How to change power plans on system idle on Windows 10
You can choose when your system and your monitor sleeps. If you’ve been idle for a certain amount of time, your monitor will turn off or your system will go to sleep. You can choose how long this ‘idle’ period is for. This is a power saving option and another great way to save power before your system enters sleep is to change power plans on system idle.
AutoPowerOptionsOK is a free app that lets you put your system, and your display to sleep if you haven’t used your keyboard or mouse for a certain amount of time. More importantly, you can also use it to trigger a power plan change on system idle.
Change power plans on system idle
AutoPowerOptionsOK has two versions; a portable version, and an installable version. You can use whichever version suits you best.
Run the app. If you don’t want your system or your monitor to sleep when your keyboard and mouse have been idle, you want to open the dropdowns under Turn off the Monitor and Put the computer to in to Sleep Mode, and select the ‘Don’t use’ option.
Open the dropdown under Auto Power Options Search, and select Keyboard or Mouse Events. Open the time dropdown next to it and select the idle out time. Select the power plan your system ought to switch to when there is mouse or keyboard activity from the Then dropdown, and from the Otherwise select which power plan your system should switch to when your keyboard or mouse have been idle.
The app starts working even if you’re still configuring it. There’s a useful Disabled checkbox at the bottom right that you can select to keep the app from running until you need it to. A progress bar under each trigger tells you how long before it’s triggered.
The app can be minimized to the system tray from the #To-Tray button at the top right.
The app’s menu bar options allow you to access different system settings. The system menu will let you open system properties, power options, task manager, desktop icon settings, the display settings, the system configuration window, and the system information window. The Zoom menu lets you zoom in on the app. It doesn’t change anything on your system.
Windows 10 doesn’t let you automate when a power plan changes. It’s probably just content with the sleep options it has to offer but automating when the power plans change is a feature that would be great especially considering how useful the power plans are to begin with.
