Microsoft PowerToys #5: Keep your PC awake with Awake

The objective of Awake, one of Microsoft’s PowerToys: allow you in a few clicks to ensure that your PC under Windows 10 or 11 stays awake without having to go to the power settings to change them.

As always, we’ll check to see if the Awake tool is active. All you have to do is go to the PowerToys management screen and choose Awake from the tools gathered in the left column. The first line has a button that should be Enabled.

Make Awake always visible

Awake is not obvious, and prefers discretion. It comes to nest in the hidden icons of the system tray, in a screen that appears by clicking the button pointing up. There you will see its blue coffee cup icon. If you use this tool frequently, you can also make it permanently visible by dragging it to the status bar.

You won’t go out

To use it, you just have to click on it (left click or right click). By default, three options, which have not been translated into the language of Molière, are available to you.

• The first keeps the PC awake for a predetermined period: 30 minutes, 1 hour or 2 hours.
• Second possibility, you can leave the PC awake until you give it the opposite instruction.
• Finally, the third setting switches Awake to off mode, and Windows power and sleep settings are applied.

You will notice that two other options are grayed out. At the bottom, Keep screen on will keep the screen on, because Awake leaves the PC on by default, but turns off the screen(s). To activate this option, Awake must simply be active.

Schedule lights out

Last possibility, maintain the Awake operating option until a date and time defined by you. To do this, you must go to the PowerToys software and then, in the drop-down menu on the Mode line, choose Stay active until it expires. You will see an End date and time section appear. Then you know what you have to do.

Finally, note that the PowerToys Awake can be executed and configured via command line arguments.

Microsoft PowerToys

Microsoft PowerToys brings together several very practical utilities for your Windows computer: window manager, file explorer, image resizing, file renaming, etc.

• Version :
  0.72.0
• Downloads:
  192
• Release date :
  08/01/2023
• Author :
  Microsoft
• Licence :
  Free License
• Categories:
  

  Utilities

• Operating system :
  

  Windows 10/11