CtrlBright is a Virtual Brightness Control application for Windows. It places a lightweight virtual overlay on top of your display, letting you dim your screen to any level by adjusting the overlay opacity and color. No hardware drivers are required.

Windows built-in brightness control only works on laptops with compatible display drivers. Many desktop monitors and external displays don't support software brightness adjustment through Windows. CtrlBright solves this using a virtual overlay that works on any display — no hardware support needed.

Yes. Because CtrlBright uses a virtual overlay (not hardware control), it works on any display connected to your Windows PC — including external monitors, TVs, and projectors.

Absolutely. CtrlBright is a lightweight, read-only overlay application. It does not access your files, network, or system settings beyond what's needed to display the overlay and register startup/shortcuts. It collects no data and works entirely offline.

CtrlBright creates a transparent window that sits on top of your entire screen. By adjusting the opacity of this window you effectively dim the display. You can also pick any color for the overlay — use classic black for simple dimming or warm amber for a night-mode effect.

The overlay does tint your display, which is intentional — that's how the dimming works. For colour-critical work (photo editing, video grading), we recommend keeping the overlay at 0% opacity or disabling it temporarily with your shortcut key.

Yes. You can assign global keyboard shortcuts for increasing opacity, decreasing opacity, toggling the overlay on/off, and switching between saved profiles. These shortcuts work from any application.

Yes. CtrlBright remembers your last opacity level, overlay color, and all other settings between sessions. When it starts automatically on login, it restores your previous configuration.

Capture Safe means CtrlBright's control window (the settings panel) is excluded from all screen captures — including screen recordings, screenshots, and screen sharing in tools like Zoom, Teams, or OBS. Your colleagues or viewers will never see the CtrlBright UI.

The overlay dimming effect on your screen is visible to you locally. Screen recordings and shares capture your actual display output, so what others see depends on your capture settings. The CtrlBright control window itself is always invisible in captures.

Yes. The capture-safe technology works with all major screen capture and conferencing tools including OBS Studio, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Windows' built-in screenshot tools.

The Prismatic Effect is an optional Pro feature that applies a dynamic rainbow colour-shift overlay to your display. Instead of a flat colour, the overlay cycles smoothly through the visible spectrum, giving your screen a unique and colourful ambiance.

Yes. Like the standard overlay controls, the Prismatic Effect control window remains invisible in screen recordings, screenshots, and screen shares.

Prismatic Effects are a Pro-exclusive feature. The Free plan includes all core brightness controls. Upgrade to Pro ($4.99 one-time) to unlock Prismatic Effects and other premium features.

CtrlBright requires Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit), a minimum of 2 GB RAM, and under 5 MB of disk space. No internet connection is needed. The .NET 6.0 Runtime is bundled in the installer.

No. CtrlBright is a purely software-based overlay. It requires no hardware drivers, display firmware updates, or system-level permissions beyond standard user access.

Open CtrlBright, go to the Startup Settings section, and enable the 'Run application on system startup' toggle. CtrlBright will then start automatically and minimise to the system tray each time Windows boots.

You can uninstall CtrlBright from Windows Settings → Apps → Installed Apps, just like any other Windows application. All settings and data are removed on uninstall.