Who uses the PC to work or play change the brightness of your computer screen frequently: it all depends on the activity that takes place and at what time, depending on whether there is a lot of light around or if you work in a dark room. In this second case it is never advisable to keep the brightness high so as not to tire or make your eyes water.Dimming the screen brightness can also be very helpful in saving energy and increasing the battery life of your laptop. Also, in addition to the possibility of manually change the brightness of the screenyou can make the brightness to be changed automatically based on certain factors: whether or not the laptop is plugged in, whether the battery is charged or low, whether there is an integrated ambient light sensor that detects, as in cell phones, whether the environment is bright or dark.
In the following guide we will show you in detail how to change the brightness of the pc screenhow to set automatic brightness on Windows 11 and which programs we can use to manage various types of brightness.
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1) Change the brightness manually
To manually change the brightness of a laptop screen just use the buttons on the keyboard. Generally this adjustment is made with the keys Fn plus the keys the keys F7 o F8.
On some laptops the keys may be different: in this case it will be enough to find the sun icon or something similar on the F1 to F12 keys at the top, using them every time we want to lower or increase the brightness.
In this regard, we invite you to read our guides on how to activate and choose the function of the Fn keys on a laptop come on how to use the main function keys on Windows (F1, F2, F3 etc.).
2) Adjust the brightness from the Windows 11 settings
In addition to the keys on the keyboard, we can adjust the brightness using the Windows 11 settings. To proceed, press WIN+I on the keyboard, let’s go to the menu Systemwe press on the menu Screen and, in the new screen, modify the value next to the item Brightness.
To adjust the brightness according to the type of power in use on the laptops (electrical outlet or battery) let’s go to the path Settings -> System -> Power & Batteryexpand the Battery Saver menu, change the activation percentage (50%) and activate the switch next to the item Reduce screen brightness when battery saver is on.
If, on the other hand, we want to adjust a precise brightness based on the energy profile in use, we invite you to read our guide to power management options in windows 11 and 10 come on how to increase pc battery life.
3) Schedule Windows 11 night brightness
On Windows 11 there is a new entry called Night lightable to change the brightness and color rendering of colors at night, so as to tire the eyes less when we work in the evening or late in the evening.
To schedule the activation of the night mode on Windows 11 we press WIN+I on the keyboard, let’s go to the path System -> Screenwe press on the menu Night lightwe activate the switch next to the entry Schedule night light and choose the most suitable voice for us:
- From Dusk to Dawn (Automatic)
- Set times
The first item will activate the night light based on the sunset and sunrise times (therefore based on the active time zone currently on the PC), while the second item will allow you to set customized times for activating the night light.
In any case, it is always possible to activate it manually by pressing the key Turn on nowpresent in the menu Night light.
4) Use programs to manage brightness
In addition to the methods built into Windows we can use programs to correctly manage brightness and decrease it at night. One of the best applications is without a doubt f.luxavailable free for Windows and Mac.
This program makes the screen with warmer colors at night and cooler colors during the day, which helps reduce eye strain and improves overall quality of what we see on the screen.
Using the location of your device and the current light conditions of the room we are in, f.lux is able to determine the time of sunrise and sunsetalso taking into account the amount of daylight expected in the current season.
The program automatically decreases or increases the brightness of the screen without user intervention: thus we will always have the right amount of light, without having to manually fiddle with the keyboard keys or with the Windows settings.
Other programs similar to f.lux to manage the brightness of the screen are CareUEyes, RedshiftGUI and Iris, all designed to modify the color temperature (another aspect not to be underestimated for eye fatigue) and the brightness of the screen, based on the time of day, the season or certain conditions (for example we can set a stronger light in the weekend and a “work light” the rest of the week).
On these programs to manage the light we suggest you read our guides on how to use F.Lux on PC come on how to change screen brightness and colors on android automatically.
Conclusions
The screen brightness on PC needs to be adjusted often while working or during the most intense gaming sessions: in most cases we will act personally to adjust the right brightness directly from the external monitor settingsbut on laptops it is advisable to use energy saving, night mode or one of the applications seen in this guide to obtain the right brightness in all environmental conditions.
Still on the subject of tired eyesight and rest for the eyes in front of the PC, we suggest you read our guides on how to protect your eyes in front of the PC come on how computer glasses work.