How to reduce the brightness of a monitor on a computer

If you are using a laptop, tablet, or other mobile device, you need to adjust the brightness of the display to see better, depending on whether you are indoors or outdoors. Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7, as well as other computer or laptop systems, offer many ways to change the brightness of the screen, and most users do not even know half of them.

How to choose the best brightness on your computer

You want the brightness of your monitor to match the illumination of the surrounding workspace. To achieve this, look at the white background of this page. If it looks like a light source in a room, it is too light. If he seems dull and gray, perhaps he is too dark. If you work in a shiny reflective office, applying a glare filter to the screen can also help.

REFERENCE! Most monitors allow you to adjust the color temperature manually. It is better to use warmer (yellowish) color temperature in dark rooms and colder (bluer) color temperature in bright rooms. You can remove or add it on the buttons on the monitor.

Depending on what kind of lighting you use the monitor, you need to change the brightness level of the screen. For example, if you are in a well-lit room, the image on your monitor should contain high brightness when working with it. If you are and use the monitor in a room with insufficient lighting, then do not use a high level of lighting. This will be correct and when changing lighting or a workplace, it is worth changing the settings.

When the light hits the eye in poor light, it may affect your eyesight. But too low a brightness can lead to negative consequences. Reduce the backlight to a level comfortable for the eyes, or turn on additional lighting, such as lamps or the LED backlight, if you have one. In modern gaming monitors and their accessories, backlighting is set by default.

How can I reduce the brightness?

Some laptop keyboards or typical keyboards for Windows tablets come with keys that can be used to easily change the backlight. For example, on an HP Specter 13t laptop, you can use the F2 and F3 keys to decrease or increase the backlight of the screen.

On Surface Pro devices, you can press Fn + DEL to increase / add, and Fn + BACKSPACE to decrease / decrease / remove it.

On a Lenovo Legion Y520 laptop with Windows 10, you can press F + F11 to decrease, and Fn + F12 to increase it. Look for similar keys on your laptop.
These keyboard shortcuts are commonly found on Windows laptops and tablets with mobile keyboards.

REFERENCE! There are no such keys on desktop keyboards, since Windows does not allow users to change the screen lighting level on desktop PCs.

Desktop displays have manual lighting controls. It is not made from Windows.

Windows 10

If you use Windows 10 on a tablet or laptop, then a quick way to change the lighting is as follows. Click or tap the battery icon (corner on the right side of the taskbar). Then, in the displayed menu, press or tap the brightness icon until you reach the desired result.

On some laptops and tablets with Windows 10, backlighting is expressed as a percentage and ranges from 0% to 100%.
On some devices, such as Surface Pro, the screen backlight is expressed in levels such as the darkest, Darkest, Proposed, Brighter and Brighter. They denote brightness of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%.

Using quick action from the Support Center (Windows 10 only).
Windows 10 users can also use the Support Center to change the brightness. You can click or click the Support Center icon in the lower right corner of the screen, press Windows + A on the keyboard, or swipe inward on the right side of the screen (when using the touch screen). In the Support Center, press or tap the backlight icon until you reach the desired brightness level.

REFERENCE! Remember that on some laptops and tablets with Windows 10, brightness is expressed as a percentage, and on others, in the words “Darkest”, “Dark”, “Proposed”, “Lighter” and “Brighter”. They denote brightness of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%.

Adjust from the control panel (all versions of Windows)
Another method to change the brightness is to use the control panel. Either open the control panel and go to "Hardware and Sound -> Power Options" or right-click on the battery sign in the taskbar and open "Adjust screen brightness."
Both methods will lead you to the power options window. At the bottom of this window, find the screen brightness slider. Use it to decrease or increase the backlight of the display.

NOTE. This option is not displayed on desktop computers, only on laptops, Windows tablets.

Use Windows Mobility Center to change screen brightness (all versions of Windows)
Windows laptop users can also use the Windows Mobility Center to adjust the screen backlight. Launch the Windows Mobility Center application and use the "Screen Brightness" slider to set it as you wish.

Windows 8

Use the Settings button (Windows 8.1 only). If you are using Windows 8.1, raise the charms. One quick way to do this is to press Windows + C on the keyboard or swipe from the right edge of the screen to the center (if you are using a tablet). Then click or click "Settings."

There are several buttons at the bottom of the Settings button. Find the one called “Screen,” and click or click on it.

Move the brightness slider up or down, depending on how you want to set the screen backlight. When done, press or tap somewhere outside the Settings charm to make it disappear from the screen.

Adjust the backlight by changing the active power plan (all versions of Windows)
Different Windows devices have different power plans. Some of them come with different lighting settings, since lowering the screen illumination reduces power consumption and increases the autonomy of your device.

Therefore, if you want to reduce the brightness, change the plan to the one that offers the best battery life. If you want to increase the screen backlight, change the plan to one that offers more performance and shorter battery life. To learn more about power plans and how to change them, read this guide: what are power plans and how to switch them in Windows.

How to decrease the brightness using the menu or special programs

Change the brightness of the display using the Settings app (Windows 10 only).
Windows 10 users can also use the Settings app to change the backlight level. Open Settings (Windows + I) and go to System.
In the left column, select "Show." On the right, find the slider Change brightness for brightness and color.
Use this slider to set the display backlight as you want.

Desktop Lighter allows you to quickly and easily adjust the backlight. He can change the brightness level by clicking on the icon and adjusting the slider up or down, or using keyboard shortcuts. The Ctrl + keyboard shortcut is very similar to the private software and Fn keyboard shortcuts that can be found on many laptops. Other available options start with Windows, expand the slider and remember the brightness settings.

ScreenBright is a free and portable tool that can adjust the brightness, contrast, color brightness and color temperature of your display. The program needs a minor flaw, requiring a DDC / CI or USB compatible display display, which is not available on all monitors or laptop screens. The use speaks for itself, adjusting the sliders and clicking “Save” when you are happy with the result.

REFERENCE! ScreenBright also supports command line arguments, so you can use it in shortcuts and scripts or even set up a scheduled task to activate the setting at a specific time of the day.

The RedShift GUI has a simple slider for adjusting the screen backlight, this is a very interesting utility, because the main goal of the program is to dynamically adjust the color temperature of the display depending on the time of day. A “hotter” lighter display during the day and a warmer and slightly darker shade of the screen at night. This should make things a lot easier for the eyes.

Just enter the day and night temperatures in the settings, and then select your location by IP address, city or city or enter your own coordinates, if you know them. Then, when the sun rises or sets with you, the temperature of the display will change to reflect this.

For users who want to change not only the standard brightness of their display, the Gamma Panel is a good viewing tool. In addition, it can also adjust gamma and contrast, adding the ability to customize each of the red, green, and blue colors individually or together.

Another useful option is to create profiles that can be activated using a predefined hotkey, so you can, for example, set up a night profile and activate it when you feel the need by pressing the key combination or in the menu on the taskbar with the right mouse button. Although back in 2002, the Gamma Panel still performs very well on Windows 7 and 8.