Turn off your other monitors while you play or watch a film

A bright side monitor next to a dark film or a horror game is a distraction. Here is how to switch the others off for the evening and get everything back exactly as it was.

Doing it by hand

By hand it is Win + P, which is all or nothing, or five clicks in the display settings for each monitor - and the same again to bring them back. The monitor's power button is no shortcut either: many monitors then look unplugged to Windows, and it moves your windows around.

Switch them off with the game, and back on when it closes

Make a preset for the game or the film player in Stillward Display.
Turn on switch the other monitors off.
Save.

When the game or the player starts, every monitor except the one it is on is switched off through the Windows display settings - the same thing as disconnecting it by hand, done for you. When it closes, they come back on - and on Windows 11, the windows that were on them usually return with them. A crash on the way does not leave you with dark screens: the next start puts the displays back.

For films, not just games

A preset can start with any program, not only a game: your video player, or a website opened in the browser - a streaming service, for instance, is recognised by the window's title. Pair it with your headphones or your speakers, and film night is one click away.

Good to know

The monitors are switched off through the Windows display settings, so it takes a second or two and the screens may blink once, exactly as when you do it yourself.

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