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Live MeshThere are times when you just want to listen to some music on your notebook/laptop and want the display(LCD) of your notebook to remain off while 
the lid is still open, while there are small amount of notebook manufacturer’s who provide this simple option of turning off the notebook’s LCD when not in use but many dont. I own a HP DV2799 Special Edition notebook (see my review here), while its a great notebook in almost every way it still lacks a basic button to switch off the display(LCD) whenever I want to and not only this notebook but also many new & expensive notebooks lacks this option.
This led to me developing my very own small application which turns off my notebook LCD just with one click. I wrote this application in C# using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. Its basically a simple console based application that makes use of a dll(User32.dll) file from Windows using System.Runtime.InteropServices namespace and then calls the required function.
I am sharing this small and useful application with all of you as a freeware license. You are free to distribute and use this application. I have tested this application on Windows Vista only. Please let us know if it works on earlier versions of Windows.
Icon used in this application is Copyrighted to 2008 Microsoft Corporation.
Download
Application Name: Turn Off LCD
Version: 1.0
OS Compatibility: Tested on Windows Vista
Size: 85 kb (.exe) and 68.5 kb (.zip)
Click here to download
UPDATE:
Version: 1.01
Change Log: Removed the MS-DOS console window which was displayed whenever the display came back from off mode.
Click here to download
UPDATE 2:
Version: 1.00 and 1.01
The application works with both Windows XP and Windows Vista. For Windows XP based computers, you will need to install Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 before running this application.
Disclaimer:
Redmond Pie assures its readers that this file and any information enclosed within the file is free from all kinds of malicious code or Trojans that could be harmful for your computer but Redmond Pie or any of its affiliates should not be held responsible if this application caused any harm to your computer when the file(Turn Off LCD.exe) was downloaded from any sources other than redmondpie.com.
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November 15th, 2008
68 Comments/Trackbacks on "Turn off your notebook LCD with one-click"
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Just tried prog on an Acer Aspire notebook with XP. Work erratically - mostly the screen goes blank but then comes on again straight away.
Regards.
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nik said:
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:58 pm
works perfectly on my toshiba satellite A200 with vista
It is quite good as previously I use to do turn off display in 1 min in power options to do the same
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hello Oliver.
I have heard from many people that it works perfectly on XP. Probably the reason why the screen comes back immediately is because of you moving the mouse after running the application. Try not to move your mouse one you have executed the application because this application is sensitive to mouse movements. Hope this helps.
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@ Oliver, dude, I have an Acer notebook and unless you haven’t used it, you’d know that it has a keyboard shortcut ( Fn + F6 on my Acer Aspire ) that automatically turns off the LCD.
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Umair Khan Jadoon said:
October 6th, 2008 at 12:24 am
In many models of notebooks like Acer who have this shortcut. It doesn’t turn off the LCD completely. It just turns off the back light of LCD used to light up pixels : resulting use of power even LCD is not in use. But this application turns off the LCD completely. You can know this by pressing Fn + F6 key and then put your notebook’s LCD under flashlight, you will see the shadows of programs you are running on the notebook. And if you use this application, you will not see the shadows : safes battery life.
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Taimur Asad said:
October 6th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Great find dude!! it now makes the application even more useful!
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just like to add that if your mouse is optical then switch it off, becasue they can be very sensitive if its like mine.
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@levi3man: I have tried the app with both a laser and an optical mouse and it works without much issues.
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Many thanks to you for this small, but very useful application
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I’ve got an idea, maybe you can realize it: Can you make the same but with log-off. So that it turn off the LCD and then log me off. This would be great!
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@sonic: im working on the next version and would surely consider your suggestion for it. thanks for the feedback.
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Can you please share the code of the application? Or atleast the core method calls?
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Sorry Gopinath, we’re not going open source
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I tried ur software onto my Dell Vostro 1400
Using Windows XP Pro
But there’s error while opening it
Error message:
The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135)
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B@zSh i forgot to mention about Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 which is required for running it on Windows XP. I have updated the post above. Please do check it out. Thanks.
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Wow, super quality and simplicity, this is what I want, no extra shut down and stand by features like the others in the market. And yours is free, which is good because I was going to have to pay for some software that had too many functions that was clutter.
A one button turn off lcd program that does just that, You’ve got the Gec Soft seal of approval.
I was going to comment on the way your main method ended with he press any key to continue but you’ve managed to make an update before i can even request. But i do suggest that you have the latest version for download, i didn’t realise that there was a newer version until i came across the console app window problem.
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Thank you Gec Soft Aust. for those nice comments. Keep checking back here as it wont be long before I release another version.
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This is one of the best sites I have ever found. Thanks!!! Very nice and informal. I enjoy being here.
gdf800
gdf800
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This works on my Thinkpad T61p. But we are running the t61 with an external dvi monitor, when we use your utility it turns off both monitors. We want to use it for a kiosk with the presentation running on the external large monitor and the notebook lcd normally turned off. Is this possible? In this case, the hardware is a Nvidia quatro 570m adapter in the t61p. I hope this can be done it it’ll help a lot! Thanks!
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BillH I’ll look into this for version 2 of this application but your problem can be solved by using Presentation Settings in Windows Mobility Center found in Windows Vista.
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Tried it on an HP DV9207us notebook with vista. The screen goes blank but then comes back immediately .(I didnot use mouse,uses the keyboar ) 50% works on Version: 1.00 and less 10% on 1.01. ,but this is the only one prog that can Turn off my notebook LCD with one-click so far. Thanks .
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Great!
Seams to work perfectly on my Asus F3SA notebook with Win XP SP2.
Thank you!
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PS - Just one small note, maybe you should mention that to get the monitor back on it just takes a “wiggle” of the mouse…!
Thanks again!
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Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!
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Thanks Alex
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@Jeffrey (et al) - I too was having trouble with my screen coming right back on when using my keyboard to run the shortcut. I finally figured out I wasn’t releasing all the keys simultaneously. As a result, the computer registered activity and turned the screen back on.. Works perfectly EVERY time when I let go of the keys simultaneously.
@Taimur - Thanks for the useful and simple app! Maybe a slightly longer wait after execution and before starting to acknowledge keyboard or mouse activity would solve this rather minor irritation. Another guy asked for simultaneous logout at execution time. Could simultaneously locking of the login session be another option for a future version please? Thanks again for your work!!
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Сайты о кошек подскажите.
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@Lamar: The Logout feature has already been implemented as an option for the next release. Thanks for the feedback
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can you make the program run at start-up and has a short cut key to turn of the LCD. nice program. thanks
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Imran Hussain said:
September 9th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Version 2 is being worked on. We’ll be considering your feedback for it.
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Amanda Hugenkiss said:
September 12th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I used the shortcut feature of Microsoft Windows XP to create a quick keyboard shortcut for the program. The directions I give below may be similar for other version of Windows, but I’m not sure. You may have to poke around if things are a little different for you.
1. make a folder for the program on the C: drive
(e.g. “C:\TurnOffLCD”)
2. put the program into that folder
(e.g. “C:\TurnOffLCD\TurnOffLCD.exe”)
3. right-click on the program and select “Create Shortcut” (this will create a shortcut in same folder that the program is in)
4. right-click on the shortcut icon that you just created and select “Properties”
5. in the “Shortcut” tab of the “Properties” window, you may select a “Shortcut key” to use for the program
(e.g. “Shortcut key: F7″, “Shortcut key: Ctrl+Alt+L”, etc.)
optional: you may rename the shortcut (e.g. remove “Shortcut to” prefix, rename to “Turn Off LCD 1.0.1″, etc.)
optional: you may move the shortcut to the Start Menu (for easy access without using the shortcut key) by placing it in the following directory: “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu”
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Taimur Asad said:
September 13th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
gr8 tip Amanda
. Works with Windows Vista too!
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This is a great program. Thank you very much.
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There is already another application that does exactly this - except that one only takes up 22kb and doesn’t need the dotnet framework.
It’s here: http://www.koding.co.uk/index.php?page=monoff
My two cents: if you’re going to do something like this, at least add more features since you’re otherwise just duping what is already available.
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Imran Hussain said:
September 17th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Apart from you, we haven’t had any complaints about this application being on .NET . And neither is it duped from anyone. Everybody has appreciated this utility, you don’t have to use it if you don’t like it. Thank You very much
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how can i off my lcd for only one monitor?
i use two monitors with my pc.
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Taimur Asad said:
September 18th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Unfortunately you cannot switch off one monitor of two connected to the same PC with this software.
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Imran Hussain dude thanks alot man…i was always wondering how I do that..I have a acer as well..thanks to u now i learnt something new..thanks a bunch bro
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Imran Hussain said:
September 29th, 2008 at 1:20 am
You’re welcome
Glad to be of help.
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This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Thanks so much for making this. It works great on my Lenovo with Vista Business SP1.
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Is it possible to assign this program to the power button on my laptop? And basically I the only way to turn the screen back on is to push the button again.
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Taimur Asad said:
October 20th, 2008 at 2:17 am
as of now, this app doesnt provide any such functionality. It might be possible thru some registry hacks.
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ed said:
October 20th, 2008 at 3:13 am
Would this be pretty simple to do or more complicated?
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I’m having a problem with this app.
When working on my laptop with an optical mouse pluged in, running your app blanks the screen and turns it back on.
When unpluging the mouse and launching your app the screen stays off until I don’t press a key on the keyboard.
Is this a bug or by design ?
TIA for answer.
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Taimur Asad said:
October 20th, 2008 at 2:15 am
ET there is something wrong on ur side because i too have a wireless laser mouse and dont have any such problems with it. Your mouse sensitivity is probably set to v.high which causes the screen to turn back on.
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I was wondering if you knew of any way to turn only the Backlight off, instead of the full LCD? Ive only seen this on macs, but I have a dell, and theres only so much that you can dim the screen.
Other than that, your app works very well. Simple and fast to use. Thanks.
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I’m trying to use this software on Compaq 6720s with Win XP (.net framework installed). However, when I use this software, the LCD goes off but comes back in 2-4 seconds only.
Can you please help !
Nitin
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Taimur Asad said:
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Nitin that is probably due to the high sensitive mouse you are using. Try it with another mouse and see if it works.
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Great app! thanks!!! Mapped it to my keyboard F10 key with Keydemon…
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OK said:
November 15th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Taimur,
May be you can help me with my problem. I have a dual display setup - LCD of my stationary 17″ notebook as a primary display and a TV as a secondary display. I use the TV for the extended desktop to watch internet TV. When I am watching TV, I would like my notebook’s LCD to turn the backlight off. When I use your program it turns off the backlight, but it also shuts down video signal to the TV (it’s hooked up to VGA out). So here is my question: is it possible to turn off LCD backlight of the main display while still keeping video signal on for secondary display that is also used for extended display?
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