Control the Brightness of Your Computer With Windows 7

Is your bright screen sucking down all of your laptop's power? Are you trying to work on the computer late at night and want to make it easier on your eyes? Windows laptops have a built-in brightness slider that you can use to dim or brighten your screen. If your brightness slider has disappeared, you can re-enable it from the Device Manager. If you're using a desktop computer, there are some third-party applications that can help adjust your screen's brightness.

Steps

Using the Brightness Slider (Laptops Only)

  1. Click the Power Options button in your System Tray. The icon looks like a battery. This will only be present if you are using a laptop.
    • If the Power Options button is not there and you are using a laptop, open the Control Panel from the Start menu and select "Power Options".
    • Desktop computers do not have a brightness slider as brightness is considered a power saving option for laptop batteries. Control-the-Brightness-of-Your-Computer-With-Windows-7 for tips on lowering your desktop brightness.
  2. Click the "Adjust screen brightness" link. This will open the Power Options window.
    • Control-the-Brightness-of-Your-Computer-With-Windows-7 if you don't have this option when you click the Power Options button.
  3. Adjust the slider at the bottom. This will adjust the brightness of your screen. Low brightness will extend your battery life.

Restoring a Missing Brightness Slider (Laptops Only)

  1. Click the Start menu and type .devmgmt.msc. Press ↵ Enter to open the Device Manager. This controls all of the hardware installed on your computer. Your brightness slider disappeared because something happened to the software, or "driver", that controls your monitor.
  2. Expand the "Monitors" category. You will see a list of different categories, including "Disk drives", "Display adapters", "Keyboards" and more. Click the arrow next to "Monitors" to expand it.
  3. Right-click on your monitor in the list and select "Properties". Chances are you only have one monitor listed. If you have two or more, detach any additional monitors that are connected to your laptop first.
  4. Click the .Driver tab.
  5. Click the .Uninstall button. Check the "Delete the driver software for this device" box that appears in the new window and click OK to confirm.
  6. Wait for the driver to uninstall. This only take a moment. Once the driver has uninstalled, your Device Manager list will refresh, and you will notice that the "Monitor" category is gone.
  7. Click the "Scan for hardware changes" button at the top of the Device Manager. This is a small square button with a picture of a magnifying glass in front of a computer. Clicking this button will scan your system for newly installed hardware (or in your case, hardware with no driver installed).
  8. Verify that your monitor appears back on the list. Once the Device Manager scans for changes, it will automatically reinstall the basic Microsoft driver for your monitor. This should re-enable the brightness slider.
  9. Reboot your computer. This may not be necessary for your changes to take effect, but can't hurt and may save you a step later.
  10. Try adjusting your brightness. Once your computer reboots, click the Power Options button in the System Tray to find your restored brightness options.
    • If you still don't have a brightness slider, your graphics adapter may not support it. You can try Update-Your-Video-Card-Drivers-on-Windows-7, or try the workaround in the next section.

Using f.lux to Adjust Your Monitor (Laptop and Desktop)

  1. Download the f.lux software. f.lux is a free program that automatically adjusts the color temperature based on the time of day and lighting in your room. This can make your display much easier on the eyes during late-night computing sessions.
    • f.lux is not recommended for graphics designers or others who rely on extremely accurate colors.
  2. Double-click the setup file after downloading. This will run through the basic configuration of f.lux.
  3. Select your location. f.lux uses your location to automatically transition the colors on your screen when the sun goes up and down in your area.
  4. Select your room lighting. Telling f.lux what kind of lighting you have allows it to match the colors on your screen so that they mimic the lighting in the room. This makes the screen much less harsh at night, but normal during the day.
  5. Update your graphics card drivers if f.lux is not working properly. This is usually the easiest way to fix most errors that may occur with f.lux. Update-Your-Video-Card-Drivers-on-Windows-7 for detailed instructions on updating your drivers.

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