Toggle Power Management From The Taskbar With AutoHotkey

Image: Supplied

We've featured a way to switch power management plans with a hotkey, but if you'd rather not mess with the command line (or if you're just more of a mouse user), you can add a simple button to your Windows taskbar instead.

All you need to do to get this script working is download it and throw it into your Startup folder. You'll see an icon in your taskbar from which you can toggle power plans with a single click, as well as change the brightness by right-clicking. It's a bit quicker than Windows' battery icon, and much easier to set up than our earlier method — just put it in a folder and forget it.

If you'd like to add the code to your own AutoHotkey scripts, you can copy it from the box below:

#Persistent
#SingleInstance force

Menu, Tray, NoStandard ; only use this menu
Menu, Tray, Click, 1  ; Remove this line if you prefer double-click vs. single-click.

menu, tray, tip, toggle power plan

RegRead, PowerState, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\User\PowerSchemes, ActivePowerScheme
    if(PowerState = "a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a")
    {
    menu, tray, icon, %SystemRoot%\System32\powercpl.dll, 8
    }
    else
    {
    menu, tray, icon, %SystemRoot%\System32\powercpl.dll, 7
    } 

Menu, Tray, Add, Toggle, Toggle
Menu, Tray, Default, Toggle
Menu, Tray, Add, Adjust brightness, Brightness
Menu, Tray, Add, Exit, Exit
return

Toggle:
RegRead, PowerState, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\User\PowerSchemes, ActivePowerScheme
    if(PowerState = "8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c")
    {
        Run, %SystemRoot%\System32\powercfg.exe -setactive a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a, , hide 
    }
    else
    {
        Run, %SystemRoot%\System32\powercfg.exe -setactive 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c, , hide 
    }
Sleep 200
GoSub, Icon
Sleep 1800
GoSub, Icon
return

Brightness:
Run, C:\Windows\explorer.exe shell:::{025A5937-A6BE-4686-A844-36FE4BEC8B6D}
Sleep 100
return

Exit:
ExitApp

Icon:
Sleep 100
RegRead, PowerState, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\User\PowerSchemes, ActivePowerScheme
    if(PowerState = "a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a")
    {
    menu, tray, icon, %SystemRoot%\System32\powercpl.dll, 8
    }
    else
    {
    menu, tray, icon, %SystemRoot%\System32\powercpl.dll, 7
    } 
return