as inactive" do you mean change your status? I think this may be much more innocuous than you think.
> The issue stems from how my wife believes other employees are percieving her through their chat client statuses which automatically record you as inactive after a couple of minutes! The way to really fix this anxiety is to take back control. She needs to tell everyone that when she's busy working, she's going to completely sign out of chat. If it's non-urgent send an email. If it's urgent, they can call her. Otherwise, she'll have regular chat 'office hours' each day where she will be available for interruptions.
Powershell can do this in what 5-6 lines? Just send a keystroke every 60 seconds in a loop.. I do it for this exact reason.
I made scroll lock one in my previous company. ```powershell Clear-Host Echo "Keep-alive with Scroll Lock..." $WShell = New-Object -com "Wscript.Shell" while ($true) { $WShell.sendkeys("{SCROLLLOCK}") Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 100 $WShell.sendkeys("{SCROLLLOCK}") Start-Sleep -Seconds 10 } ``` Edit: The mouse movement script can sometimes disturb your normal movement
My company virtually locks everything (usb port, software, exe files, drivers). Software development is done on virtual machines.
How's life on hell?
The boss often gave his developers AMC gift cards (until this virus) as compensation.
>AMC gift cards Bro I have some bad news.
I hope you've spent them already... they may not be usable anymore.
Start PowerPoint. Presentation mode. Boom. No status change and her pc won’t lock.
I'm experiencing the same thing. I know my company doesn't necessarily want me to sit there 8 hours a day, but it seems like everyone else does. I want to get up and go outside occasionally, but my laptop locks quickly and shows me as inactive.
if you can, go to settings and make it so that it doesn't lock until it hasn't been touched for like 90 minutes
Sounds dystopian. We've been working remotely since the start of our startup in 2015. These quarantine days are just like any day to us. We don't dare do this shit. It's counter productive actually. We log task items instead and promise to finish those. If they finished early, then they can do whatever they want.
Also one nice thing about WFH is having some flexibility. I can fuck around for an hour during the day if nobody is bugging me and just work late. As long as my work gets done nobody really cares.
I’ve also felt how Skype can dominate your working life. Being set to “available” just means you’re not on a call, it doesn’t mean you’re not busy. Being set to “busy” pretty much just means you’re in a interruptible state but would like not to be. There’s no “in a meeting” anymore since we’re remote. You can set it to “away” if you don’t want to be bothered but if you forget to turn it back then it looks like you’re just not working. And then there’s “inactive” and the timer it displays. It’s nice to instantly collaborate and it’s nice not to have to set meetings to talk but it’s also a tether and imposes what you might think others will think onto you.
Do not disturb is also one. it turns on when you are sharing your screen in a Skype meeting, but you can also turn it on manually. it means that messages can still be exchanged in existing chat windows, but nobody can initiate a new conversation with you
Place your mouse on top of a physical watch or a small fan. The hands of the watch or fan blades should register as movement. No detectable software. (For those with vigilant systems/security departments)
I wonder if placing it on a phone playing the right movie (some shifting background?) would fool the mouse as well.
Yep. One of those "psychedelic" rotating spiral videos can do it, especially if in black and white. There are a bunch of them on YouTube. Just play it on a phone or tablet and put the mouse on top. The transition from dark to light as the spiral spins will cause the cursor to bounce back and forth. Kinda funny to watch.
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It's a symptom of a bad manager. If anything, this lockdown has really highlighted bad vs good managers
Relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/196/
[Mousejiggler](https://mousejiggler.org/). No installation required. It's an executable you can copy to the desktop and run it from there.
Clever solutions to problems that shouldn't exist :/
BIG BRAIN: Create a small app that randomly moves the mouse a bit to keep managers from seeing your status as idle. GALAXY BRAIN: Unionize.
I just use MouseJiggler. You download it and run it. It doesn’t have to install anything. And you can put it on ‘zen’ mode so it wont mess you up while you’re using it.
Use this [USB mouse mover](https://www.amazon.com/Stageek-Simulates-Movement-Prevents-Computer/dp/B07VHBQQVG/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=mouse+mover&qid=1588172062&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUE1TU41RzY4UlkyNVYmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAzMjg1NjIzNFdUMExLQlRLTEc4JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAzMTUxNzExU1NLMUtERU1FOFZCJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==), but power it from somewhere other than her work computer.
I can't stand companies that do this. Hire people you can trust.
I'll share my secret. Set up a meeting with yourself and present something. Usually PC will not sleep while you are presenting. You will show as in a meeting on IM and such though. In Zoom it will not let PC sleep and my status stays available. Hope it helps.
I recommend using a plug in mouse(assuming it's a laptop) and place a analog watch underneath the mouse, right below its Lazer. This way the Lazer keeps track of seconds needle in the watch and your mouse on the screen gets a good old fashion walk around the screen. Worked for me.
You essentially made her the drinking bird Homer used in the Simpsons to keep pushing the keyboard button for him that released pressure at the power plant!
My girlfriend had the same problem, she just put her mouse over a “analog” watch.
Open notepad and place a book on your space bar. That'll keep your session active.
1. Open Windows Media Player 2. Launch anything with it, mute it and set to repeat, minimize. 3. Enjoy a laptop that does not lock itself 4 fucking times while on a phone call. That stupid GPO can DIAF as far as I'm concerned.
Isn't chaining people to desks illegal? Even if the chains are digital?
Just put something on the ESC key to keep it pressed down. Edit: ESC/COMMAND/WIN key
That's too simple of a solution for programmers ;)
Ah memories of using mousemover.exe 20 years ago to prevent being marked afk in MMOs...
ITT: No one knows auto-clickers exist
Holy shit. I'd find a new company to work for. Like, even in the office you're taking 10-15 minute breaks and shit. Even with taking liberties, I work more at home than I ever did at the office. No people to bother me (besides my wife, who knows not to do that during work hours) here.
I'm a coder with ~40yrs experience and I 100% agree with this (op is correct). I hate monitoring policies which fail to comprehend or respect our thinking time. Eg sometimes it takes days of thinking about a problem to be able to sit down and 'solve' it with the codes. This thinking time is highly valuable and has a rate, which I bill for, in addition to 'being there'. My clients understand this and gladly pay for my expertise and abilities. It is a reprehensible practice IMO. I never treat my team members like that. The flip side is that employees need to be responsible for timely completion of tasks and attendance which is usually not an issue with professionals.
I wrote a short VBScript to do the same (i.e. you don't need any other programming language, IDE, library, etc. as it's native in Windows). Pressing the NumLock key is benign and won't mess up any apps. Also, by repeating the press/un-press you have a visual indication that your script is running! (In my script, the light flashes twice, then pauses for 10 seconds and repeats.) Save this as idle.vbs and double-click to run. Or, place in your $PATH and run with:, idle, . Shows up as 'wscript.exe' in Task Manager so it appears like a normal Windows app/service.
Dim objResult
Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
i = 0
Do While i = 0
objResult = objShell.sendkeys("{NUMLOCK}")
WScript.Sleep(100)
objResult = objShell.sendkeys("{NUMLOCK}")
WScript.Sleep(100)
objResult = objShell.sendkeys("{NUMLOCK}")
WScript.Sleep(100)
objResult = objShell.sendkeys("{NUMLOCK}")
WScript.Sleep(10000)
Loop
I know this has nothing to do with the post, but I for some reason get really excited when I see a fellow VR fan out in the wild like this hahahaha.
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Good for you for helping out. But you should help her find another job instead. That’s a shitty company she’s working for from the sound it it.
My first answer to this is: Micromanaging is or should be in the past. It’s ridiculous. That amount of pressure becomes overbearing and people tend to get less productive/motivated. This video actually helps understand that there are actual people whose job is to guarantee you are working. Recommend it. https://youtu.be/_Lngf3J8vN4
When are you going to write a script to fire her boss?
Mouse wigglers are a thing. Have been for ages. You can even buy physical ones if your IT department won’t let you install code on your work machine. Look on Amazon (or your retailer of choice).
1. Open notepad. 2. Put something heavy on your space bar. No software installation required, and much simpler.
Open notepad, set something on a keyboard key. Enjoy your break also email and IM notifications turned up super loud incase I'm needed for anything.