StayAwake is a simple, lightweight plugin for Notepad++ 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.
- Autostart with every Notepad++ session.
- Stealth Mode option. StayAwake will continue to run even with its panel closed.
- Manual Pause feature when needed.
- Automatic Pause while Windows in locked state. Reduces disk activity and CPU usage. Conserves battery power.
If you are using Microsoft Teams, you may have noticed that Teams automatically sets your status to Away after a few minutes 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 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 panel. The randomly picked input option used for the last Awake will also be displayed below the last Awake time.
The stealth mode can be turned ON/OFF either with this checkbox or via the Notepad++ menu option: Plugins » StayAwake » Stealth Mode. When stealth mode is active, the Stealth Mode menu option will have a checkmark indicator. See the Stealth Mode section below for more info.
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 Notepad++ is closed while StayAwake is in paused mode, StayAwake will reopen in paused mode when Notepad++ 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 close the plugin panel and continue to run StayAwake in the background.
Beginning with the v1.1.0.0 release, StayAwake will autostart with every Notepad++ session. This means that there is no need to leave the panel open to have StayAwake autostart with Notepad++.
After its autostart, StayAwake will keep simulating the selected Awake keycode at specified intervals unless it had been paused in a previous Notepad++ session.
The stealth mode can be turned ON/OFF either with the Stealth Mode checkbox or via the Notepad++ menu option: Plugins » StayAwake » Stealth Mode. When stealth mode is active, the Stealth Mode menu option will have a checkmark indicator.
When stealth mode is NOT active:
- StayAwake will suspend its activity. i.e., StayAwake will stop simulating the Awake keycodes.
- As of the v1.1.0.0 release, StayAwake's suspended state will be indicated only by the absence of checkmark in the menu option; it is not being indicated anywhere else on the plugin panel.
- StayAwake's suspended state will not carry over to future Notepad++ sessions -- a distinction to note during the choice of using the Stealth Mode menu option vs. the Pause button on the panel.
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You can verify the stealth mode feature in action by temporarily enabling only the Volume Up & Down key code and setting both Minimum Awake Seconds and Maximum Awake Seconds fields to 10 seconds.
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You can add the Stealth Mode menu option to Notepad++'s right click menu by editing the contextMenu.xml file of Notepad++.
For example, add the following line of text to the contextMenu.xml file:
<Item PluginEntryName="StayAwake" PluginCommandItemName="Stealth Mode" ItemNameAs="StayAwake Stealth Mode" />At the location indicated in this clip:
Save changes to the xml file and restart Notepad++. StayAwake Stealth Mode menu option will start displaying in Notepad++'s right click menu, as seen in this clip:
StayAwake saves its configuration in a file named StayAwake.ini. 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.
StayAwake is also available as a standalone application. This version can be useful if you are not a Notepad++ user.
If you are only looking for a way to block screen saver activation and session lockouts, you do not actually need the StayAwake plugin. 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.
Within Notepad++, you can install the StayAwake plugin using the Notepad++ Plugin Manager (Plugins » Plugins Admin menu option => Available tab).
After installing the StayAwake plugin, click on Plugins » StayAwake » Show StayAwake Panel menu option to start the utility.
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