The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    [How-To]The way for instant monitor disable for saving power!

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by James D, Apr 5, 2015.

  1. James D

    James D Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    2,314
    Messages:
    4,901
    Likes Received:
    1,132
    Trophy Points:
    231
    Hey people. Have you ever felt instant turning off your monitor when you want to go somewhere so it would save power but never wanted to change power plans for that? Or just like to keep it blank when you go away but don't like when it dimms in front of you when you still sit?

    SOLUTION FOUND!
    Monitor Off.png
    Little history:
    I had VAIO in the past which had hard button for disabling backlit on LCD (practically disable monitor cause you can't see 99.5% without backlit).
    Then I bought this awesome MSI GE70 laptop which also seemed to have display-OFF one-click button. BUT... it was software method. It dimmed display immediately but would enable it as soon mouse moves. Unfortunately when I stand up from the table usually mouse gets moved a little due to table vibration and I felt that this feature is cheap and not rock-solid as on VAIO.

    So later I started to look for solutions and how curent method works. I found that if you press Win+P Windows asks you if you want to send signal to another monitor/projector. If you set signal to projector your display dimms and mouse doesn't interract... except it comes back with ERROR that no projector was found (CAP?). Unfortunately I didn't find the way to hack/regedit this feature/BUG. Look yourself how many people "like" this "feature" since 2010.

    Solution Method:

    So after reading that thread above I found a response about this little program called Monitor Off.
    Download standalone version in ZIP container and you can use it for both: display-off by key-combo and display-off when doubleclick tray icon with timer.
    1. Autoload program with display off when doubleclick: copy program in any folder like C:\PortableApps\Monitor Off\ and setup accordingly;
    Instant doubleclick.png
    2. Display-off by key-combo: same what is above where Ctrl+Alt+L as example.
    3. Display-off by key-combo + pranking with M$ if you don't use another display/projector: put another copy of program elsewhere (like Windows\System32 and rename to DisplaySwitch.exe), check "Save settings in program folder" and setup accordingly but with out Autostart with Windows.
    If you chose to prank M$ then anytime you press Win+P it will display off your display in couple seconds.
    Most important... such complicated way still doesn't make any interactions!
    Instant Key-combo.png
     
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2015