How in the Tech

Prevent mouse movement from waking Windows stand-by

By Adam Myers ⋅ April 28, 2010 ⋅ Tags: Windows

Like any good energy conscious individual, I readily take advantage of the power saving features in Windows. All of my systems automatically go into stand-by after a period of inactivity – it just makes logical sense. Windows is excellent at quickly awaking from it’s slumber and I can be in front of a fully working system in literally seconds. Why wouldn’t you do that?

Typically, bringing Windows out of stand-by is a simple as a click on the keyboard or a wiggle of the mouse. The fans spin up and away you go. Unfortunately, being that it’s so simple to activate it can seemingly trigger itself alive. Specifically, the subtle movement of the mouse is smoking gun. It’s not uncommon to have a PC in your bedroom; generally it’s asleep when you’re asleep. Likewise, it’s not uncommon to make a bathroom run at some point throughout the night. If you’re like me, you are staggering through the room and perhaps bump into any number of things. In this example, it happens to be my computer desk – and it’s hard enough to shift the mouse a few millimeters. Up comes the computer! An LCD monitor is quite bright in an otherwise dark room. Even if your invisible navigation skills are high, pets are also likely culprits to the problem.

It’s actually possible to disable the mouse’s ability to wake up the PC – a rather simple compromise.

In the Windows 7 search box look for mouse settings. Choose Change mouse settings.

Select the Hardware tab and click Properties.

Now select Change settings.

On the Power Management tab un-check the box next to Allow this device to wake the computer.