| A screensaver is a computer program originally designed to conserve the image quality of computer displays by blanking the screen or filling them with moving images
or patterns when the computers are not in use. Today, screensavers are primarily for entertainment or security purposes.
Until recently, most computer screens depended on cathode ray
tubes (CRTs). CRT images are generated using electron beams which are "launched" from the back of the monitor and "draw"
images continuously on the screen. Most computer programs paint images in the screen. Some of these images (letters, pictures,
animations, menus) are usually moving or changing, and never stay in the same place for long. But some portions of the screen
(like the Start bar in Microsoft Windows, or the typical upper
"score" bar of some video games) are always in the same place, sometimes for hours or even days or months. Particularly with
older CRTs, these sorts of images, continuously drawn in the same place for a long time, could damage the screen because the
electron rays always hit the same points on the screen. Damage would consist in poor image quality, and those fixed images could
remain "burned in" to the same place like "ghost lines" even if the image eventually changed. This is commonly known as "screen
burn". You could observe this effect in some old classic video game machines; after some years showing always the same images,
many of them feature those "ghost images."
Screensaver programs were originally designed to help avoid these effects by automatically changing the images on the screen
when the computer was not in use. They can be usually set up to launch automatically, waiting a specified amount of time after
the last keystroke made by a user. Then the screensaver switches the image to black, or sometimes produces some animation
effects, thus avoiding any "fixed" images. The screensaver remains active until a user enters a keystroke or makes a mouse
movement. At that moment, the screensaver closes and the former screen contents are restored, to allow the user to work
again.
Modern CRTs are much less susceptible to burn-in than older models. Flat panel displays are used in all laptop computers and are gradually replacing CRTs on the desktop.
Flat panels are burn-in resistant because they use a fluorescent bulb or similar light source instead of an electron beam. For
this reason, screensavers today primarily are decorative or for entertainment, and usually feature moving images or patterns and
sometimes sound effects. Screensaver software also has been adapted as security measure. Many screensavers can be programmed to
ask users for a password (called "locking the workstation"), before permitting the user to resume work. In addition, some
screensavers activate a useful background task, such as a virus
scan or a distributed computing application.
Screensavers are not to be confused with power management
features, which place the computer in a low power state after it has been idle for a specified amount of time. In fact,
screensavers can actually waste power, because they can prevent the computer from entering the lower power (or sleep) state, and
they often cause the CPU and GPU to perform more calculations, and keep the hard disk
running for longer than if the computer were idle.
Security Risks
Users of the Microsoft Windows operating systems should be
aware that the native screensaver format has the potential to install a virus when run. It is recommended that end users not open
any email attachment with the file suffix ".scr". Windows will execute .scr (screensaver) files automatically – this has the potential
to allow a virus or malware to install itself as the default screensaver. Such malicious software will then be automatically executed
when the screensaver kicks in.
LCD Considerations
Using a screensaver with a flat panel or LCD screen actually reduces the lifetime of the display since the fluorescent
backlight remains lit and ages faster than it would if the screen was turned off completely. As fluorescent tubes age they grow
progressively dimmer and are expensive to replace (if it can be done at all).
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