So many people love working late in the day or in the night time. Though working late in the night on your laptop may seem fun, but it could quickly strain your eyes. As a result, you can suffer from eye strains or find a hard time sleeping.
So, it’s better to change the color temperature of your screen during these times. But how can you do that? Well, there is a tool called f.lux that would help you change the color of your screen with time.
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But Windows 10 seems to introduce this feature with the new Night Light. Though it’s incredibly unique in Windows 10, it offers the functionality without the cost of installing any third party tool.
On the other hand, f.lux has been around for quite some time now and is extremely popular. So, the question arises which one is better? F.lux or Night Light?
Let’s just see how they both work first and then figure out which best suits you. So, let’s get on with it!
Windows 10 Night Light
Microsoft introduces Windows 10 Night Light feature with the Fall Creators Update in 2017. You could call it a comeback against f.lux. But Night Light doesn’t seem to have the advanced settings f.lux does.
Windows Night Light might be just enough for your needs, though.
How to Access
To access Night Light settings just follow the steps below,
Step-1: Firstly, you have to press Windows key + I to open Settings and then click on System.
Step-2: Then in the Display tab, you’ll see Night light settings in the options. Click it.
Note: If you don’t see any option called Night light settings, then you most probably don’t have the Fall Creators Update. You need to upgrade your Windows 10 to get the Night Light feature and only then you can use it.
You can download it manually, but I would not recommend that. It’s better to wait for it to download automatically.
Step-3: Once you’re in the settings you’ll see an option to Turn on now. So, click it to turn it on. You can move the slider to adjust the color temperature. You need to run the slider left to stop your screen from emitting blue light.
Scheduling Night Light
There is an option for you to schedule when the Night Light would turn on. This feature is a great way to maintain turning it on without extra fuss.
Scheduling it will slowly decrease the amount of blue light from sunset to sunrise. You can also specify the time when it should turn on itself.
So, for doing so, just follow the steps below.
Step-1: Firstly, you have to press Windows key + I to open Settings, then go to the System.
Step-2: Now in the Display, you’ll see Night light settings in the options. Click it.
Step-3: You’ll see an option Schedule night light. Slide it to turn it ON. It should automatically detect when the sun sets and rises from your location.
Step-4: If you want to set the time manually just click on the next option Set hours and then set the time when Night Light should activate and deactivate itself.
These two options help you to have control over it.
Enabling Night Light Manually
Accessing it is super easy, It should be available at the Action Center, and you would be able to turn it on and off in a jiffy.
Just press Windows key + A, and it’ll slide in your screen. And then just click the Night light tile to turn it on, and again to turn it off.
If for some reason the tile is not there then just add it to the quick action. Just follow the steps below to do that,
Step-1: Firstly, Press Windows key + I to open Settings and then go to System.
Step-2: After that, go to Notifications & actions. You’ll see an option Add or remove quick actions here. You’ll see a lot of options.
Step-3: Find Night Light among the list and tweak it On.
Note: If you suffer from too much eye strain then you can try out the Dark Mode. Windows 10 introduces a Dark Mode when on it switch every element from white to dark. It might be helpful for you.
To access it just follow the path, Windows key + I >Personalization > Colors > Choose your default app mode > Dark.
Using the F.lux
f.lux is the most popular color temperature programs on the market. It’s a free product, straightforward to use and efficient for that matter.
Though, it might seem like a radical change when you first use it. But it would adjust over time, and you would find yourself hard to go without it.
So, go ahead and download the software and then install it.
Adjusting your Location
For it to change the color temperature automatically, you need to improve the location. For that, follow the steps below.
Step-1: First, right click on it from the System Tray and then click Change location.
Step-2: After that, you need to put your ZIP code or location in the Window Panel and click Search. It would find out your area.
Step-3: After that, just click Ok and f.lux should automatically adjust based on your location and time.
Toggling through the Colors
There are lots of color schemes for you to try out. You’ll find them from the Change current color option.
From the drop-down menu, you’ll get many options to choose from such as Ember, Candle, Dim Incandescent, Incandescent, Fluorescent, etc.
You’ll also get many different effects that will change the overall look of your display. From Effects and extra colors option, you will get effects such as Movie mode, Darkroom mode, Vignette mode, Blue sky, Soft white, etc.
These are some significant effects to tweak around. The slider in the middle can also be used to toggle the color temperature.
Extra Features
- When you open f.lux you’ll see time on the bottom left corner. It is the earliest wake time, and f.lux will change the color according to the time you set here.
- You can also disable it for an hour by pressing Alt + End or doing it manually from the settings. You might even want to disable it for fullscreen apps such as games or movies, just choose the fullscreen apps option from Disable.
- Backwards Alarm Clock will give you a notification when it’ll be time for sleep.
- More extensive slider ranges will give you more options for choosing the color temperature.
- Hotkeys will help you quickly access many options. They ate set by default, though.
- If you don’t like an intense white mouse cursor color then just enable Software mouse cursor, and it should solve the problem. It would make the cursor match the display screen.
- You can also change the transition time or how quickly should the color change. This feature will make the color change more subtle and smooth in the eye.
F.lux Vs Windows Night Light: The Best One?
F.lux was the first software to introduce this whole theme of reducing blue light. And it has been available from way before Night Light.
Even though f.lux was the pioneer of the concept, but introducing Night Light in Windows 10 undoubtedly gave it a bit of competition. macOS has also added a feature like this, and this seems to make f.lux look a bit of obsolete.
On the other hand, for Windows, Night Light seems to come on too high. And f.lux appears to have quite a variety of warmer colors that will increase gradually. It adjusts with the eye pretty fast, and you hardly notice the change.
Also, f.lux comes with a lot more features and effects for you to choose. On the other hand, Night Light only has a color temperature adjusting slider and schedule option. Moreover, f.lux will give you a better experience than Night Light.
Controlling f.lux is also easy too; Effective and fast.
So, I would say, f.lux is the best tool. You will get more useful features, like being able to switch between preset color schemes, disabling for fullscreen apps (Automatically), and also adjusting the speed of the color change.
But if you don’t want advanced features like these then Night Light should be enough to get the job done. And with the constant updates, it’s likely that the function would be more enriched with time.
Hasib is a born geek and loves tweaking his computer and gadgets for effectiveness and productivity. At WindowsChimp, he specializes in writing Tutorial guides and discovering new hacks to share.
