First look at PowerToys new Awake tool

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Announced last week, PowerToys latest tool, Awake, is now available as part of the open source suite of tools for Microsoft's Windows 10 and 11 operating systems.

Awake, as the name suggests, is designed to keep the PC awake. Windows PCs are configured to make certain automatic changes when the device is idle for a set amount of time; this ranges from turning off the monitor to entering sleep mode.

The tool is part of the PowerToys collection, an ever growing collection of useful utilities for Windows. To use Awake, Windows users need to download and install PowerToys on their devices. Awake can be controlled in the PowerToys Settings but it can also be run as a standalone program.

The Settings screen displays an on-off toggle to enable or disable the feature. Awake is turned on by default but its functionality is off, meaning that it does not interfere with the current power plan that is active on the device.

The two main options allow users to keep the screen on all the time, and to keep the PC awake so that it does not enter sleep mode.  Both of these options can be achieved through power plans. Awake's main use case is to prevent sleep mode for a time while the power plan is configured to put the device to sleep if it is idle for the set amount of time.

Awake can keep the PC up and running indefinitely or for a set time period, e.g. eight hours. You could turn it on before you start tasks that require that the PC is awake all the time.

The program makes no modifications to the system or its power plans. It spawns a background thread that informs Windows that a specific power state is required on the machine.

Awake can be controlled from the system tray by right-clicking on its icon. Use it to toggle "keep the screen on" and the awake mode.

Closing Words

Microsoft's PowerToys collection continues to grow, with Awake being the latest tool that is included in the utility collection for Windows 10 and 11. Awake is a handy tool for specific use scenarios.

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