Screen dimmer for windows

In our tech-savvy lives, adjusting screen brightness is essential for our comfort and productivity. Whether you’re working late at night, gaming in a dimly lit room, or simply trying to reduce eye strain from prolonged screen use, the right brightness and screen dimmer apps can make a significant difference. Windows 10 offers several built-in features for managing screen brightness, but sometimes, those built-in functionalities do not meet our requirements or may be limited. In such cases, third-party apps come into play. This article explores the 8 best brightness and screen dimmer apps for Windows 10, detailing their features, usability, and benefits, to help you make an informed choice.

1. F.lux

F.lux is one of the most popular dimming and color adjustment applications available. Its main objective is to adjust the color temperature of your screen based on the time of day. During the day, F.lux keeps your screen at a bright and vibrant setting, but as the sun sets, it gradually shifts your display to warmer tones to help reduce eye strain and improve your sleep quality.

Features:

• Automatic adjustments: F.lux automatically changes the screen brightness based on the time of the day.
• Location-based settings: By entering your location, F.lux can adjust to local sunrise and sunset times.
• Customizable settings: Users can tweak brightness levels and color temperatures according to their preference.
• Movie mode: When watching videos, F.lux can be temporarily turned off, restoring the normal brightness and color settings.

Usability: F.lux is easy to install and set up. It runs in the background, making seamless adjustments without requiring constant user intervention.

2. Brightness Slider

Brightness Slider is a simple yet effective tool for adjusting screen brightness on Windows 10 devices, especially for laptops. The app allows users to adjust screen brightness from a convenient slider interface, which is particularly useful when the built-in brightness controls aren’t accessible.

Features:

• Slider interface: Offers easy control over brightness levels through a simple slider.
• System tray integration: Users can conveniently access the app from the system tray for quick adjustments.
• Custom hotkeys: Users can set custom hotkeys for adjusting brightness, making it even more user-friendly.

Usability: Brightness Slider is straightforward; install it, and you’ll find it in the system tray for quick access. Suitable for users who prefer no-fuss solutions, it makes adjusting brightness hassle-free, especially for gaming or working late.

3. Dimmer

Dimmer is another highly regarded app that helps reduce brightness beyond the limits set by the hardware controls on your screen. Ideal for users who work in dark environments, Dimmer offers a simple overlay that dims the entire screen, reducing glare and eye strain.

Features:

• Screen overlay: Creates a dark overlay over your screen to lower brightness levels.
• Custom opacity levels: Users can adjust the opacity to suit their needs, providing maximum comfort.
• Multiple displays: If you’re using more than one monitor, Dimmer works across all screens seamlessly.

Usability: Users can easily toggle the app on and off to suit their preferences. It’s especially useful for those who find the lowest brightness setting on their devices still too bright, making it a favorite for night owls and those who often work in low-light conditions.

4. CareUEyes

CareUEyes is designed with the user’s eye health in mind. In addition to adjusting brightness, it incorporates a variety of features aimed at preventing eye fatigue while using screens for extended periods.

Features:

• Screen dimming: Adjusts brightness levels easily to fit the user’s preference.
• Color temperature adjustment: Users can choose warmer tones to reduce blue light exposure.
• Break reminders: The app will remind you to take breaks, helping to maintain eye health.
• Eye protection modes: Offers modes tailored for different tasks like reading, working, and gaming.

Usability: CareUEyes simplifies screen adjustments by providing settings tailored for both casual use and work-related activities. It’s ideal for users concerned about eye health and thinking long-term about their screen usage.

5. Brightness for Windows 10

Brightness for Windows 10 is a lightweight and highly functional app available directly from the Microsoft Store. This application allows users to make quick adjustments to their screen brightness without having to navigate through the traditional settings menu.

Features:

• Simple interface: The clean and minimalist design makes it easy for anyone to use.
• Adjustable brightness levels: Quickly increase or decrease brightness with a slider.
• Keyboard shortcuts: Offers customizable keyboard shortcuts for quick adjustments.

Usability: Since it’s from the Microsoft Store, installation is easy and quick, allowing immediate access. The app is perfect for users looking for a straightforward brightness control solution.

6. Display Tuner

For those looking to have more control over their display settings, Display Tuner is an extensive application that allows you to adjust brightness and other monitor settings.

Features:

• Comprehensive controls: In addition to brightness, it allows adjustments of contrast and gamma settings.
• Profile management: Users can create profiles for different settings, making it easy to switch depending on usage.
• Intuitive interface: The app features a user-friendly interface that guides you through the settings.

Usability: Display Tuner is perfect for users who want fine-tuned control over their display settings, making it particularly popular among graphic designers and photographers.

7. Night Light

Windows 10 has a built-in feature known as Night Light, designed to reduce blue light exposure after dark. This feature can help you sleep better and reduce eye strain when using your computer in the evening or at night.

Features:

• Scheduling: Schedule when the Night Light feature automatically activates.
• Custom color temperature: Adjust the color warmth according to your liking.
• Ease of use: Built directly into Windows settings, it requires no additional software installation.

Usability: Night Light is perfect for users who prefer using built-in features without the need for extra installations. It’s a simple, effective method to protect your eyes when using your computer at night.

8. Windows 10 Built-In Brightness Control

Lastly, let’s not overlook the built-in brightness controls within Windows 10. Users can access this feature through the Action Center or the Settings app, where adjustments can be made with a slider for brightness, depending on whether you’re using a laptop or an external monitor.

Features:

• Accessible via system tray: Quickly adjust screen brightness through the Action Center.
• Touchscreen functionality: If using a touchscreen device, users can swipe to adjust settings.
• Quick settings: Easily customizable options for managing brightness in conjunction with battery settings.

Usability: While it’s basic and straightforward, this built-in feature offers a no-cost solution for users who do not wish to download additional applications.

Conclusion

When it comes to managing screen brightness and reducing eye strain, these eight applications cover a broad spectrum of needs and preferences for Windows 10 users. Each app provides unique features tailored for various use cases, whether it’s simple brightness control, blue light reduction, or advanced display tuning.

Choosing the right application can greatly enhance your computing experience, allowing for greater comfort during late-night work or leisure sessions. The ideal app for you will depend on your specific needs—whether you want a straightforward brightness slider, comprehensive display control, or eye protection features. As we become increasingly reliant on screens, ensuring a comfortable viewing experience has never been more vital. Explore these options and take the necessary steps to protect your eyes while enjoying all that your Windows 10 PC has to offer.

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The new Windows 11 comes with an in-built night mode and quick brightness slider but keep in mind that it does not work on extended desktops and displays. You need to manually adjust the brightness level on each system if you use a multi-monitor setup. We have researched the 8 best Screen Dimmer Apps for Windows 11 that you can download for free!

Let’s take care of our eyes!

8 Best Free Screen Dimmer Apps To Use With Windows 11

PangoBright – Orange and Yellow Tint

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This application stays within the system tray and the best part despite sliders we get percentages. Use this to change the tint color of the screen.

If you wish to have an orange tint display in the daytime and a yellow tint at night, then this helps you have both in a few clicks.

What it offers:

1. In percentages change the level of brightness.
2. Comes with an option to change the tint color.

Dimmer – Multiple Display Support

This one supports multiple displays. The dimmer application has a grey overlay on all displays, allowing users to move the slider to dim the screen. We have tested this on three monitors setup and it turned out to be great. As this is a portable program you need to extract the zip folder and double-click to use it.

It lacks control inside the application. Moreover, it does not provide support to keyboard shortcuts or user-defined presets. If you are looking for a basic application, try this one.

What it offers:

• It is a portable application.
• Carries individual controls for different monitors.
• It does not have any hotkeys or built-in presets.

RECOMMENDED: My Widgets are blank on the desktop (Fix).

F.Lux – Never get blind by your screen

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This is both a popular dimmer and night mode application. Though version 11 comes with in-built night mode as mentioned above, it is barebone. The best thing is that it does not let the user customize the white balance value of the tint. It comes with all the customizations you need.

When you open this application for the very first time it asks you to enter a location and adjust the brightness according to the daytime. The best thing is that it provides users with 3 different white balance tones for sunrise, sunset, and bedtime. These options can be customized and have more white balance timers.

If you carry a smart light such as Philips Hue or Yeelight then you can sync it with this and it shall customize the white balance of the screen with the light in the house.

What it offers:

1. It provides support to multi-color setups.
2. It is able to adjust by today’s timing of the location.
3. We can sync with smart lights.

ALSO CHECK: How To Change Wallpaper Without Activating Windows 11.

CareUEyes – Control Desktop Brightness

This is yet another option on the list that provides users with manual toggles for the screen white balance, brightness and much more. If you are confused with such options then don’t need to worry as there are in-built presets such as Office, Gaming, Editing, Reading and much more for different purposes. The best thing is that it allows users to create their very own presets.

It has many features but among all our personal favorites is to set up hotkeys to increase or decrease brightness. So, in spite of opening the application each time, we can control monitor brightness with help of keyboard shortcuts. The only downfall is that it does not provide separate control for systems that are individual. Keep in mind that settings apply to each monitor which is connected.

What it offers:

1. It supports hotkeys.
2. Carries a brightness and white balance slider.
3. Comes with multi-monitor support.
4. It has built-in presets such as Editing, Reading, Gaming and much more.

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This is a mix-match of minimal and power options. If you are looking for a simple option to automatically modify brightness settings according to the time of the day then you need to opt for this one. If you are a power person looking for fine-tube brightness, saturation, gamma and much more manually, this is the best option. The best thing is that it lets you sync all settings across different monitors.

The only drawback is that it does not come in free but you get a 7-day trial time plus you need to shell out $1.99 each month.

What it offers:

1. With this, we can sync settings across various platforms.
2. Carries advanced options to fine-tune brightness. Saturation, blue light and much more.
3. It comes with automatic white balance, and saturation brightness according to the time of the location.

ALSO CHECK: Windows 11 Photo Viewer Alternative (Free).

3 Recommended Brightness Control Apps for Windows 11 

DisplayTuner – Easy controlling slider

This just like the Win11 brightness sliders lets users work with DDC/CI displays. It also provides users with the option to adjust the gamma, RGB levels and much more. Moreover, with this, we can control levels of audio of, the desktop screen orientation from within the application.

The only drawback is that it cannot work on the laptop screen. If you carry a laptop extending to a monitor, it works only on the monitor but not on the laptop.

What it’s recommended:

1. It does not work on laptops.
2. It carries options to create custom presets and hotkeys.
3. It carries options to tune gamma, RGB levels, audio screen orientation, etc.
4. It provides support to DDC/CI monitors.

ALSO CHECK: Best Windows 11/10 Audio Utilities To Try.

Windows 11 Built-in Brightness Slider

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This one might hit you differently as it is a brightness control application. The thing is that other applications overlay tint over the display despite modifying brightness now what this does is send commands to modify monitors and extend display brightness values. For this, your monitor must support DDC/CI and be enabled in the monitor. For those who do not know this is used to provide software control, brightness and other settings.

This is quite a basic application. What it does is sit on the system tray and let the user change the values of the display. If 1 of your monitor is connected, it shall show 1 slider and if 2 then it shall show 2 different sliders.

What it’s recommended:

1. This is a portable application.
2. It only provides support to DDC/CI display.
3. It carries a brightness slider for different monitors in the taskbar.

ClickMonitorDDC – Now with HotKeys

This has a lot of similarities to DisplayTuner but how it is different is that it carries more customizations and hotkeys. Along with the normal functions with this, we can set brightness and sound levels for different times of the .dat keep in mind that these need to be set up manually inside the application first.

The best thing about this one is that it has hotkeys and mouse action support. What interests us the most is its mouse action support which is quite interesting. If you carry 2 monitors, it shall show 2 icons in the system tray. All you need to do is hover over its icon in the system tray and then rotate the cursor to increase or reduce brightness.

What it’s recommended:

1. Provides support to DDC/CI.
2. It carries customizations, hotkey as well as mouse action support.

FEATURED: Windows 11 Snipping Tool Replacement.

Final Verdict – Screen Dimming Software for Windows 11

The eyes are a very important part of our body that needs to be protected. This is why you need to take care of the brightness levels that you set on the monitors and make sure they are calibrated. We have compiled the most extensive list of screen dimmer apps for Windows 11 to help you control these settings and ensure your eyes are not hurting.

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Simple screen dimmer

Bright Master is a convenient solution for adjusting the brightness of monitors and displays. The program runs on all versions of Windows, starting from Windows 7, and does not require installation. It supports external monitors with the DDC/CI protocol, as well as built-in displays of laptops, all-in-one PCs, and Windows tablets, provided that the WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) service is enabled.

With Bright Master, you can easily manage the brightness of your screens, whether they are connected via standard cables or are part of built-in hardware. Its ease of use and compatibility with a wide range of devices make Bright Master the ideal tool for optimizing the brightness of your displays.

Current version: 1.7.1  (5.04 MB)

Download

Управлять яркостью дисплея в ноутбуках и десктопных компьютерах можно с помощью «горячих» клавиш, обычно Fn + F5 и F6 или Fn + клавиши-стрелки. Только вот далеко не все внешние клавиатуры имеют клавишу Fn, а еще клавиатурные комбинации регулировки яркости дисплея не будут работать, если на ПК отсутствуют соответствующие драйвера. В таком случае может выручить Dimmer — бесплатная утилита для изменения яркости экрана, не нуждающаяся в наличие драйверов.

Dimmer работает по иному принципу, чем другие приложения для изменения яркости экрана: она не снижает и не увеличивает фактическую яркость, вместо этого она накладывает на экран виртуальную прозрачную пленку, тем самым его затемняя и снижая нагрузку на зрение. Утилита имеет небольшой вес, не нуждается в установке, в момент запуска исполняемого файла в месте своего расположение создает конфигурационный JSON-файл, в котором хранит свои настройки. При запуске программы в левом нижнем углу экрана появляется средних размеров панель с четырьмя вкладками: «Screens», «Options», «About» и «d».

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Первая вкладка — основная, она содержит ползунок регулировки затемнения. Минимальный уровень затемнения составляет 0%, максимальный — 90%, при котором экран затемняется настолько, что разглядеть на нём что-либо становится весьма затруднительно. Если к ПК подключено два дисплея, на вкладке «Screens» будут отображаться два ползунка. Однако, если вы используете второй монитор в режиме дублирования основного, в меню Dimmer будет отображаться только один ползунок, изменяющий уровень яркости обоих мониторов одновременно.

Настроить поведение инструмента можно на вкладке «Options».

• Show screen identity — показывает номер экрана в верхнем левом углу.
• Auto run — добавляет программу в автозагрузку.
• Start minimized — сворачивает панель программы в системный трей.
• Movable window — Делает панель программы подвижной.
• Non dimmable window — отключает затемнение панели управления Dimmer при активном затемнении экрана.

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Создание скриншотов при включённом Dimmer

При создании скриншотов встроенными или сторонними инструментами фактическая яркость экрана игнорируется, если же вы создаете скриншот при включенном Dimmer, созданное затемнение будет учитываться, то есть снятые скриншоты будут темными. Учитывайте этот момент, отключайте затемнение на время создания скриншотов или записи экранного видео. Закрывать программу необязательно, достаточно снять флажок над ползунком.

Следует также учитывать, что в настоящее время утилита находится в стадии бета-тестирования. При работе с многомониторными системами программа может работать не совсем корректно, например, в некоторых случаях перетаскивание одного из ползунков приводит к изменению яркости обоих мониторов.

Картинка с сайта: www.white-windows.ru

Официальный сайт: www.nelsonpires.com/software/dimmer