Why screensavers are used

All modern operating systems have power saving features that switch the screen off when inactive. While screensavers are no longer necessary to "save your screen", they can still be useful for other things. For example, when you go idle, your monitor can turn into a heads-up display for information, motivation, tools, or entertainment. There's a good chance you still have a plasma TV, which requires a screensaver because it is susceptible to burn-in like CRTs.

It demos NES games as screensavers and lets you play them with the tap of a button. When you come back to your computer, you'll see a grid of different games being played on auto mode. Select a game like Super Mario Bros 3 with your cursor keys and press a key to jump right in.

Uber NES Screensaver is easy to set up if you follow the instructions carefully, and you can download several popular NES games through a selectable menu. What does our little blue rock look like from way up in the International Space Station? One Redditor has a guide to setting up a live stream as a screensaver.

Reddit can be awesome sometimes. Then it's a simple matter of pointing it to the ISS's live feed on Ustream. The aforementioned Redditor also has a brilliant setup for multiple monitors, which you can see above. Read the full guide and discussion before you proceed. In Windows, Mac, and Linux, you can set your screensaver to display a custom message. As Saikat noted in his 10 creative ways to use screensavers , you can use this message to set up a reminder to take your pills, finish an important task of the day, or generate a word cloud of motivation.

If your monitor is going to be on anyway, why not turn it into a dashboard for today's weather? That's exactly what YoWindow does. For other companies, screensavers function as a means of branding or even communication.

If every employee in the building has the same screensaver, it creates a sense of identity, which can also be good for clients to see when they visit. Corporate screensavers can even be updated with important notices, event reminders, and other relevant information.

Feeling nostalgic for the classic screensavers of the CRT era? Here are 10 that you can relive on YouTube. Have you got a Big Question you'd like us to answer?

If so, let us know by emailing us at bigquestions mentalfloss. Early CRT monitors, particularly monochrome ones, had problems with the same image being displayed for a long time. The phosphors, used to make the pixels in the display, would glow at a constant rate for such a long period of time that they would actually discolor the glass surface of the CRT.

This discoloration would then be visible as a faint image overlaying whatever else was displayed on the monitor. Advances in display technology and the advent of energy-saver monitors have virtually eliminated the need for screensavers.

But we still use them. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe.