[accesscomp] tip of the day from dan

  • From: "Bob Acosta" <boacosta@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "tektalk discussion" <tektalkdiscussion@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2012 07:50:22 -0800

    Why Screen Savers Are No Longer Necessary
<http://www.howtogeek.com/128644/htg-explains-why-screen-savers-are-no-longe
r-necessary/> 

Screen savers are a left-over solution from a previous technology. In spite
of their name, screen savers no longer "save" anything - all they do is
waste electricity. Screen savers are not necessary on modern, flat-panel LCD
displays.
Having your computer automatically turn off its display is the new "screen
saver" - it saves energy, reduces your electricity bill, and increases your
battery life. Screen savers may look pretty, but they do it when no one is
looking.
Why Screen Savers Were Invented
Old CRT monitors had a problem known as "burn in." Any image displayed on
the screen for a long time became "burnt into" the screen. Even if you
turned off the monitor completely, you'd still see a ghost image.
This is particularly bad with images that don't change, such as interface
elements. For example, the Windows taskbar may become burnt into the screen,
as it just sits at the bottom of the screen and rarely changes. An old
television displaying a news channel with a ticker along the bottom may end
up with the ticker burnt into the screen. An ATM that displays a single
image most of the time may also end up with burn-in.
Essentially, the phosphors that emit light inside the CRT are unevenly worn
down, leaving certain areas of the screen darker.
Screen savers solved this problem by automatically activating when the
computer wasn't in-use. Screen savers display an animation that consistently
changes, largely eliminating the problem of screen burn-in by ensuring that
a single image isn't on-screen all the time.

CRT vs. LCD Displays
Modern computer monitors (and even televisions) aren't CRTs - they're LCDs.
LCD monitors work differently than CRTs - there are no phosphors to burn in.
An LCD monitor will never burn in in the same way as a CRT monitor.
While many computers are still set to use an animated screensaver after the
computer has been idle for a period of time, this isn't really necessary.
The fact that our monitors stay on and play animations when we're away from
them doesn't really make sense anymore - it's just something that many
people have continued using out of habit.

Screen Savers vs. Power Saving
There's a myth that screen savers save energy - an obvious result of people
attempting to understand what screen savers actually "save." However, screen
savers do not save energy - they use more energy to keep the display on and
play the animation on the screen. A graphics-intensive 3D screensaver that
uses your graphics hardware to render complicated 3D scenes will use even
more energy, putting your computer into gaming mode and burning electricity
when you're not even at your computer.
Modern displays have power-saving features. Instead of setting your computer
to display a screen saver when you're not using it, you can set the computer
to automatically power off its display when it's not being used. This will
save electricity - and save battery power on a laptop. You're not using your
computer while the screensaver is active, anyway - you shouldn't really
notice a difference.
To change when your computer automatically turns off its display, press the
Windows key, type Turn off display, and press Enter. (On Windows 8, you'll
need to click Settings before pressing Enter.) You can re-activate the
computer's display by pressing any key or moving the mouse, just like
dismissing a blank screensaver.

You can also have your computer automatically lock your screen when it goes
into power-saving mode, just like screensavers can automatically lock your
computer when it's not in-use. (Press the Windows key, type Screen saver,
and press Enter to access this window.)
Later this week I will provided a step by step example how to change the
power scheeme. 

If you still want to use a screen saver, that's your choice - but be aware
that it's wasting electricity. You can also compromise and use a screen
saver for a little while before turning your display off. For example, you
could set a screen saver to turn on after five minutes and then have the
monitor automatically power off after ten minutes.



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"For nothing is impossible with God."  Luke 1:37





Robert Acosta, President
Helping Hands for the Blind
Email: boacosta@xxxxxxxxxxx
Web Site: www.helpinghands4theblind.org

You can assist Helping Hands for the Blind by donating your used computers to 
us. If you have a blind friend in need of a computer, please mail us at the 
above address.

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