> On a three-monitor desk your eyes go wherever the light is, which is rarely where you are working. # Smart Screen Dimmer On a three-monitor desk your eyes go wherever the light is, which is rarely where you are working. Smart Screen Dimmer dims every screen your pointer is not on and leaves the one you are using alone — following you as you move, fading rather than snapping. The tray panel draws your real desk with the lit screen ringed, so you can see exactly what it is doing without looking away. $1.99 · lifetime · One payment. No subscription. 3.5 from 11 ratings ## See it in action ![Move to another monitor and the light moves with you.](https://evlarsoft.com/apps/smart-screen-dimmer/s5.jpg) Move to another monitor and the light moves with you. ![Fades down over up to a second, and comes back at once.](https://evlarsoft.com/apps/smart-screen-dimmer/s4.jpg) Fades down over up to a second, and comes back at once. ![The tray panel draws your real desk, at the real dim.](https://evlarsoft.com/apps/smart-screen-dimmer/s2.jpg) The tray panel draws your real desk, at the real dim. ![In the notification area. One shortcut turns it off.](https://evlarsoft.com/apps/smart-screen-dimmer/s1.jpg) In the notification area. One shortcut turns it off. ## About Smart Screen Dimmer Two monitors is better than one until you try to concentrate on either of them. Whatever is bright pulls your eye, and on a wide desk the bright thing is almost never the thing you are working on. Smart Screen Dimmer puts the light where you are. ## It follows the pointer Every screen except the one your pointer is on goes quiet. Move to the next monitor and that one comes up while the one you left goes down. The screen you are actually using is never touched — the dim is only ever somewhere else. This is not a brightness slider you set and forget. Nothing is dimmed until it knows where you are, and it changes every time you move. ## It fades A screen that snaps dark is a screen you notice, which defeats the point. Set how long a screen takes to go quiet after you leave it, up to a second, and how fast it comes back — shorter, because arriving somewhere should feel immediate. Both are yours, to the nearest 50 milliseconds. How dark runs from a gentle 5% to a near-black 92%. ## You can see what it is doing Which is harder than it sounds: the effect is on the screens you are not looking at. So the tray panel draws your actual desk — every monitor in its real place and at its real proportions, portrait ones included — with your lit screen ringed and every other one carrying the exact dim the real monitor has. Move the slider and the drawing dims with it. If something is stopping it working, that panel says so in plain words rather than doing nothing. ## On any monitor It lays a black sheet over the display instead of asking the display to dim, so it works on hardware with no brightness control at all, on desktop monitors, and on panels that ignore the keys. It covers the taskbar with everything else rather than leaving a lit strip along the bottom, and a monitor plugged in later joins in without a restart. The sheet is drawn straight through: it never takes a click away from the window underneath and never steals focus. ## Where it lives In the notification area, with no window anywhere. One keyboard shortcut turns it on and off while anything else has focus. It can start with Windows, remembers everything, and works with no connection at all — there is no account and nothing is uploaded. ## Features - Dims every screen except the one your pointer is on, and follows you as you move - The screen you are working on is never touched - Fades down over up to a second, and comes back as fast as you like - How dark, from a gentle 5% to a near-black 92% - The tray panel draws your actual desk, with the lit screen ringed and the rest at their real dim - Move the slider and the drawing dims with it, so you set it without guessing - Works on monitors with no brightness control, because it never asks the display for anything - Covers the taskbar too, instead of leaving a lit strip along the bottom - A monitor plugged in later joins in, without a restart - Drawn through — it never takes a click away from the app underneath - One keyboard shortcut turns it on and off from anywhere - Starts with Windows. Works offline. No account needed, and nothing is uploaded unless you turn on backup ## Details Works on Windows 10 (1809 or later) and Windows 11 Download About 2.6 MB Version 2.0.7, updated October 2026 First released May 2022 Price $1.99, lifetime license. No subscription. Category Utilities & tools ## What's new in 2.0.7 - New: the tray panel draws your actual desk, with the lit screen ringed and every other one at the dim it really has — and it previews the slider as you move it - New: the panel says why in plain words when something is stopping it working, instead of appearing to do nothing - New: how dark is a real slider, from 5% to 92% - The dim now covers the taskbar instead of stopping at it and leaving a lit strip - A monitor plugged in while the app is running joins in, without a restart - Your old fade times carry over unchanged - One keyboard shortcut for the whole app, working from anywhere - Redesigned settings and tray panel that match Windows 11 and follow the light and dark themes ## Questions Anything else? [Ask us](https://evlarsoft.com/contact?topic=support&app=Smart%20Screen%20Dimmer) ### Which versions of Windows does it run on? Windows 10 (version 1809 or later) and Windows 11. ### Is it a subscription? No. Smart Screen Dimmer is a one-time purchase of $1.99, and updates are included. ### How do I get it? EvlarSoft apps are moving to direct downloads from this site. Ask to be notified and we will email you as soon as Smart Screen Dimmer is ready to download. ## More from EvlarSoft [![](https://cdn.evlarsoft.com/related/v1/icons/quick-resolution-switcher.png)**Quick Resolution Switcher**Changing screen resolution in Windows means opening Settings, finding Display, scrolling to the drop-down and confirming a dialog.](https://evlarsoft.com/apps/quick-resolution-switcher)[![](https://cdn.evlarsoft.com/related/v1/icons/custom-folder-icon.png)**Custom Folder Icon Changer**Give any folder its own color and symbol, and find it by sight.](https://evlarsoft.com/apps/custom-folder-icon)[![](https://cdn.evlarsoft.com/related/v1/icons/desktop-screen-locker.png)**Desktop Screen Locker**Step away without closing anything.](https://evlarsoft.com/apps/desktop-screen-locker) --- Source: https://evlarsoft.com/apps/smart-screen-dimmer