From mystifying lines to flying toasters: what's your Screensaver?

[TrekkieMonster]

Back in the days of Windows 3.1, a friend of mine gave me the screensaver package After Dark (home of the world famous Flying Toasters) which as fun. Later I got hold of the Star Trek edition (based on the original series) complete with sound bites, which was still my favourite screensaver package ever.

Oh my God, I had the same things, back in the day! Loved the toasters, and I later had a whole Trek "theme" on my computer, with icons, pointers, sounds and screensaver. I miss it.

These days, I usually just use the Windows photo screensaver with pictures from my most recent vacation or of my pups. Right now, it's our Caribbean cruise from last December. Hmmm ..., might be time to change that up.

 

[Franklin]

I did see a screensaver once that was like an Escher painting, constantly rebuilding itself in new ways. Thought it was nifty, but I'd probably never get anything done if I had something like that on the screen.

I hear ya.

My screensaver is a sun clock with a map of the globe showing in real time where it's day and night.

 

[Rincewiend]

Also, sometimes i switch to this one:

http://pho.to/screensaver3d/

 

[Jadzia]

So, what's your screensaver? And which ones have been your favourite?

Blank Screen, shortly followed by monitor off. (3mins/10mins)

While I'm using my computer, I'm not looking at a screensaver. And when I'm not using the computer, I won't be looking at it to see a screensaver. I've always felt that screensavers are for people who sit looking at their computers without using it.

But I will admit, I had a brief flirtation with screen savers in the 1990s on my first computer, but I didn't care enough for them to think in terms of favourites.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Back in the days of Windows 3.1, a friend of mine gave me the screensaver package After Dark (home of the world famous Flying Toasters) which as fun. Later I got hold of the Star Trek edition (based on the original series) complete with sound bites, which was still my favourite screensaver package ever.

Oh my God, I had the same things, back in the day! Loved the toasters, and I later had a whole Trek "theme" on my computer, with icons, pointers, sounds and screensaver. I miss it.

The Star Trek one was fun, especially the Trivia Quiz mode, which kind of defeats the purpose of a system idle process that preserves the cathode ray tube helping prevent phosphorous burn-in.

Blank Screen, shortly followed by monitor off. (3mins/10mins)

While I'm using my computer, I'm not looking at a screensaver. And when I'm not using the computer, I won't be looking at it to see a screensaver. I've always felt that screensavers are for people who sit looking at their computers without using it.

Come to think of it, how relevant are screensavers nowadays when almost all computers now have LCD monitors? My favourite screensavers utilised as much of the screen as possible with a set pattern, in order to reduce as much burn as I could. (It seemed to be a good idea at the time.) Would it simply be more environmentally sound (and energy-saving) just to go for an auto-monitor off mode instead? My current laptop switches off the monitor after half an hour, then after a longer period of inactivity goes into hibernation (or the Vista equivalent thereof).

How much electricity and energy is used by the monitor itself compared to other components? Is it better to avoid screensaving altogether and opt for monitor energy-saving intead (from both a screen-burn perspective and an energy usage/spikes perspective)? What about simply going in and out of hibernation by flipping the laptop lid down when not using the computer - would that cause much strain on the energy usage or the other computer components by doing that each time I'm not using it?

 

[Jadzia]

Blank Screen, shortly followed by monitor off. (3mins/10mins)

While I'm using my computer, I'm not looking at a screensaver. And when I'm not using the computer, I won't be looking at it to see a screensaver. I've always felt that screensavers are for people who sit looking at their computers without using it.

Come to think of it, how relevant are screensavers nowadays when almost all computers now have LCD monitors? My favourite screensavers utilised as much of the screen as possible with a set pattern, in order to reduce as much burn as I could. (It seemed to be a good idea at the time.) Would it simply be more environmentally sound (and energy-saving) just to go for an auto-monitor off mode instead? My current laptop switches off the monitor after half an hour, then after a longer period of inactivity goes into hibernation (or the Vista equivalent thereof).

How much electricity and energy is used by the monitor itself compared to other components? Is it better to avoid screensaving altogether and opt for monitor energy-saving intead (from both a screen-burn perspective and an energy usage/spikes perspective)? What about simply going in and out of hibernation by flipping the laptop lid down when not using the computer - would that cause much strain on the energy usage or the other computer components by doing that each time I'm not using it?

Small LCD screens (12-14 inch) use much less power than similar sized CRTs.
The bigger ones we have nowadays (22 inch) use as much power as similar sized CRTs.

Screensavers are only useful on CRT monitors to prevent burn in (but a blank screen is better at doing that than any graphical screen saver). LCD doesn't suffer from burn in, so screen savers are unnecessary.


As for monitor power off. It's more wear and tear to turn power on and off on a CRT because of repeated heating/cooling of the electron gun, and repeated charging and discharging the EHT. It also takes several seconds for a CRT to warm up enough to show a picture, which can be annoying if you just want to check your email.

On an LCD, this isn't a problem. People use screen savers on an LCD system because they chose to, for whatever reason. There is no economical or life-preserving benefit.

My ibook laptop I rarely power off. It goes through the night and is carted around just with the lid shut. I only power off when the OS goes sluggish, which is about once a week.

Power use: On a laptop, the screen accounts for (iirc) about 50% of its normal power use, about 10 watts.

 

[Michael Chris]

I have Google Screensaver running with a bunch of wallpapers from InterfaceLift.com. Quite spectacular.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Thanks for the info, Jadzia. I find keeping a screensaver is useful to remind me that the computer's still on and could go into standby any moment. Unless I squint at the power LED, I find it hard to tell if it's monitor is off, the computer is off, or if the whole thing is on standby (although on standby the power button does flash orange). (One odd thing happened one day: the computer went into standby overnight as usual, then in the morning it turned itself on then switched off immediately. Very strange. But I digress.)

On the other hand, as someone who values their fuel bill (especially in these cold winters), I'll try going for full monitor-off mode (even when plugged in) and see if I like it.

 

[Jadzia]

Thanks for the info, Jadzia. I find keeping a screensaver is useful to remind me that the computer's still on and could go into standby any moment. Unless I squint at the power LED, I find it hard to tell if it's monitor is off, the computer is off, or if the whole thing is on standby (although on standby the power button does flash orange). (One odd thing happened one day: the computer went into standby overnight as usual, then in the morning it turned itself on then switched off immediately. Very strange. But I digress.)

Well there's standby and there's hibernate. Hibernate doesn't use any power, you can unplug the computer completely. I like hibernate.

Although I use standby (automatic after 20 mins), I don't like it. It's almost as much hassle as being switched off, but it still uses power.

I still have a crt monitor, because I dislike widescreen on computers, and I don't know where on earth I can buy a decent sized (20-22 inch) 4:3 lcd.

On the other hand, as someone who values their fuel bill (especially in these cold winters), I'll try going for full monitor-off mode (even when plugged in) and see if I like it.

I used to have lots of power saving modes active (various monitor modes and hard disk modes), but windows didn't manage them well, and it was more trouble than it was worth, so I keep it simple now.

3 mins - blank screen
10 minues - monitor on standby (blinking led)
20 minutes - system standby (blinking led), leave monitor on standby, leave hard disk on full power.
1 hour - power off monitor, system hibernate.

 

[RoJoHen]

My computer was the floor model at Best Buy, and it still has all the Best Buy passwords and crap on it, so I can't change any of my power settings...and I'm too lazy to get it fixed. It's been almost 4 years now.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Well there's standby and there's hibernate. Hibernate doesn't use any power, you can unplug the computer completely. I like hibernate.

Although I use standby (automatic after 20 mins), I don't like it. It's almost as much hassle as being switched off, but it still uses power.

I used to have lots of power saving modes active (various monitor modes and hard disk modes), but windows didn't manage them well, and it was more trouble than it was worth, so I keep it simple now.

3 mins - blank screen
10 minues - monitor on standby (blinking led)
20 minutes - system standby (blinking led), leave monitor on standby, leave hard disk on full power.
1 hour - power off monitor, system hibernate.

I tried Hibernate once or twice, but on my last Windows XP laptop, I remember once switching it on from cold, not touching it for about 3 minutes, then having the thing automatically go into Hibernate. Vista calls standby "sleep" now, just to confuse things further.

I'll play around with the settings until I find something that works and isn't too system-unstable for me. I find the power options too confusing anyway. Whatever happened to simple "on" and "off"?

(Off topic...

I still have a crt monitor, because I dislike widescreen on computers, and I don't know where on earth I can buy a decent sized (20-22 inch) 4:3 lcd.

I'm now very used to widescreen mode, if only because I can edit two or more documents side by side at an excellent resolution and zoom level, or I can use part of the screen for the Sidebar and Mesenger, and the majority for web browsing or other work.)

 

[Jadzia]

I tried Hibernate once or twice, but on my last Windows XP laptop, I remember once switching it on from cold, not touching it for about 3 minutes, then having the thing automatically go into Hibernate.

Sounds like me on sunday mornings.

Oh, and Vista is the reason the sounds don't work for you on you-know-what.

 

[T J]

I've been using good old System 47 since 2000.

http://www.mewho.com/system47/

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

I have a scrolling marquee that says, "It is better to be feared than loved".

I do remember the old After Dark set. I enjoyed bad dog, the dog that tore up the display.

 

[T'Ressa Dax]

I'm using Ribbons too. Had animated dolphins that I liked, which came with some game downloads, but I found out it was resetting my clock. So I stopped using it.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Speaking of Vista, I'm now trying out without a screensaver and just going to a monitors-off system to save energy. Unlike on XP, the screen slowly fades to black, rather than snapping off quickly, which is a nice if initially unsettling touch. (I'd have preferred a 30s-style iris-out, though. )

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Speaking of Vista, I'm now trying out without a screensaver and just going to a monitors-off system to save energy. Unlike on XP, the screen slowly fades to black, rather than snapping off quickly, which is a nice if initially unsettling touch. (I'd have preferred a 30s-style iris-out, though. )

I wondered what was going on first time I saw that too.
I generally don't have a screensaver, just let the monitor go in to standby.
Oh, there's a starfield screensaver here, if you look in the settings there's one that's fairly similar to the old windows one.

 

[B.J.]

Screensavers are only useful on CRT monitors to prevent burn in (but a blank screen is better at doing that than any graphical screen saver). LCD doesn't suffer from burn in, so screen savers are unnecessary.

Er, not quite. At work, I have two large (~23") LCD screens that are less than a year old. Recently after logging off for the weekend, for whatever reason the screens didn't go into standby mode (shutting themselves off), so the login prompt was on all weekend. There's now a faint burn-in of the prompt on the screen that was showing it.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Screensavers are not as useful as they used to be, but they are now a tradition so we keep using them.

 

[Cali]

Starfield here although I wish it was Flying Toasters!