Create hotkey to turn on or off monitor in Windows Vista

Although you can turn off the monitor by pressing the power switch on your monitor but you may prefer to have a keyboard hotkey or shortcut to turn off the monitor. You can create a hotkey in Windows Vista to automatically turn off or turn on the monitor. Here is how :

Hotkey to turn off the monitor

  1. Download turn_off_monitor.zip to your desktop and extract turn_off_monitor.exe in a folder like C:\Tools. You can copy the turn_off_monitor.exe file to a folder of your choice.
  2. Open the folder containing turn_off_monitor.exe, right-click on it and choose Copy.

    Create shortcut to turn_off_monitor.exe

  3. Right click anywhere on your desktop and choose Paste Shortcut.

    Paste shortcut to turn_off_monitor.exe

  4. Select this new shortcut, and press F2 key to rename it and rename to Turn Off Monitor.
  5. Right-click on this shortcut and select Properties.

    Open properties of turn_off_monitor.exe

  6. In the Properties window, select the Shortcut tab. Select the Shortcut key field and press the hotkey you want to use for turning off the monitor. In this article, we will use F7 to turn off the monitor.

    Setting hotkey to turn off monitor

  7. Click OK to save the settings.
  8. That’s it now if you press F7 hotkey to turn off the monitor.

Hotkey to turn on the monitor

  1. Right-click on the shortcut we created for turning off the monitor and choose Copy.

    Create shortcut to turn_off_monitor.exe

  2. Right click anywhere on your desktop and choose Paste Shortcut.

    Paste shortcut to turn_off_monitor.exe

  3. Select this new shortcut, and press F2 key to rename it and rename to Turn On Monitor.
  4. Right-click on this shortcut and select Properties.
  5. In the Properties window, select the Shortcut tab.
  6. Select the Target field and append -on to the command line to make it
    c:\tools\turn_off_monitor.exe -on
  7. Select the Shortcut key field and press the hotkey you want to use for turning on the monitor. In this article, we will use F8 to turn on the monitor.

    Setting hotkey to turn on monitor

  8. Click OK to save the settings.
  9. That’s it now if you press F8 hotkey to turn on the monitor.