Screensavers are programs that change or blank the screen when the computer is idle for a certain time. They may seem like a relic of the past, but they have a fascinating history and a variety of purposes.
The first screensaver was allegedly written for the original IBM PC by John Socha, best known for creating the Norton Commander file manager. The screensaver, named scrnsave.exe, was published in the December 1983 issue of the Softalk magazine. It simply blanked the screen after three minutes of inactivity (an interval that could be changed only by recompiling the program). After this period of time passed without any keyboard or mouse input, scrnsave.exe would simply blank the screen.
The reason for this simple program was to prevent screen burn-in, which is a permanent damage to the display caused by showing a static image for too long. Screen burn-in was a common problem for older monitors that used cathode ray tubes (CRTs) or plasma technology, but it is less likely for modern monitors that use liquid crystal displays (LCDs) or light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
However, some organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays are still vulnerable to burn-in, especially if they show bright and static images for long periods of time, such as logos, channel numbers, or game interfaces. To prevent this, OLED TVs use various techniques to reduce the risk of burn-in, such as pixel shifting, dimming, and refreshing.
But screensavers are not only useful for protecting screens, they are also fun and eye-catching. Over the years, screensavers have evolved from simple blanking to more complex and creative animations and slideshows. Some of the most famous screensavers include After Dark’s Flying Toasters, Windows’ 3D Pipes and Mystify, and Apple’s Flurry and iTunes Artwork.
Screensavers can also have other purposes, such as security, entertainment, or volunteer computing. Security screensavers require a password to resume the normal display, entertainment screensavers show animations or slideshows that are pleasing to the eye, and volunteer computing screensavers use the idle time of the computer to perform tasks for scientific or humanitarian projects.
There are many types of screensavers, such as blanking, slideshow, animation, interactive, or web-based. Blanking screensavers simply turn off the screen or fill it with a single color, slideshow screensavers display a series of images from a folder or an online source, animation screensavers show moving graphics or text, interactive screensavers allow the user to control or interact with the screen elements, and web-based screensavers display web pages or content from the internet.
Screensavers are not only fun and eye-catching, but they can also have practical uses. For example, some screensavers can display useful information such as the time, date, weather, news headlines, or RSS feeds. Others can play music or videos from your media library or online sources. Some can even turn your PC into a digital photo frame by showing your personal photos or images from Flickr or Google Photos.
If you’re using a Mac with an OLED display (such as the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar), you might want to use a screensaver to prevent burn-in. OLED displays can suffer from image retention if they show static elements for too long, such as the menu bar or dock icons. A screensaver can help avoid this by changing the screen content periodically.
Screensavers may seem like a thing of the past, but they are still alive and kicking in the digital age. They have come a long way from their original purpose of saving screens to entertaining users with their creativity and functionality. Whether you want to protect your screen, enjoy some eye candy, or learn something new, there is a screensaver for you.
Relevant articles:
– Screensaver – Wikipedia, Wikipedia, 14 August 2023
– How to prevent screen burn-in on OLED TVs, Tom’s Guide, 15 August 2023
– The best free screensavers for Windows 10, TechRadar, 16 August 2023
– Why you should use a screensaver on your Mac, Macworld, 17 August 2023