powershell mouse move does not prevent idle mode

I tried a mouse move solution too, and it likewise didn't work. This was my solution, to quickly toggle Scroll Lock every 4 minutes:

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 240
}

I used Scroll Lock because that's one of the most useless keys on the keyboard. Also could be nice to see it briefly blink every now and then. This solution should work for just about everyone, I think.

Some people get success using $WShell.sendkeys("SCROLLLOCK") instead of $WShell.sendkeys("{SCROLLLOCK}")

See also:

• https://ss64.com/vb/sendkeys.html
• http://devguru.com/content/technologies/wsh/wshshell-sendkeys.html

The solution from the blog Prevent desktop lock or screensaver with PowerShell is working for me. Here is the relevant script, which simply sends a single period to the shell:

param($minutes = 60)

$myshell = New-Object -com "Wscript.Shell"

for ($i = 0; $i -lt $minutes; $i++) {
  Start-Sleep -Seconds 60
  $myshell.sendkeys(".")
}

<# Stay Awake by Frank Poth 2019-04-16 #>

(Get-Host).UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = "Stay Awake"

[System.Console]::BufferWidth  = [System.Console]::WindowWidth  = 40
[System.Console]::BufferHeight = [System.Console]::WindowHeight = 10

$shell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell

$start_time = Get-Date -UFormat %s <# Get the date in MS #>
$current_time = $start_time
$elapsed_time = 0

Write-Host "I am awake!"

Start-Sleep -Seconds 5

$count = 0

while($true) {

  $shell.sendkeys("{NUMLOCK}{NUMLOCK}") <# Fake some input! #>

  if ($count -eq 8) {

    $count = 0
    Clear-Host

  }

  if ($count -eq 0) {

    $current_time = Get-Date -UFormat %s
    $elapsed_time = $current_time - $start_time

    Write-Host "I've been awake for "([System.Math]::Round(($elapsed_time / 60), 2))" minutes!"

  } else { Write-Host "Must stay awake..." }

  $count ++

  Start-Sleep -Seconds 2.5

}

The part that matters is $shell.sendkeys("{NUMLOCK}{NUMLOCK}") This registers two presses on the numlock key and fools the shell into thinking input was entered. I wrote this today after searching through various scripts that didn't work for me. Hope it helps someone!

There is an analog solution to this also. There's an android app called "Timeout Blocker" that vibrates at a set interval and you put your mouse on it. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.isomerprogramming.application.timeoutblocker&hl=en