Screen savers are a waste of energy. Nothing more than
eye candy. Screen savers were utilized over a decade ago when monitors could
not turn themselves off. In the early days of computing you could have a shadow
of an image burned in to the screen over several years of operation. We also
kept our computers longer before they hit the garbage bin. Thus, increasing the
likelihood of burn in. Today, most people upgrade their computers every four
years. There are plenty of free screensavers out there. The truth be told,
those free screen savers are not free. They are actually paid for by
advertising software that is installed with the screen saver. That free
software is not always written by the most ethical computer people. That hidden
software bloats your computer and then you will need an old priest and a young
priest to get the demon out. Be my guest; install all the free calendars, screen
savers, wall papers, and cute cursors you want. I’ll be seeing you soon with
your check book!
Screen savers also use more electricity. This becomes
more critical for laptop owners. To get more battery time, turn that screen
saver off! LCD screens do not suffer from burn in like the TV tube style
monitor of yesterday. You are almost convinced, but somebody told you that it
is bad to turn your monitor on and off because of the power surge. This is no
longer true! Today’s monitors gradually apply power to eliminate the surge. I
hope you choose to conserve energy rather than keeping the eyes entertained.
Should you leave your computer on all day?
That depends on your life style. You should only turn a computer on and off
once per day. Cycling a computer on and off puts a mild strain on the hard drive
motor inside. Workstation class computers are not designed to be on all week long.
A typical computer averages 180 watts of electricity. That's just over $10 per
month on your electric bill if left on! If you do use your computer throughout
the day, the best thing you can do is program your computer to turn the monitor
off for you when it senses you are idle after so much time.