System Idle Detection

Question

I want to detect if the system is idle, ie: user not using the system. I want it like the Windows Live Messenger it changes automatically to away when I leave the computer for a time like 3 minutes, I want to set this time within the code.

I`m working on the WPF under C# environment using both visual studio 2008 and 2010 so if here is a way that work on both that`ll be great.

Important thing to add ... I`m working on fullscreen with topmost="true" — sikas, Jun 22 '10 at 11:57

score 9 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 22 '10 at 11:30

9

There's an article on CodeProject that should get you started.

answered Jun 22 '10 at 11:30

Darin Dimitrov

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score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

1

I've provided an answer for detecting inactivity and activity in WPF and it might be interesting for you:

WPF inactivity and activity

edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

Community

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answered Feb 12 '11 at 19:14

Martin Buberl

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 31 '13 at 14:48

Windows does provide some API's for that, although they're not reliable for multiple sessions or something like that.
What I used is a hook to WW_MOUSE_LL with SetWindowsHookEx(); That's in C. Must be pretty similar for C#.
Basicaly whenever the user does something with the mouse, the timer starts from 0 again, and if the timer reaches some value, you do something upon that(act-if system is idle).
You could also hook it with the keyboard, in case the user is just typing, and share the timer between the two threads. It works wonderful for me.

System Idle Detection

3 Answers3

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