This incredibly small 98.2kb file will allow you to automagically power off your display when you lock your computer.
It also does a bunch of other things, including muting your master volume and setting your status on IM clients to “away.”
The full list of features is as follows:
- Automatically turn off monitor
- Automatically pause running media programs
- Automatically set IM away status message
- Mute master sound
- Turn on monitor for remote machines
- Hot key to PAUSE only media programs
- Customizable away message
- Support 15+ media players
- Customizable options
We all know that energy consumption has both environmental and monetary implications. So by using this little application you can save yourself some dough and make the world a better place – all at the same time! WOOT!
Now let’s check out how this simple application works. After downloading the app you simply run it. It does not need installation. Upon running the application you will see this:
The settings are mostly turned off by default so you will want to hit the button labeled “Option” to rectify that.
I was not able to figure out what the option for “Media Status” does, but all the other ones are self explanatory. Another big plus of running this application is the pause key on your keyboard actually becomes a pause key for your media. Not all media players and instant messengers are compatible right now, but most of the big ones are included. Here is a list of compatible ones:
- Winamp
- AIMP
- WMP
- WMP Classic
- 1BY1
- iTunes
- KMPlayer
- Media Monkey
- GOM Player
- AlShow
- QuickTime
- VLC
- Spotify
- Foobar2000
- BSPlayer
As you can see, VLC, WMP, and iTunes are on there, so that has about 98% of you covered, right? Though for instant messengers it will only work with Yahoo and Google as of right now – sorry AOL users! But Digsby and Songbird will be included in the next release. And the author has also confirmed that he is working on a Linux version as well! For those of you out there wondering if this will actually help The Planet or our wallets, you might appreciate this snip from http://www.doit.wisc.edu:
Someone recently asked if we should inform our users that monitors in screen-save mode reduce energy consumption by only a few watts. At $.105 per kilowatt hour (kwh), turning off a 75-watt monitor outside 40 hours a week saves $4.38 a month (42 kwh). This saves 750 lb. of CO2 (greenhouse gas emissions) by burning 450 fewer pounds of coal each year! Flat screen monitors consume about one third this much energy.
I like to save money and I love my planet, so can you guess what I am doing with all the computers I manage that ALWAYS have to stay on? Let’s hear your guesses in the comments!
This post was written by guest blogger Karl Gechlik,. Karl is a superhero of the IT industry and a Microsoft Certified Engineer who loves the hell out of NYC! You can check out Karl’s other posts at www.askTheAdmin.com – tell him [GAS] sent ya!