Reduce monitor brightness?

[JD]

Anything out there that can reduce brightness? My grandma is asking as she had her cataracts removed so apparently (only now does she mention this) that it hurts her eyes. She's reduced the monitor brightness but apparently that's not sufficient.

I know 3M makes those privacy filters, but I don't think they really darken the screen when you're sitting in front of it...

Monitor wise, it's a fairly old BenQ 19" LCD, don't recall the specific model number off hand though. Obviously not LED or anything like that. She runs it at 1024x768 I believe, not 1280x1024.

I presume she could afford a new monitor too, if it offers proper backlight control (I've yet to find that on a monitor though?). Laptops have it, but that's not a solution.

[ilya]

CRT monitor filters are perfect if you can find one in the right size.

[Supergrover]

I use a combination of flux and my monitors brightness/color settings to reduce glare, helps with my scaring, no not cataracts yet but get some of the same symptoms.

F.lux: software to make your life better

[JD]

Yeah I know of flux, I posted it on here a while back ;)

She didn't like it though, so it's a no go.

[bigFOIG]

If it's a CRT, then I'd try a CRT filter like said above. I remember using one about 6 or 7 years ago, and it definitely darkened the screen up.

[JD]

Originally Posted by bigFOIG

If it's a CRT, then I'd try a CRT filter like said above. I remember using one about 6 or 7 years ago, and it definitely darkened the screen up.

Nah, it's a 19" LCD...

[bigFOIG]

Have you tried reducing the brightness on the monitor for her? It goes pretty dark when you bring the brightness down to 0 and start dropping the contrast.

But anyways, I think this will do what you need. Super easy to use.
Dimmer - Free and very handy brightness reduction utility for LCD/TFT screens

All you gotta do is extract the three files into to a folder and run the program. You get a slider that goes from an almost pitch black to a super bright.

[Slik]

Try your video card settings. I find you can reduce the brightness and get a more crisp result than with monitor settings.