Although the history of Windows is very long and multifaceted, it still lacks some options that are useful in everyday use. One of these is to quickly prevent the computer from falling asleep so that it ignores the standard system settings and does not go into sleep mode when it is not necessary (for example, when downloading files or running a program). It’s good that Microsoft itself understands the lack of this and other similar features – developers from the Redmond giant are developing the PowerToys utility, which has this functionality and much more.
💡 PowerToys is the official freeware for Windows 10 and 11 produced by Microsoft for advanced users and distributed via GitHub or Microsoft Store. It contains a lot of really interesting and useful features that for some reason are not in Windows itself. This article is published as part of a series of articles about PowerToys, in which readers get acquainted with the amusing features of the utility, which come in handy in daily use.
How it looks and works
PowerToys has an Awake utility created solely to keep the computer awake – it is activated in the program settings. After that, the Awake icon appears in the Windows tray, by clicking on which you can quickly select one of the proposed modes of operation.
Thus, it will turn out literally in 2 clicks to disable sleep mode in Windows 10 and 11 forever or for the desired period of time (30 minutes, 1 hour or 2 hours).
What can be customized
The Awake section in PowerToys allows you to select the default mode of operation, three options are available.
- Continue using the selected power plan
Awake does not affect the standard sleep mode settings in any way and just hangs in the tray so that the user can activate the desired mode at any time. - Prevent sleep mode indefinitely
The computer will not go into sleep mode until the user manually activates it, or until they close the Awake utility. - Temporarily disable sleep mode
You can configure by hour and minute how long the computer is not allowed to sleep after activating Awake. After the specified interval, the computer begins to obey the standard system rules for entering sleep mode.
Also in the settings, you can activate an option that prohibits the computer from turning off the screen – by default, Awake allows the display to go out, but the system continues to work.
How to use the option
- Download PowerToys from release pages on github (the topmost .exe file) and install it.
- Run PowerToys as an administrator (by clicking the right mouse button and selecting the appropriate option).
- In the program at the top left, click on the button “≡” and select Awake. Activate the “Enable Awake” switch.
- The Awake icon should appear in the system tray (bottom right next to the clock / date widget and the button for switching the input language) – if necessary, fix it on the control panel itself by dragging it, if it is inside an additional menu with an arrow icon.