Screensaver failure

[harry12]

Very odd, just noticed after visiting here and there the screensaver has stopped this session (today). I mean whatever is on-screen just stays there, normally the screensaver cuts-in, until I move the mouse or press a key.
System is Win98SE and all usual mem +HDD.
Looking in Control Panel-Display- it's set to 2min (with HDD switch-off after 2hrs of inactivity). (Let's forget the HDD part).
I've set the screensaver to 1 min now and expect that I need to restart the computer - but why has it become disabled?
Is there aother place where the screensaver is enabled? I've selected the moving cubes (can't recall the Win silly name) ages ago, that's still the same.
Searching this Forum reports no match, so I guess it "never happens" - well, it did right here. I'll try a restart and see if it was a power glitch. Mains has been quiet as usual and I have massive filtering network also. Can't be too careful.
Bye-ee
( Later -)Whoops! All OK now, I guess it was just having a bad screen-day. Moderator can remove this posting, or leave it for others if they have same problem. I've now set "screensaver" to 2 mins.
= = I've noticed this site is currently very slow - this is nearly 11pm GMT - I think that's about 3 in the afternoon - maybe the time Kids log-on = busy time in USA. Not sure if I've got the time-interval correct. 11pm is nearly midnight - and most surfers are down the pub. My this a useful site. The Moderator will need a new FORUM for Vista, the new OS from Microsoft, due September 05?

[Miz]

I have one game on my computer that effectively "disables" the screen saver. Whenever I play that game if I don't go into Display Settings, set it to another screen saver (to activate the Apply button) then set it back to the "Blank" screensaver I prefer, the screen saver will not kick on. If I do that routine, the screensaver will work perfectly until the next time I play that game.

I've never found a cure for the problem...other than not playing that particular game, that is.

Of course, screen savers are just eye candy. Modern monitors don't really need them although I've read that LCD screens can get images "burned in" if left on long enough with the same high-contrast graphics on. I don't know if that's true.

[harry12]

[quote=Miz]
Thanks Miz - I think my screensaver-problem was a "loading" OS glitch, as it has "gone away" - but it's something to watch if you leave a computer without first checking the screensaver is activating at the right time.
/
Re burning: I can seee no reason why an LCD would burn, as the energy levels are low - but these things often turn-out to be true. What I never read about is the cost of replacing the backlight - I can imagine that is pricey - even if you can get one. It might be like printers with the heads in the machine and not in the cartridge - where they should be IMHO. New cartridge = new head.
/
Conventional CRT's "burn" if left with a static image over a few hours. Turning down the brightness/contrast will reduce the effect - that was why screensavers started I understand - but there is a security issue if the PC is unatended - it stops visitors reading your letters etc. Curiously there isn't a "lock" on the screensaver, so it will only show the program if the right sequence of (say five) keys is pressed. This would thwart those who are too curious and might stop them sending out a malicious email, purporting to be from the company.
/
Normally the TV image is "fleeting", so there is little, or no risk of damaging the CRT - however "teletext" images are another matter and even quite expensive TV's will allow a static teletext image to remain for hours - such sloppy design briefs IMHO. Where you view a sequence of pages with a common header, the header is effectively static and the teletext chip should reduce the drive to such displays, so they are dimmed until "refresh" etc. - but then I don't rule the World, pity.
Teletext need a thorough overhaul so we can get to the index pages quickly and can search multi-part pages (some BBC "links" are 50 pages deep! That's 25 minutes.) - then we can scroll back-forward once the page has been received rather than being forced to start at the wrong end. Memory is cheap, isn't it?
Regards