Windows,Screensavers,Explained computer Windows Screensavers Explained

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In this article you will find some background information aboutscreensavers and their history. You will also learn how Windowsscreensavers differ from other programs and how you can use it to yourown advantage. There are also some tips for screensavers users owninglaptops, notebooks or CD-burning devices.Have you ever asked yourself a question like "What is a screensaveractually?" I did. And now I will gladly share the results of myinvestigation. As you can see easily, splitting the word "screensaver"into two words will give us the phrase "screen saver". This isn't arocket science and it's clear that the phrase suggests our subjectsomehow saving the screen. So the word "screensaver" can be applied tosome sort of good things that save the screen of our so much belovedbaby-computer. But what does it mean exactly? Who is going to harm ourcomputer's screen? Who could be such a bad person? The answer lies inthe exact definition of the screensavers.If you are a meticulous person then you can search the Internet and comeup with some of the existing definitions. But don't hurry. I will listsome of the most often found. Here they are: - A moving picture or pattern that appears on your screen when you have not moved the mouse or pressed a key on the computer for a specified period of time. Screensavers prevent screen damage that is caused when the same areas of light and dark are displayed for long periods of time. - A program that "wakes up" after a certain amount of time has elapsed with no keyboard or mouse activity and blanks the screen or displays various moving objects across the screen; these are used to prevent your screen from getting "burn in". - An animated picture or graphic that can be programmed through the Display control panel to come on the computer screen after so much inactivity time has elapsed. The main reason for a screensaver is to reduce wear and tear on the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) inside the monitor that can burn out or become etched if the same window is left on for extended periods of time.The picture is getting clearer, isn't it? Let's make it plain. The "burnin" or "damage" used in these definitions refer us to the time before90-ies. At that time many cathode ray tubes in TVs, computer monitors orelsewhere were prone to be damaged if the same pattern (e.g., theWordPerfect status line; the Pong score readout; or a TV channel-numberdisplay) was shown at the same position on the screen for very longperiods of time. The phosphor on the screen would "fatigue" and thatpart of the screen would seem grayed out, even when the CRT was off.TIP: Be careful when using a screensaver on a computer with an LCDscreen (most laptops and notebooks). A pixel on an LCD screen is on whenit's dark; therefore, blacking the screen as some screensavers do wouldcause more damage.Eventually CRTs which were resistant to burn-in (and which sometimeswent into sleep mode after a period of inactivity) were developed. Butin the meantime, solution was found: home video game systems of theera (e.g., Atari 2600s) would, when not being played, change the screenevery few seconds, to avoid burn-in; and computer screensaver programswere developed.The first screensavers were simple screen blankers - they just set thescreen to all black, but, in the best case of creeping featurism everrecorded, these tiny (often under 1K long) programs grew without regardto efficiency or even basic usefulness. At first, small, innocuousdisplay hacks (generally on an almost-black screen) were added. Later,more complex effects appeared, including animations (often with soundeffects!) of arbitrary length and complexity.And now we live in the world full of fun and entertaining screensavers.Many of them produce amazing and very attractive effects. You can find ascreensaver on any theme you like, download it, install and enjoy.This means that a typical screensaver is a program. And it really is.But isn't there something different? Is there something thatdistinguishes a program running as screensaver from other typicalprograms? You're right, there is a bit of mystery. In order todemystify it we should plunge deeper into screensavers' mechanics. Butdon't be afraid. It isn't complicated at all.First, as you already know, screensavers are launched automatically bythe operating system.TIP: Be careful if you use CD-Burning devices regularly and your systemis configured to launch screensaver after some period of inactivity.Some screensavers produce very sophisticated effects but for the priceof intensive CPU load. If you leave your computer while CD-Burningsoftware is working, screensaver will be launched. This can sometimeslead to the CD-RW disks burned improperly.During their installation process screensavers are copied to the systemdirectory (years ago users had even to copy screensavers by themselves).Once they are there, Windows finds them and puts in the list ofavailable screensavers. You can see this list in the Display Propertiesdialog. But how does the system know that the program in its systemdirectory is a screensaver? The answer is simple. Any screensaverprogram has a name ending with ".SCR" extension, while a typical programhas an ".EXE" extension at the end. This is the first difference.Second, almost every screensaver has a bunch of settings allowing you tochange its appearance in many ways. This isn't a much difference becausemany typical programs have options and settings too. The difference liesin the way user invokes configuration dialogs. Windows provides the onlyway to do it. It's the Display Properties dialog mentioned above. Otherprograms usually have their own buttons or menus to do that. Why are wetalking about it? It's simple. The whole process means that the systemhas a way to communicate with screensavers: to launch them, preview andconfigure on your demand while other typical programs don't have it.Usually they are simply launched and that's all. This is the seconddifference.So what? How can we use it to our own advantage? Imagine yourselfdownloading a new screensaver, running it and finding it rather amazing.The screensaver can be so amazing and entertaining, that you would liketo show it running on your screen to the friend of yours. But wait. Howdo you do that? What if your system is configured to launch thescreensaver after 5 minutes of inactivity only? Or after 10 minutes oreven more? Will you wait for this eternity? You can say that there isalways a way to launch the screensaver from the Dialog Properties. Butin order to do that you should launch the dialog, find the Screen Saverstab and click the Preview button. Quite a lot of things to do. And ifyou are willing to demonstrate two or even more screensavers the thingsget complicated even more. And what if the screensaver you've foundlooks best when the whole desktop wallpaper is seen on the screen? TheDisplay Properties dialog will simply destroy this unique beauty youwere willing to share.Now imagine that double-clicking an icon on your desktop could do allthis. Simple action, no unnecessary dialogs. Sure, some preparationsteps are needed. But they are done once. After that you can enjoylaunching screensavers using icons as many times as you wish. Is itworth doing? Try it, the result can be very effective. Once you managethe process, you can proudly call yourself a "Professional ScreensaversUser". If you like the idea then there's the way to achieve it: 1) Use Windows explorer to navigate to your system directory. Usually it is C:Windows or C:WindowsSystem if you are using Windows 95/98/Me. If you are using Windows NT/2000/XP, then you should look in C:WINNT or C:WINNTSystem32. 2) Look through the list of programs there. It can be quite large, but you can easily find the name of the screensaver you are looking for. Alternatively you can use the "Find Files or Folders" facility. 3) Once you've found it, use the right mouse button to drag the file onto the desktop. After releasing the mouse select "Create Shortcut Here" from the popup menu. The icon for the screensaver should appear on your desktop.Now you can launch the screensaver at any time. Simply double-click thecreated icon. Enjoy! I will be glad if you feel a bit more control overthe system.