StayAwake is a simple utility that enables you to maintain an Active status on Microsoft Teams (and perhaps other messaging applications such as Slack and Zoom). StayAwake also prevents screen saver activation, screen blanking, and Windows session lockouts.
- Randomized simulation with mouse or key inputs. Roster with a choice of 24 no/low side-effect keys and 2 invisible mouse moves.
- Random interval simulation. Intervals within a specified range of seconds.
- Helpful status information with timestamps of Last and Next simulations.
- Minimization to System Tray.
- Start Minimized option.
- Manual Pause feature when needed.
- Automatic Pause while Windows in locked state. Reduces disk activity and CPU usage. Conserves battery power.
- Small, portable application. Runs with no installation or administrator privileges.
- Digitally signed application executable file.
- Update Check feature - Manual or automatic (opt-in).
If you are using Microsoft Teams, you may have noticed that Teams automatically sets your status to Away after a certain period of inactivity. This can be frustrating if you are still at your desk but perhaps on a business phone call OR outlining a plan on paper OR consulting some reference material.
StayAwake simulates a randomly selected input from a specified roster of jitter-free mouse moves and no/low side-effect keys. Additionally, these simulations are done at random intervals within a specified range of seconds. This is a safe and non-intrusive way to keep your Microsoft Teams status Active. The combined randomness of inputs and time intervals eliminates predictable patterns, making StayAwake simulations seem organic.
StayAwake can be minimized to the Windows System Tray, and will continue to run in the background until you click the Exit button. StayAwake also has the option to automatically minimize to Windows System Tray upon launch. See: Start Minimized
StayAwake executable is now digitally signed by the kind folks at OSSign. Thanks to the code signing, there is NO need for users to override the Windows Defender Smartscreen or unblock the executable file to launch StayAwake.
StayAwake can randomly pick any of the 26 inputs (24 key codes & 2 mouse moves) during each simulation. Users can specify at least one OR a select few OR all of the 26 inputs to be included in the simulation roster. See Input Simulation Options for more info.
This field allows you to specify the minimum interval between key simulations. The initial default value for this is 240 seconds (i.e., 4 minutes). However, you can change this to any value between 10 and 9990 seconds. Your new value will be saved and used the next time you run StayAwake.
This field allows you to specify the maximum interval between key simulations. The initial default value for this is 240 seconds (i.e., 4 minutes). However, you can change this to any value between 10 and 9990 seconds. Your new value will be saved and used the next time you run StayAwake.
Note: If the value entered for Maximum Awake Seconds is less than the value for Minimum Awake Seconds, the Maximum Awake Seconds value will be automatically swapped with the Minimum Awake Seconds value.
Tip: If Microsoft Teams is changing your status to Away after 5 minutes (i.e., 300 seconds) of inactivity, consider setting the Minimum Awake Seconds to around 200 and the Maximum Awake Seconds to 310 or 320 or even 330 (i.e., a little over 300). This weighted range will cause your Teams status to briefly drift out of Active status once in a while -- a more normal user behavior from your coworkers' perspective than a solid green status through an entire work day.
After changing the value for either Minimum Awake Seconds or Maximum Awake Seconds, click this button to apply the new setting. Clicking this button will also immediately invoke an Awake event.
After every Awake event, a random number of seconds (between the specified minimum and maximum seconds) will be picked to run the next Awake event.
The clock times of the last and next Awake events will be displayed and continually refreshed on the StayAwake window. The randomly picked input option used for the last Awake will also be displayed below the last Awake time.
Click this button to pause StayAwake Key simulations.
As seen in the clip above, clicking the Pause button will also have these effects:
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The PAUSED state will be indicated in the Next StayAwake event time slot.
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The Pause button will change to Resume mode. To exit the PAUSED state, click the Resume button.
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If StayAwake is closed while still in paused mode, StayAwake will reopen in paused mode when it is launched the next time. To exit the PAUSED state, click the Resume button.
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On a related note, if the Windows system has been manually locked, StayAwake will pause key and mouse simulations until the system gets unlocked again. This will help reduce disk activity and CPU usage (thus conserving battery power on laptops) while the system is in locked state.
Click this button to minimize StayAwake to the Windows System Tray. See the SystemTray Icon section below for more info.
Click this button to exit StayAwake.
Check the Start minimized box to have StayAwake automatically minimize to System Tray upon launch.
When the Start Minimized option is enabled, StayAwake will launch and minimize immediately only on the first launch attempt. If StayAwake is still running in a minimized state, trying to launch the application again will restore the StayAwake dialog from the minimized state. This is by design when MultipleInstancesAllowed=N. See under: Configuration File Details
Click this button to manually check if a newer version of StayAwake is available. When clicked, the Check for Updates dialog will popup.
The Check for Updates popup will display the Installed and Latest Version numbers.
If a newer version is available, the popup will display a clickable link that redirects to the StayAwake - Latest Release page.
In this popup, you can also enable the Check for updates when StayAwake starts option to have StayAwake automatically check for a newer version every time it is launched. This is an opt-in feature that is unchecked by default.
When you minimize StayAwake, it will be represented by the System Tray icon shown above. You can click on this icon to access the following context menu:
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Restore: Click this to restore StayAwake window.
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Exit: Click this to exit StayAwake.
StayAwake saves its configuration in a file named StayAwake.ini. This file is co-located in the StayAwake.exe application file folder. These key-value pairs are stored in this file:
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SelectedKeyCodes: This key stores a string of 26 characters -- each character indicating if a key code or mouse move in the Input Simulation Options popup is enabled or not with either a1or0, respectively.If an invalid value is detected for this key, the default value of
00111111111111111111111111(i.e., enabling of all inputs except Scroll Lock cycle and Volume Down & Up) will be used instead. -
MinimumIntervalInSeconds: This key stores the minimum number of seconds between each StayAwake Key simulation as specified in the Minimum Awake Seconds field.The
MinimumIntervalInSecondsvalue must be an integer between 10 and 9990. Values outside this range will be ignored and the default value of 240 seconds will be used instead. -
MaximumIntervalInSeconds: This key stores the maximum number of seconds between each StayAwake Key simulation as specified in the Maximum Awake Seconds field.The
MaximumIntervalInSecondsvalue must be an integer between 10 and 9990. Values outside this range will be ignored and the default value of 240 seconds will be used instead. -
AwakePaused: This key stores a flag value (Y or N) to indicate if StayAwake is in paused state. -
StartMinimized: This key stores a flag value (Y or N) to indicate if StayAwake will automatically minimize to System Tray upon launch. See: Start Minimized -
StartCheckUpdates: This key stores a flag value (Y or N) to indicate if StayAwake will automatically check for a newer version every time it is launched. See: Update Check button -
MultipleInstancesAllowed: This key stores a flag value (Y or N) to indicate whether multiple instances of StayAwake are allowed to run simultaneously. The default value is N (i.e., multiple instances are not allowed). Any value that is not Y will be interpreted as N.
StayAwake is also available as a plugin for Notepad++. This version can be useful if you have Notepad++ open during your typical workday. You will be spared the need to separately run the standalone StayAwake application.
If you are only looking for a way to block screen saver activation and session lockouts, you do not actually need StayAwake. Instead, you can simply open a PDF document in full screen mode in Adobe Acrobat (Reader | Professional), and leave it open in the background. This will prevent your screen saver from activating, and also prevent your Windows session from locking out.
Note: Full screen mode is different than maximized window state. To view a PDF document in full screen mode in Adobe Acrobat (Reader | Professional), either use:
- The menu option: View » Full screen mode
- Or the much quicker keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + L.
However, if you are looking for a way to keep your Microsoft Teams status Active, then StayAwake is the right tool for you.
StayAwake is a portable application and does NOT require installation with administrator privileges. Simply download the latest release from the Releases page and unzip the contents to a folder of your choice. Run the StayAwake.exe application file to start the utility.
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