Is there a quick/automatic way to change monitor brightness at night on Windows 7 or Linux?

23

8

I'm a fairly nocturnal creature by nature, but life requires me to spend more time during the bright hours of day. I also have a visual impairment which makes it that my eyes take a very long time to adjust to darker situations. In short: I need to be able to easily dim my screen so that using my computer doesn't keep me awake as much and doesn't prevent me from doing other stuff.

Similar questions have been asked before, but I'm still looking for a suitable solution. I will accept both a hotkey based solution–like on most laptops–as a timed one.

Please note:

  • My main monitor lacks simple brightness/contrast controls.
  • f.lux doesn't suit my needs, since it only changes the screen's color temperature.
  • I'd like the solution to work regardless of the make and model of the video card involved.
  • Wearing sunglasses is impractical, since they make it hard to interact with objects around my computer.

oKtosiTe

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 7 949

I always just press <Ctrl><Alt><L> for that... – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams – 2010-12-08T20:19:38.920

1On which operating system would that be? It doesn't do anything for me here on Windows 7. – oKtosiTe – 2010-12-08T20:29:39.960

1Linux. Windows probably uses <Super><Shift><L> or something pretentious like that. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams – 2010-12-08T20:59:54.483

Are you talking about locking the desktop? Windows uses <Super><L> for that. I'm looking to dim the screen. – oKtosiTe – 2010-12-08T21:18:04.657

shrug I'm not usually looking at the screen when I sleep, so locking it isn't a big deal for me. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams – 2010-12-08T21:20:12.730

The point was to make it less bright so I it doesn't prevent me from becoming sleepy. I understand the misunderstanding now. :-) – oKtosiTe – 2010-12-08T21:25:25.413

3What we really need is something that does this for all those blindingly-bright electronic billboards. – Martha – 2010-12-09T00:32:46.230

1I answered below but dimming it never works for me... I always seem to end up back on reddit for some reason – Ciaran – 2010-12-09T00:39:25.863

I edited the question to show that I also have a visual impairment (which, to be entirely honest, was probably a bigger reason for asking in the first place). – oKtosiTe – 2010-12-14T21:24:12.470

Answers

13

I think I just found the answer to my own question. Better solutions are welcome of course.

With the application Display Tuner I can set the brightness, contrast, color levels and speaker volume for my external monitor. Not the video card, my actual monitor.
It allows me to set hotkeys for separate profiles, lives in the tray (notification area) and is free for non-commercial use.
The main draw is that it only supports monitors that can be controlled through DDC.

Display Tuner screenshot

oKtosiTe

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 7 949

Does it work for changing your brightness? – afrazier – 2010-12-14T20:22:21.150

@afrazier: Yes, it does. I'm really happy with it. It might not work on all monitors, but it works on the ones I've tried so far. – oKtosiTe – 2010-12-14T20:28:50.917

1Sadly, this did not work for me--said my monitor is unsupported. :( – Sasha Chedygov – 2010-12-15T10:22:23.520

3

@musicfreak: Yeah, it would have been nice if it fell back to adjusting the video card's settings. For that you could try the (old, but still working) program Gamma Panel, or the nagware PowerStrip.

– oKtosiTe – 2010-12-15T12:06:19.657

1Sweet, Gamma Panel works. Thanks for the link! – Sasha Chedygov – 2010-12-15T22:22:43.687

2The software has been retired from that website – Filippo Mazza – 2013-06-12T07:55:08.123

To avoid confusion: Display Tuner seems to still be available as before. @FilippoMazza – oKtosiTe – 2013-06-14T09:14:36.540

7

I just did up a quick console app that will work with Vista+

http://rapidshare.com/files/435772490/Brightener.7z

Source here - you'll be able to build it from Visual Studio Express

Usage: 

brightener 100 //highest
brightener 0 //lowest

You could set it up as a scheduled task if you want to automate it.

I think Linux has a built in command to do this. edit: after googling I found this. Substitute 100 for the brightness you want.

sudo echo –n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness

edit: to set up a scheduled task in Windows 7...

  1. Go to Control Panel
  2. Go to Administrative Tools
  3. Open Task Scheduler
  4. Go to Action > Basic Task
  5. Follow wizard
  6. When asked for schedule, enter night time you want to dim light
  7. When asked for the path, enter the path to the unzipped exe above followed by your preferred dim level
  8. Repeat for daytime, changing scheduled time and brightness level

Ciaran

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 4 078

@Ciaran: I'm sorry to say that the app simply returns Please enter a number between 1 and 100, no matter what I do. – oKtosiTe – 2010-12-12T01:31:12.407

Sorry dude, the extent of the testing I did was making it work. It'll spit "please enter a number between 1 and 100" if it fails for any reason, not just if it doesn't get a proper number. I can post the code up if it helps. The only error I can think of being thrown is class not found which would mean you're not using Vista or Win 7? But you said you are so shrug – Ciaran – 2010-12-14T20:06:32.477

No worries. I'd love to see your code, perhaps you could put it on Pastebin? Who knows, maybe I'll learn something. :-) @Ciaran

– oKtosiTe – 2010-12-14T20:42:12.070

Edited to add source. I changed the code a bit so that it'll give you a proper exception message. You'll need to add a reference to System.Management. If you need more help just let me know. – Ciaran – 2010-12-14T21:23:13.580

I'm having the same problem as @oKtosiTe unfortunately. I'll take a look at the source code when I have time and see if I can't figure it out. – Sasha Chedygov – 2010-12-15T10:25:02.783

Looks like a System.Management.ManagementException ("Not supported") is being thrown somewhere. I'm getting the same result from the command line utility in @afrazier's post. – Sasha Chedygov – 2010-12-15T10:45:16.107

Actually, it sounds like most desktop monitors don't let you programmatically change their settings. :( Bummer. – Sasha Chedygov – 2010-12-15T11:03:04.250

Yeah, that sucks pretty bad. Sorry folks! – Ciaran – 2010-12-15T16:35:33.223

Hey, can you give me a help? I need a program to increase and decrease the monitor brightness, so I can run it from a pair of keyboard shortcuts. For more details, look here: http://superuser.com/questions/170238/how-to-remap-special-keys-on-asus-laptop/236894#236894

– Denilson Sá Maia – 2011-01-23T21:54:28.293

Can you repost the file? – Simon Kuang – 2014-05-09T21:09:32.217

5

Sometimes monitor/laptop's adjust buttons ain't enough.

For Linux:

xcalib -invert -alter # will invert the color under Xorg, xcalib.sf.net says it also supports Windows, I haven't tried.

xrandr's --brightness and --gamma options will also help.

Also

The official ATI driver's Control Panel under Windows enables me to adjust Gamma/Brightness/Contrast, even my laptop doesn't support these via hardware buttons. I believe Nvidia's driver also has these options.

Mengdi Gao

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 1 316

5

As mentioned in the answer of oKtosiTe (the OP), this could be done via Display Data Channel. Found these software linked on the wikipedia page:

Linux

  • ddccontrol: Linux software which uses DDC/CI to control monitors supporting this protocol. (Seems to be not supported and not maintained at this time).

Windows

  • softMCCS: Windows software which uses DDC/CI to control monitors supporting this protocol.
  • Nicomsoft WinI2C/DDC: Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) which uses I2C and DDC/CI protocols to control monitors.
  • ScreenBright: Small Windows software which uses DDC/CI to control monitors supporting this protocol.

n611x007

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 5 291

5

f.lux v3.10 has additional functionality to control actual brightness using hot-keys Alt+PageDown and Alt+PageUp.

dimming screen with flux

Karan

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 55

4

I found ClickMonitorDDC from a recommendation on Superuser:

softMCCS from ddc-ci.com allows lots of control but it's too low level technical for regular use.

Just to control brightness and contrast I'm using http://clickmonitorddc.bplaced.net (Windows).

answered Mar 15 '15 at 23:09 aland

Desktop LCD monitor which allows backlight to be controlled in software

ClickMonitorDDC is a portable freeware tool to adjust brightness or contrast of a DDC compatible monitor

http://clickmonitorddc.bplaced.net/

It's the most user-friendly application that I've tried.

You can quickly jump to any brightness and contrast number that is a multiple of 5, and then finely adjust.

There are also hotkeys, and command line commands.

e.g.

b20 c30

Brightness 20 contrast 30.

ClickMonitorDDC also allows you to jump to a volume.

With the default Windows 10 volume control, it's hard to see the exact volume number that you will jump to.

ClickMonitorDDC has 20 volume buttons that are each a multiple of 5, and they go from 0 to 100.

I also tried this recommendation in combination with ClickMonitorDDC:

Flux v3.10 has additional functionality to control actual brightness using hot-keys Alt+PageDown and Alt+PageUp.

answered Jun 25 '14 at 17:25 Karan

Flux is a filter, and it can get you darker than ClickMonitorDDC and your monitor will by themselves.

Jeff Kang

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 544

3

Useful Answer: Well, for something clickable on screen, there's the Display Brightness Gadget. Also on the page is a command line utility for getting/setting the screen brightness. You can use that with the Task Scheduler or your favorite hotkey tool of choice for timed or hotkeyed modification of your brightness.

Snarky Answer: It's not your monitor's brightness keeping you up, it's the upright position, focusing on a screen, and brain engagement (maybe :-P ) from interacting with your PC keeping up awake.

Snarky Answer #2: Your monitor has a power button -- use it.

afrazier

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 21 316

Snarky answers aside, I also have a visual impairment that makes it very hard for me to adjust to different light levels. Thanks for the suggestions, will give them a try. :-) – oKtosiTe – 2010-12-08T21:52:25.300

I'm sorry to say that the gadget nor the command-line utility seem to work on Windows 7. – oKtosiTe – 2010-12-08T22:02:05.700

1Both definitely work, I'm using them both on my Windows 7 laptop. Your system must not support software control of the monitor brightness. If it's a desktop system -- most don't. It's possible that updated monitor drivers may enable that feature though. – afrazier – 2010-12-08T23:26:05.143

I'll see if updated drivers are available. – oKtosiTe – 2010-12-09T12:20:54.140

I already have the latest driver for my monitor. No luck. – oKtosiTe – 2010-12-10T15:13:48.553

3

The hormone melatonin is produced by the pineal gland. Higher levels of melatonin normally occur at night. It's effects include causing drowsiness and lowering body temperature. Exposure of your eyes to bright light suppresses the production of melatonin so when you crawl into bed in the wee hours you'll be lying awake wondering why you can't sleep.

Fastest, most effective way I know to reduce screen brightness is to reach for the power switch. This has the added benefit of not screwing with your circadian cycle by causing artificial levels of melatonin.

Slightly less annoying answer: Reach for the Ray-Bans, no seriously, this works for me.

adam

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 101

I do feel I have to revisit this, since although in theory putting on sunglasses seems like a good solution, it makes it very hard to interact with items around my workstation. This because of my visual impairment. I hope I have edited my original question enough to clearly reflect this. – oKtosiTe – 2010-12-12T01:43:33.903

3

f.lux will adjust brightness through out the day to ease eye strain. http://www.stereopsis.com/flux/

ScottZ

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 194

7It doesn't adjust brigthness, just color temperature (very different things). And it was stated in the question. Read the questions more carefully next time. – Greg – 2010-12-09T11:33:16.720

What's great about f.lux, however, is that it at least showed me that what I'm looking for is technically possible. @ScottZ, @Greg – oKtosiTe – 2010-12-12T01:41:35.700

3

(@oKtosiTe, just for your information: by using @ScottZ, @Greg Greg will not have received a notification for your comment. But ScottZ being the author of this post, @Greg, @ScottZ, or ScottZ, @Greg or even just @Greg would have worked for both... See How do comment @replies work? for the details.)

– Arjan – 2010-12-13T22:38:25.073

As @Greg said, f.lux, while being a great application, doesn't actually do much in the way of changing the monitor's brightness. I did mention it in my question. – oKtosiTe – 2010-12-14T21:27:04.617

3

So far RedShift is the only one i can live with. A bit buggy, but it does the trick.

Telmo

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 31

Can you add an explanation as to why this addresses the OP's needs? Thanks! – bertieb – 2015-09-29T20:31:44.813

2

MysticMon has brightness, contrast and color correction and works on multiple monitor systems. It also has hotkey support, monitor reset to factory defaults and can be used to put monitors to sleep via hotkey or command line. Requires Vista or Windows 7 and works on both monitors and laptop LCD displays.

mysticcoder

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 156

1

Try PangoBright:

PangoBright is a free "screen dimmer" Windows utility for setting the brightness of your main screen as well as external monitors. You can choose which screens will be set to the selected brightness level.

Tip

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 29

1Care to elaborate at all? – random – 2011-05-02T00:45:54.650

1

Mac Brightness Control might help and it's free.

Mac Brightness Control allows you to adjust the brightness level of your Mac (MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac Pro, Mac Mini) on Microsoft Windows. For instance, a Mac with Windows 7 loaded is too bright for most users, and you can make its screen dimmer with the help of the Mac Brightness Control software.

If the brightness keys on your Mac keyboard are not working properly after you install and restart Microsoft Windows, you can drag the brightness slider in the Mac Brightness Control software to change your screen brightness.

enter image description here

John Moody

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 11

1But does it work on regular PCs? – oKtosiTe – 2012-07-18T07:42:27.707

Not free anymore :( – Avihu Turzion – 2013-06-20T16:14:36.760

1

I found another alternative. Desktop Lighter. Some features are:

  • Windows only.
  • It lives in the system tray
  • Clicking on the tray icon brings up a simple (but very ugly, IMO) slider which you can slide to change your brightness.
  • If you think clicking on icons is for losers, it has hotkey support:
    • Ctrl + < = reduce brightness.
    • Ctrl + > = increase brightness.
    • I do not see a way to change these hotkeys.
  • It has an option to auto-start with Windows (yes I know you can schedule with the Task Scheduler but this just makes that easier).

Anish Ramaswamy

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 197

For anybody seeing this now, I just wanted to point out that this does not play nice with f.lux installed. It causes all sorts of weird, unpredictable behaviour which I cannot seem to find a pattern for (tested on several TVs, monitors and projectors). – Anish Ramaswamy – 2014-01-20T07:39:17.737

0

Press Win+X, then adjust the brightnest at the level that you want from the first slidebar. Win+X will launch the Windows Mobility Center, you don't need any external application.

mjsr

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 5 577

The Windows Mobility Center doesn't have a brightness slider on any of my computers. The first slider is for volume. – oKtosiTe – 2011-05-02T13:36:29.107

Maybe i assume that this was truth for every computer, but i use this functionality in every "LAPTOP" computer that i have access and works. The computers do you test are all "DESKTOPS" computers? if that is the case then this functionality is present only in notebooks computers – mjsr – 2011-05-02T15:25:25.030

0

Bring up windows mobility center (Windows key shortcut: Win + X), many options including screen brightness. i use this all the time.

source

tiny

Posted 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

Reputation: 9

2This has already been suggested, and doesn't work on presumably most desktop computers. – oKtosiTe – 2012-05-09T07:32:25.110

Asked: 2010-12-08T20:15:17.137

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