TechSpot: Turn Off your Display Using a Windows Shortcut

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Although it may seem unnecessary at first thought, there is some practicality in having a software shortcut to instantly turn off your monitor. It could prove very useful with notebook computers, if yours doesn't have a keyboard shortcut for shutting down the screen. It could also be convenient in the presence of multiple monitors, your power button might be broken, or you may indeed just be that lazy.

Whatever the case may be, setting up a Windows shortcut to turn off your display(s) couldn't be any easier with the help of a small utility called Wizmo.

But the power of Wizmo doesn't stop there. In our weekly tip we will illustrate a single one of this utility's potential uses. Using different commands Wizmo can also put your PC in standby, hibernation, lock your workstation, reboot, open/close your CD drive's tray, set your system's audio level, and even combine the different commands.

View: Turn Off your Display Using a Windows Shortcut and More

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#1 +omganinja on 05 Nov 2009 - 11:46

I had an app that did this really well years ago, got it from a deviantart member, cant remember what it was called, I'm sure it will come to me. I used to set it to one of my mouse buttons, so i could watch tv from bed then turn off my monitor when finished without getting up.

#2 Shaun_ on 05 Nov 2009 - 11:54

Hmm maybe I could get this put into the Shutdown script at my company to cover for the lazy people. Saves the company money I guess

I'll have to have a play

(5 replies) #3 CheeseFart on 05 Nov 2009 - 11:58

just in case someone walks in when you are watching porn

#3.1 Majesticmerc on 05 Nov 2009 - 13:11

So you can get caught fapping to a porn audio track?

#3.2 SuperKid on 05 Nov 2009 - 16:24

Not if it changes the volume to 0 too.

#3.3 Avangelon on 05 Nov 2009 - 16:26

Sounds like SuperKid has this all thought out ;P

#3.4 +Mike Chipshop on 05 Nov 2009 - 17:33

and rightly too..

#3.5 TechGuyPA on 05 Nov 2009 - 19:21

(Insert 70's Porn soundtrack here)

#4 Jonathans on 05 Nov 2009 - 12:05

The most truthful comment of the day...

(1 reply) #5 kurage on 05 Nov 2009 - 12:39

maybe just me but trend has marked it as a virus and it dosent run on 7 x64.

#5.1 greenwizard88 on 06 Nov 2009 - 17:41

It's just you :p

I used this program on Windows 98, and it was awesome even then!

#6 Sacha on 05 Nov 2009 - 13:20

My Sony Vaio NW has a dedicated button for this near the keyboard. It is quite useful and saves a bit of power.
I usually use it when I need to run a torrent, download something or simply transfer files and occasionally check up on how it's going.

You can use it when booting up the computer and in any OS without installing drivers, so a bit more convenient than this program I guess.

#7 lmiller867 on 05 Nov 2009 - 13:30

I tried this a few months back with Win7 x86 and also ran into issues. It would blank the screen, but upon coming back to the machine and trying to bring the display back I would hit a key and the screen would come back on, then go right back off. It usually would take a few tries to get the screen back each time. In place of it I came up with my own solution.

If you want you screen to just blank immediately you can use a shortcut to

C:\Windows\System32\scrnsave.scr /s

But what I was looking for was a way to enable and disable powering off the monitor after an idle time. To power off after 5 minutes of inactivity I made a shortcut to tun

powercfg -change -monitor-timeout-ac 5

to disable the blanking for movie viewing I used

powercfg -change -monitor-timeout-ac 0

(7 replies) #8 Stup0t on 05 Nov 2009 - 13:46

I have the solution... no third party app either, no fancy scripting.

1. Finger
2. Button
3. Press

#8.1 qwexor on 05 Nov 2009 - 13:51

Stup0t said,

Oh so that's how it's done. You seem very knowledgeable on the subject. Would you maybe mind writing up a detailed tutorial?

#8.2 lmiller867 on 05 Nov 2009 - 13:56

I'm not sure how much a problem it is with modern monitors but when I was a computer tech a few years back the most common failure we'd see in monitors was the power button.

#8.3 RangerLG on 05 Nov 2009 - 14:22

If you could point out my monitor power button on my laptop, you'd be a genius.

#8.4 pookie62 on 05 Nov 2009 - 16:49

Uh... close the lid?

#8.5 carmatic on 05 Nov 2009 - 17:57

pookie62 said,

that puts the notebook towards a hibernate state, it doesnt just shut down the monitor... it takes too long for it to resume

#8.6 Electric Jolt on 06 Nov 2009 - 00:34

If you could point out my iMac monitor power button, you'd be a genius. (not the computer power button, just the screen's power button, if one exists...)

#8.7 alpha2beta on 06 Nov 2009 - 01:07

[/quote]
I'm not sure how much a problem it is with modern monitors but when I was a computer tech a few years back the most common failure we'd see in monitors was the power button.[/quote]

So did I when I worked at my school district, Lots of KDS monitors with bad power buttons.

(2 replies) #9 cosio on 05 Nov 2009 - 13:57

Personally, I prefer using Winbubble. It has a cool feature that lets's you integrate "Turn off monitor" in the context menu which appears after you rightclick on the desktop. Any lots of more cool features! Give it a go if you haven't yet. http://unlockforus.blogspot.com/2007/11/wi...atures-gap.html

P.S. Not sure if it supports win7 though, I've been using it for vista.

#9.1 em_te on 05 Nov 2009 - 14:29

Unfortunately to turn it back on, you have to right-click and blindly click on the "enable" menu.

#9.2 cosio on 05 Nov 2009 - 18:02

em_te said,

No, to turn it back on it's enough to move the mouse or to type a key on the keyboard.

(1 reply) #10 artfuldodga on 05 Nov 2009 - 14:46

i use a little app called TurnOffLCDv101, works under Windows 7

#10.1 Doli on 05 Nov 2009 - 16:13

Simple and small. I like it

#11 +Chsoriano on 05 Nov 2009 - 16:20

I use a tool called nircmd...

#12 Cryton on 05 Nov 2009 - 16:51

For the last many years I've been using an app that some Neowin member wrote and attached in a forum post. And it's been great, so kudos to whoever it was!

(1 reply) #13 Shadrack on 05 Nov 2009 - 17:45

There's a button for that. On my laptop and my desktop computer. I don't need a shortcut too.

#13.1 Electric Jolt on 06 Nov 2009 - 00:36

Lets see here. Do all-in-ones have power buttons for monitor and computer, oh wait no, its an all-in-one, which means the power button toggles power for both. I don't have that. You don't need to be selfish, just because you don't need doesn't mean I don't or somebody doesn't need it.

#14 LynxMukka on 05 Nov 2009 - 17:53

"Turn Off Your Display Using A Windows Shortcut" should instead be "Turn Off Your Display Using A Bit Of Software".

Thanks for wasting my time.

(1 reply) #15 mr.miek on 05 Nov 2009 - 18:54

Locking your workstation with a shortcut can be done without any additional software.

Target: %windir%system32rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
Start in: %windir%

Edit:
Just did a little Googling and found a few other things here

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/1147/shortc...wn_change_icon/

Edit again: You can get Winexit.scr that forces logout on screensaver timeout, it is in the Windows Resource Kit.

Last edited by mr.miek on 05 Nov 2009 - 19:11

#15.1 Electric Jolt on 06 Nov 2009 - 00:43

That's for locking though, not sleeping display.

#16 tomjol on 05 Nov 2009 - 20:53

Been using Poweroff for this and similar for a number of years.

#17 NightSt@lk3r on 06 Nov 2009 - 02:28

Been using Fn+F5 without issue since i got my laptop

#18 M_Lyons10 on 06 Nov 2009 - 09:07

I don't know when I'd use this, but it was an interesting read... I didn't know you could do this honestly...

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