If you've not met it: PowerToys is a free, official set of Windows utilities from Microsoft, aimed at the sort of person who right-clicks things hopefully. Awake is one of the tools inside it.
It does something small and useful. It stops your computer going to sleep, and it does it without making you dig through Control Panel changing power plans you'll forget you changed. There's a little coffee-cup icon that lives in your system tray, you click it, and your PC stays up.
What Awake actually does
Awake gives you a few modes, and they are exactly what you'd hope:
- Keep awake indefinitely, until you turn it off again.
- Keep awake for a set time, so you can say "stay up for two hours" and it minds itself.
- Keep the screen on, or let the screen switch off while the machine stays awake underneath.
The nice part is that it does all this temporarily and cleanly. Your actual Windows power settings are left untouched, so you're not permanently reconfiguring your laptop just to get through one long download. Flip it off and everything goes back to normal. For that specific problem it's excellent, and I'd happily recommend it.
What it's brilliant for
Awake earns its place any time you need the machine to keep running while you're not touching it:
- A big file downloading or uploading overnight
- A long render, build, or software install chugging away
- A presentation where you'd rather the screen didn't die mid-slide
- Watching something on the PC without it dimming every few minutes
In all of those, the thing you care about is the computer staying on. Awake nails it.
The one thing it can't do
Here's where people get caught out, and it's worth being blunt about it. Awake keeps your computer awake. It does not keep your status active.
Those sound like the same thing. They aren't. Slack and Teams don't check whether your machine is switched on, they check for activity: mouse movement, clicks, keystrokes. Awake creates none of those. It holds the power on and nothing else. So you can have Awake running happily, your PC wide awake, and Slack will still slide you to away after its idle timer, because from Slack's point of view nothing has happened for ten minutes. Lock your screen and you'll show as away regardless.
This is the same trap as leaving an app open and assuming that counts. A machine that is awake but idle is still, as far as your chat app is concerned, idle. There's more on that mismatch in auto clicker vs keep-awake app.
Two other things worth knowing
It's Windows only. PowerToys doesn't exist on macOS, so there's no Mac version of Awake. On a Mac the built-in caffeinate command does a similar keep-awake job, as do a handful of small apps, but again, they keep the machine up, not your status green.
It needs installing. On a locked-down work laptop you may not have the rights to install PowerToys at all, which is exactly the situation a lot of people are in when they go looking for it. Worth a check before you get your hopes up.
So which tool do you actually want?
It comes down to one question: is your problem the computer sleeping, or your status going away?
- Computer sleeping? PowerToys Awake, or your OS's own keep-awake, is the right, tidy answer. Use it and move on. Our keep your computer awake page covers the options.
- Status going away while you're still at your desk? You need something that creates real activity, not just power. That means a tool that clicks or moves the mouse on a schedule. A keep-awake app on its own won't get you there.
Where Green Dotter fits
Green Dotter is built for the second problem, the one Awake doesn't solve. Instead of just holding the power on, it makes occasional real clicks in a safe area you choose, on a randomised schedule, so your computer keeps registering genuine activity while you're reading, thinking, or working in another app.
It's free, it runs locally, and unlike PowerToys it works on both Mac and Windows. If you specifically arrived looking for a lighter or cross-platform option, the PowerToys Awake alternative page lays it out, and the stay-active tricks roundup puts it in context with everything else people try.
FAQ
What does PowerToys Awake do?
PowerToys Awake is a small module in Microsoft's free PowerToys toolkit for Windows. It keeps your PC awake without changing your power plan, either indefinitely or for a set time, and can optionally keep the screen on too. You toggle it from a coffee-cup icon in the system tray.
Does PowerToys Awake keep Slack or Teams active?
No. Awake stops your computer sleeping, but it does not create any mouse or keyboard input. Slack and Teams decide you are away based on activity, not on whether the machine is awake, so they can still mark you away, and locking your screen will still show you as away.
Is PowerToys Awake available on Mac?
No. PowerToys is a Windows-only toolkit, so Awake is Windows-only. On a Mac the closest built-in equivalent is the caffeinate command, and there are small keep-awake apps, but they keep the machine awake rather than keeping a status active.
What is a good PowerToys Awake alternative for keeping a status active?
If your real goal is keeping a Slack or Teams status green rather than just stopping the screen sleeping, you want something that creates genuine activity, such as a tool that clicks or moves the mouse on a schedule in a safe area. That is a different job from what Awake is built for.
A note on workplace policies: how you handle presence depends on your role, your tools, and your employer's policies. Before relying on any presence or automation tool, make sure you understand what is allowed on your work device.
Related: download the Windows auto clicker or read the mouse jiggler alternative rundown.