Forcing Monitor into "PowerSave" mode... how?

[Xorcist]

I would like to setup a shorcut that will immediately put my monitor into the PowerSave mode, rather than having to wait a minute or whatever time I maybe have set in the power settings. Anyone know how I might go about doing this?

[no1_vern]

PRESS the "off" BUTTON.
Immediate gratification!

You are immediatly saving your electricity, and you have blanked the screen completely.

[Xorcist]

Right.... um, not quite the answer I was looking for. Turning the thing on and off constantly can't be good for it (not to mention that horrid sound it makes upon doing so). I want to be able to throw the thing into standby mode immediately for when I run off for a couple minutes. And setting the power saving time (to turn off the monitor) to 1min is not worth it, since I have to turn it back to "never" whenever I play any game which I use a gamepad for, since Windows does not recognize gamepads as system interaction input (like it does for the keyboard and mouse).

So... anyone have the real deal for me?

[DallasDon]

System specs? got the mobo manual handy? There are power management options in the BIOS. Some can be configured with "HOt Keys", I think, but I haven't any experience with the function you are attempting.

[Xorcist]

I just assumed there might be a program which would do this for me, seeing as how Windows power management let's you set a standby timer (it just doesn't allow you to immediate put the monitor into standby). I would guess there is some API call for putting the monitor into standby mode, maybe I'll have to do a little programming...

[Jeordiewhite]

Well it wont hurt the monitor turning it off and on everytime you are going to be away from the monitor. If it's for a few minutes at a time then is it really worth it?
I turn my monitor off everytime and it works just fine, it doesn't hurt it and is the best way to do it imo.
However I always lock my computer with windows key+L or ctrl+alt+delete to lock it.
or here's the short cut,
%windir%\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

I'm sure there is a way to do as you said above with being able to quickly force it into power save mode, but nothing is wrong with shutting it off after use

[Xorcist]

Well I went ahead and just wrote a program. Used Delphi 6.0 if anyone is interested. Feel free to give it a try if you like. All it does is send a message to Windows to put the monitor into standby mode then exit.

StandBy.zip

[floygee]

Looks like you solved your problem already, but I thought I'd mention this little tool anyway

http://www.grc.com/wizmo/wizmo.htm