The Dirt on Screensavers

Remember back in the days where screensavers were the coolest thing at the office? You could stare at your co-worker's "fish in the ocean" screensaver at the cubicle next door for hours and actually have a full afternoon of conversation about that one screensaver.

Well, screensavers are still "in", but not as "in" as they used to be. In fact, back in the old days, screensavers were essentially used to keep monitors from getting their images "burned in". Back in those days, the phosphors could be burned out of a monitor by leaving items displayed on the screen. Nowadays, we don't have that problem. Our high resolution screens don't get "burned in" anymore.

In fact, when you use screensavers, you hog important resources on your PC. Not only does it take up unnecessary space, but you will need at least 64 MB of RAM and a card that displays 256 colors just to run a screensaver. It's especially important to make sure that if you should choose to download a screensaver, to make sure it's from a trusted source. You wouldn't want to download viruses along with your cute screensaver.

Truth be told, there essentially isn't any real purpose to screensavers any longer, except to password protect your PC when you're away from it, or better yet? when you want to enjoy that afternoon staring at your co-worker's monitor at the cubicle next door!

Demetria Zinga is the founder and owner of http://www.faith-media.com, a technology and consulting firm which specializes in web design and hosting, graphics and print designs, internet marketing, and e-training. She is also the founder of http://www.christianladies.net, an interactive ezine, blog, and podcast for Christian women.