Keep Windows awake during meetings — without touching the mouse every few minutes
You're in a Teams or Zoom call, listening and watching, hands off the keyboard — and Windows decides you've gone idle and puts the PC to sleep, dropping the call. It happens because Windows judges "idle" from keyboard and mouse input only, and a meeting app doesn't reliably tell it to stay awake. Here's exactly why it happens, and how PowerDoze detects the meeting app automatically — Teams, Zoom, Webex, Slack, and Discord — to hold the machine awake until the call ends.
Quick answer: Windows treats a meeting where you're just listening as idle and sleeps on its normal timer, which kills the call. PowerDoze's meeting detection (free from version 2.4.0) recognizes when Teams, Zoom, Cisco Webex, Slack, or Discord is the app in front and holds the PC awake until you leave the call — then restores your normal sleep schedule on its own. Browser calls like Google Meet aren't detected by app name; add your browser to the Whitelist for those.
Why Windows sleeps in the middle of a meeting
Windows has exactly one signal for "is anyone here": how long since the last keyboard press or mouse move. That's it — no camera, no microphone, no "is a call running" check. During a meeting you're mostly listening, watching a shared screen, maybe taking the occasional note — long stretches with no input at all. To Windows, that's indistinguishable from an empty chair, so the idle clock keeps climbing until it hits the sleep timeout and the machine drops offline mid-call.
In theory a video app can ask Windows to stay awake while a call is live, but in practice it's inconsistent — it depends on the app, the version, and whether the call is fullscreen or in a background window. The result is a familiar mess: you're presenting, you stop clicking for a few minutes, and your own screen goes dark or your PC sleeps and boots everyone out.
Sleeping vs the screen going dark — two different problems
These get lumped together, but they're separate timers with separate fixes, and it's worth knowing which one is actually biting you:
| What happens | What's really going on | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| PC sleeps, call drops, you go offline | Sleep timeout (standby-timeout) fired while you were idle | Meeting detection or Whitelist |
| Screen goes black but the call keeps running | Screen-off timeout (monitor-timeout) — a different timer | Raise the screen-off timeout |
| Screen dims or locks while you're away from the desk | PowerDoze away mode, or a Windows lock timer | Away mode pauses itself during meetings |
The one that boots you out of a call is sleep — the whole machine goes offline. That's what meeting detection is built to stop. If instead your display just blanks while the call keeps going, that's the separate screen-off timer — raise it in the Windows sleep and timeout settings. Knowing which timer fired saves you chasing the wrong fix.
The fixes, from clumsy to automatic
Wiggle the mouse (or a fake-activity trick)
The oldest workaround: nudge the mouse every few minutes, or leave something jiggling the cursor for you. It keeps the idle timer from ever reaching the sleep timeout — but you have to remember to do it, and if you forget for one long stretch of a call, you're offline anyway.
Best for: A one-off call when you don't want to install anything. Limit: Manual, easy to forget, and it does nothing the moment you stop.
Set the whole PC to never sleep
Run powercfg /change standby-timeout-ac 0 or set the sleep time to Never in Windows Settings, and the machine won't sleep during a call. But it also won't sleep the rest of the day — so it burns power overnight and every time you actually walk away, unless you remember to change it back after every meeting.
Best for: A machine you never want sleeping anyway. Limit: Blunt — it disables sleep everywhere, not just during calls, so you lose the energy savings the rest of the time.
Let PowerDoze detect the meeting app (recommended)
PowerDoze watches which app is in the foreground and recognizes the common meeting apps from a built-in list: Microsoft Teams (old and new), Zoom, Cisco Webex, Slack, and Discord. The moment one of them is the app in front, PowerDoze holds the PC awake so the PC can't sleep mid-call. It recognizes the app itself, so it works whether the meeting window is fullscreen or just sitting on your desktop. When the meeting app is no longer in front, your normal sleep schedule comes back automatically, usually within a few seconds. Nothing to toggle before or after — join the call, leave the call, done.
Best for: Anyone who's on Teams or Zoom all day and is tired of babysitting the mouse. Honest limits: It detects apps by their process name, so Google Meet and other in-browser calls aren't recognized — the foreground app there is just "Chrome" or "Edge," and PowerDoze can't see which website a tab is showing. For those, add your browser to the Whitelist instead. If your call app isn't one of the five, you can add it yourself under "Apps you added" (that part needs Pro), or use the Whitelist to cover it. And this keeps the PC awake — it doesn't stop Windows' separate screen-off timer from blanking the display.
What "keep awake" does and doesn't cover
Being precise here saves disappointment. Of the four things below, meeting detection handles stopping the PC from sleeping and pausing PowerDoze's own away mode; the other two are up to other settings:
- Stops the PC from sleeping — yes. This is the one that drops your call, and it's exactly what meeting detection prevents while a recognized app is in front.
- Pauses PowerDoze's own away mode — yes. If you use away mode (dim the backlight, privacy overlay, or auto-lock when you step away), it won't fire while a meeting app is the foreground window, so you're not dimmed or locked mid-presentation.
- Stops the screen from turning off — no. That's Windows' separate
monitor-timeout, which meeting detection doesn't touch. If your display blanks during long calls, raise the screen-off timeout in Windows' sleep settings. - Stops Windows' own lock screen — no. If Windows is set to require sign-in after a few idle minutes, that lock is the OS's, and PowerDoze doesn't override it. Meeting detection only pauses PowerDoze's away-mode lock, not the native one.
Bottom line: if your problem is "the call dropped because the PC slept," meeting detection is the fix. If it's "the screen went dark but the call kept going," that's the screen-off timer, and it's a one-line change in the normal Windows settings.
How to turn on meeting detection, and what Pro adds
Meeting detection is free from PowerDoze 2.4.0. The switch and the built-in meeting app list (Microsoft Teams old and new, Zoom, Cisco Webex, Slack, and Discord) don't need Pro. Open PowerDoze, go to the Smart Detection page, find the Meeting detection card, and turn it on. The card says: "Your computer won't go to sleep while a meeting app is in front." The built-in meeting apps are listed under "Built-in meeting apps".
If you're on 2.3.1: the version on this website's download page is 2.3.1, and in that version meeting detection is still a Pro feature. 2.4.0 comes to the Microsoft Store first. Once you update to 2.4.0, the free version can use it.
Pro adds two things: adding your own meeting apps under "Apps you added" (for people who hold calls in other software), and turning off one of the built-in apps. If Pro expires, the built-in list keeps working. The apps you added and the ones you turned off stay saved but are paused (the screen shows "Paused"), and they come back on their own once you have Pro again.
Meeting detection also pairs with the Whitelist. The Whitelist keeps the PC awake for any app you name (a browser for Google Meet, a media player, a long render), in both the free and Pro versions. Meeting detection handles the apps on the built-in list without any setup. Use both: Whitelist for what you name, meeting detection for the meeting apps.
Honest note: The Whitelist is what to reach for when a call runs in a browser tab, since app-name detection can't see inside the browser. Meeting detection is the zero-setup layer on top for the apps it already knows (and for any you add yourself with Pro).
Frequently asked questions
Why does my PC sleep during a Teams or Zoom meeting?
Windows decides you're idle from keyboard and mouse activity only. In a meeting you mostly listen and watch without touching either, so the idle timer keeps climbing and eventually puts the PC to sleep, which drops the call. Meeting apps don't reliably tell Windows to stay awake, so it sleeps as if you'd walked away.
Which meeting apps does PowerDoze detect automatically?
PowerDoze ships with a built-in list: Microsoft Teams (old and new), Zoom, Cisco Webex, Slack, and Discord. When one of those is the app in the foreground, it keeps the PC from going to sleep. It matches on the app's process name, so it works whether the meeting is fullscreen or windowed. This built-in list and the meeting detection switch are free from version 2.4.0, no Pro needed.
Does it work with Google Meet?
Not through automatic detection. Google Meet runs in a browser tab, so the foreground app is Chrome or Edge, not Meet itself — PowerDoze can't tell which website a browser tab is showing. For Google Meet, or any browser-based call, add your browser to the Whitelist instead.
Does this stop my screen from dimming or turning off during a call?
No. Meeting detection keeps the computer from going to sleep — it doesn't change the separate "turn off screen" timeout, so Windows can still blank the display on its own schedule. If you also use PowerDoze's away mode (dim, privacy overlay, and lock when you step away), meeting detection pauses those while the meeting app is in front. To stop Windows itself from blanking the screen, raise the screen-off timeout.
Does meeting detection cost anything?
Not from PowerDoze 2.4.0 on. The meeting detection switch and the built-in meeting app list are free. Only two things need Pro: adding your own meeting apps, and turning off one of the built-in apps. The version on this website's download page is still 2.3.1, where meeting detection is a Pro feature, so you need to update to 2.4.0 to get the free version.
Can I add my own meeting app to the list?
Yes, but it takes Pro, and PowerDoze 2.4.0 or newer. On the Smart Detection page, in the Meeting detection card, add your meeting app under "Apps you added". The free version uses the built-in list only. If your call app isn't on the list, the Whitelist also covers any app you name.
Does the PC go back to normal after the meeting?
Yes. When the meeting app is no longer the foreground window, PowerDoze restores your normal sleep schedule automatically, usually within a few seconds. There's nothing to switch off — close or leave the meeting and it reverts on its own.
Stop babysitting the mouse to keep a call alive. PowerDoze detects Teams, Zoom, Webex, Slack, and Discord automatically and holds the PC awake until the meeting ends — then goes back to your normal sleep schedule on its own. Fully on-device: no telemetry, no cloud upload.
See also: Screen dims during video · Dim and lock when you're away · Why Windows won't sleep · All features