Skip to main content

How to keep your PC’s screen from dimming

Do you get annoyed when your PC’s screen gets dimmer unexpectedly? You may not realize this, but your rig’s power plan may be set to dim your display automatically after a certain point in time. Saving power is great, and can lead to a slimmer electric bill. But if you rarely step away from your machine for extended periods, this might be more of annoyance than that’s worth dealing with. With this simple guide, we’ll show you how to keep your monitor’s brightness settings stand at attention at all times — helping you get started doing what you want to do faster, and more easily.

How to keep your PC’s screen from dimming

When at the desktop, hold the Windows key and press R to pull by the Run dialog box. From there type in “control panel” without the quotes and press Enter. Scroll down to and click on “Power Options.” Locate your active power plan and click on the blue button labeled “Change plan settings,” which should be located to the right.

Recommended Videos

If you’re using a notebook, then you have two rows of drop down menus to contend with, which should be labeled “On battery” and “Plugged in.” The first setting from the top of each column should be labeled “Dim the display.” Under both “On battery” and “Plugged in,” click the drop down menu, select “Never” and click “Save changes.” If you’re rolling with a desktop PC, the “On battery” column should not be present.

From here on out, your PC’s display will stay bright and shiny, freeing you from the tyranny of having to poke your mouse to wake it fully again.

Windows 8 includes many new features which give users the opportunity to use Windows in different ways. A new interface, and new ways to interact with your computer, as well as new shortcuts, new menus and an entirely new class of apps, are all waiting within the new OS. All of these features can be useful, that is, if you know how to use them. Want to learn more? Explore 8 of our favorite Windows 8 tips and tricks.

Konrad Krawczyk
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Konrad covers desktops, laptops, tablets, sports tech and subjects in between for Digital Trends. Prior to joining DT, he…
How to build a budget gaming PC build for under $500
This gaming PC rig costs less than most smartphones. Here's what we put inside
should you buy a console style gaming pc computer desk

Who says a gaming PC has to be expensive? You can get a lot of gaming PC for under $500 if you spend it carefully. That's where we come in. This guide will round up the best gaming hardware deals available today to give you a great starting point for your own budget gaming PC build for under $500.

If you have a little more to spend, check out our guides on the best gaming PCs of 2024, and also the best gaming PC deals right now.
The build and what it can do
We’ll go into more detail about the hardware we've chosen below, but this is a quick summary of what we've picked if you want to just dive in and buy them right now.

Read more
Gaming monitors just smashed through an important milestone
Forza Horizon 5 running on the HP Omen 27k.

The key difference between a normal monitor and a gaming monitor is the refresh rate, and TCL just revealed the fastest gaming monitor we've ever seen. At Display Week, the company demoed a gaming monitor that's capable of a 4K resolution at 1,000Hz, which vastly exceeds the options now available on the market.

Currently, Asus holds the crown for the fastest monitor on the market, with a 1080p resolution and a 540Hz refresh rate. Alienware isn't far behind with its 500Hz gaming monitor, which is also locked to 1080p. The fact that TCL has a display capable of 1,000Hz is impressive enough, but the 4K resolution really stands out.

Read more
Nvidia might power your next handheld gaming PC
Starfield running on the Asus ROG Ally.

Rumor has it that Nvidia is working on a system-on-a-chip (SoC) that could power PCs and even future handheld gaming devices. The speculation comes from Dan Nystedt, who says that Nvidia is working with MediaTek to develop an AI processor that could be revealed as soon as June.

Adding further weight to the rumor is XpeaGPU, who also claims Nvidia is working on a handheld SoC. The leaker says that Nvidia thinks the chip has "good market potential." This isn't the first time we've heard about Nvidia looking at the growing market of handheld gaming PCs, either. In March, leaker Moore's Law is Dead claimed that Nvidia is "worried that it's missing the boat here" with handheld gaming PCs.

Read more