HELP: power option doesn't work - screen saver doesn't start!

This is another case of factory bloatware interfering - in this case a useless factory utility overriding Win7's superior built-in version.

Googling the Quiet Office feature of Asus there are multiple reported problems. Best to default to the Win7 built-in Power Options in Control Panel. Set up a Balanced Plan unless you're a gamer then use High Performance.

Here are other tips for cleaning up factory bloatware

Thank you - I switched the power setting from all the customary PowerGear options offered by Asus to the standard "balanced" setting and right now display-dim + display-off seems to be working like a charm.

Thank you for the help. I have to say that this is one advantage with Macbooks - there is minimal (if any) bloatware that you have to manually remove...

The price paid for a MacBook precludes the need for sponsors to lard a consumer PC with trialware to cover a profit margin. The same is the case with most business computers.

Even more insidious now is that these bloatware sponsors have pressured manufacturers to enforce the bloatware by not providing clean-copy installation DVD's required under their agreement with MS. So millions of consumers buying PC's don't even know how truly feather-light and instantaneous Win7 is when weighed down under a heap of crap.

Many tech enthusiasts find a clean-copy DVD of their OS version and reinstall using the OEM Product Key on the COA sticker on machine: re-install windows 7

thanks for the info - I will definitely try to do a clean install when I have some time. I agree with you about the tradeoff with macbooks being higher priced and less bloatware. Overall I think Windows 7 does a fairly good job of placing non-essential programs in the background so they're not all in your face all the time (like windows Vista boo). I just hate all the tweaking/navigating through bloatware that has to be done to perform simple tasks like timing my display to turn off or sometimes open a single AV file (absolutely hate WMP, set all my files to open with VLC, clean, simple, no hassle). Okay enough ranting :)

You can turn off WMP in Control Panel>Programs and Features>Turn On and Off Windows Features. It rids some services which are otherwise chronic - check in Services.msc afterward to be sure.