Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'

h a l f b a k e r y
Number one on the no-fly list

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, best, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: Browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

User:
Pass:

or Create a new account.


                                  Please log in.
If you're not logged in, you can see what this page looks like, but you will not be able to add anything.

Mouse Jiggler
Prevents the screen saver from coming on
  (+2, -1)
(+2, -1)
  [vote for,
against]


Here at work, my computer automatically locks after 10 minutes of non-use; then I have to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete and type a password to unlock it again.

This is annoying, particularly when I'm running a long-duration macro and the screen saver comes on right in the middle of it.

The solution is an electronic ball that I can stick inside my mouse, which, when it detects that it's been still for 2 minutes, shakes.


phundug, Jul 01 2005


Short name, e.g., Bob's Coffee

Destination URL. E.g., http://www.coffee.com/

Description (displayed with the short name and URL.)







       Not sure if this will work [phundug], but you might want to try the following:   

       1) Open your cd tray.
2) Place your mouse on the cd tray in such a way as to obstruct it's retraction
3) Wait.
  

       Hopefully your cd-try will be of the auto-retracting kind and after a pre-determined amount of time, will attempt to close itself. This in turn will jiggle the mouse a bit (if it doesn't cut a strip of paper and lay it behind the ball in the mouse, securing the other end underneath you keyboard) and stop the screensaver activating.   

       It might not work, but worth a try?

zen_tom, Jul 01 2005
  

       My cat is terribly disappointed...she was expecting a device that jiggles the long-dead mouse and makes the cat think it is still worth playing with.

normzone, Jul 01 2005
  

       There are many baked software solutions for your problem. 'Stay Online' apps and the like.
It's also very easy to write your own mouse jiggler in VB using a couple Windows API calls: GetCursorPos() and SetCursorPos().
I do like zen_tom's approach. It has flair.

UVApostrophe, Jul 01 2005
  

       :) [zen-tom!]   

       [UVA], software or macros will not work, because the screensaver comes on while a 100% cpu- using program is already running. Can't run anything else at the same time.

phundug, Jul 01 2005
  

       zen-tom rocks or rather his cd tray does.   

       failing that a hamster and a wheel with the mouse inside...

po, Jul 01 2005
  

       Granted, but can it be adapted to do anything for my cat ?

normzone, Jul 01 2005
  

       not really but cats are well used to disappointment - they have lived with us for too long.

po, Jul 01 2005
  

       Eek! Eek!

wagster, Jul 01 2005
  

       god forbid one should go into the control panel and have a look at... oh nevermind.

oxen crossing, Jul 01 2005
  

       Either I don't understand this or I don't believe it. You're saying you can't turn off your screensaver?

Basepair, Jul 01 2005
  

       This is a corporate screensaver. Employees can't disable it.

phundug, Jul 01 2005
  

       I. Well then, the solution is to disable your employer. Do they trust you with sharp pencils?

Basepair, Jul 01 2005
  

       The solution, then, is never to allow more than nine minutes of non-use elapse.

waugsqueke, Jul 01 2005
  

       You need to go to the IT department and give them a good whipping. If you can't do your job comfortably, then give them hell. Worked for me, back when I had a job.

oxen crossing, Jul 01 2005
  

       When I first read this I thought it said "mouse jigger" and I wondered why mice would need a jigger when it is so obvious they drink straight from the bottle. Do you know why mice have such small balls? Not many of them know how to dance.   

       I had a vision of zen_tom's idea backfiring when the mouse falls through the hole in the middle of the cd tray and the tray closes, slicing the mouse's umbilical cord guillotine-like, the lifeless mouse-corpse falling to the floor, with no amount of Ctrl-Alt-Del to revive it....

Canuck, Jul 01 2005
  


 
back: main index
 business 
 computer 
 culture 
 fashion 
 food 
 halfbakery 
 home 
 other 
 product 
 public 
 science 
 sport 
 vehicle