Easy Dark Mode for Windows 10 Review

fair
key review info
application features
  • System tray icon
  • (4 more, see all...)

Switching from the light mode to the dark theme in Windows 10 can be done quite easily from the Settings screen, and the whole thing doesn’t take more than just a few clicks.

But what if you could actually do this with the press of a button?

Easy Dark Mode is an application whose purpose is to jump from one visual style to another much faster, so it comes with multiple options in this regard, including a system tray icon and hotkey support. But let’s take everything one at a time to see what this little tool is capable of.

First and foremost, its interface comes down to a simple system tray menu that you can fire up with one right-click. Options are grouped in straightforward menus, so you can easily configure the start mode, to active theme, or the switch panel.

A left-click on its system tray icon allows you to switch from the dark theme to the light one (and the other way around) instantly, and this is actually one of its best features. You no longer need to launch the Settings screen, as clicking this icon is all you need to change the visual style.

Theoretically, Easy Dark Mode also offers support for hotkeys, but during my time with the app, setting up this feature failed with an “unhandled exception” error. The app didn’t crash, but using the hotkey wasn’t impossible, so I’m not going to give Easy Dark Mode any points for this feature.

Easy Dark Mode for Windows 10

Worth knowing is that Easy Dark Mode comes with an option to start at system boot, and this is obviously necessary if you want the icon to always be there in the system tray. It also supports other apps running on Windows 10 and which come with a dark mode, including Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox – this means that when you switch from one theme to another, these apps follow the system settings automatically.

According to the developer, Easy Dark Mode should run flawlessly on Windows 10 version 1803 and newer – I also tested the app on Windows 10 version 2004 (20H1) due in the spring of 2020 and everything seems to be running smoothly (aside from the hotkey feature that I talked about earlier).

Another thing that I liked is that this app doesn’t require installation, so technically you can copy its main executable file on a USB drive and then use it on the go without any leftovers on your device.

But while the essential feature package is there, Easy Dark Mode lacks more advanced functionality that would’ve made it a must-have application on Windows 10. For example, options to automatically enable the visual modes at a user-defined time would have been great, especially as such functionality already exists in a series of alternative apps.

Also, Easy Dark Mode needs independent settings for apps, which would technically allow you to run apps using a different visual style than the operating system.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Easy Dark Mode is an app that’s worth a try, but it needs further updates not only to add extra features, but also to refine the existing ones. As I said, the hotkey support doesn’t work at the time of writing, and this is quite a drawback since many users are specifically interested in this feature.

On the other hand, switching from one theme to another using just a click on the system tray icon is extremely convenient, and given installation isn’t required, you could very well copy the app on a removable drive and use it on one or multiple devices just the way you want.

user interface 3
features 2
ease of use 4
pricing / value 5


final rating 2
Editor's review
fair
 
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