Windows Screensavers Explained

In this article you will find some background information about
screensavers and their history. You will also learn how Windows
screensavers differ from other programs and how you can use it to your
own advantage. There are also some tips for screensavers users owning
laptops, notebooks or CD-burning devices.

Have you ever asked yourself a question like "What is a screensaver
actually?" I did. And now I will gladly share the results of my
investigation. As you can see easily, splitting the word "screensaver"
into two words will give us the phrase "screen saver". This isn't a
rocket science and it's clear that the phrase suggests our subject
somehow saving the screen. So the word "screensaver" can be applied to
some sort of good things that save the screen of our so much beloved
baby-computer. But what does it mean exactly? Who is going to harm our
computer's screen? Who could be such a bad person? The answer lies in
the exact definition of the screensavers.

If you are a meticulous person then you can search the Internet and come
up with some of the existing definitions. But don't hurry. I will list
some 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 "burn
in" or "damage" used in these definitions refer us to the time before
90-ies. At that time many cathode ray tubes in TVs, computer monitors or
elsewhere were prone to be damaged if the same pattern (e.g., the
WordPerfect status line; the Pong score readout; or a TV channel-number
display) was shown at the same position on the screen for very long
periods of time. The phosphor on the screen would "fatigue" and that
part 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 LCD
screen (most laptops and notebooks). A pixel on an LCD screen is on when
it's dark; therefore, blacking the screen as some screensavers do would
cause more damage.

Eventually CRTs which were resistant to burn-in (and which sometimes
went into sleep mode after a period of inactivity) were developed. But
in the meantime, solution was found: home video game systems of the
era (e.g., Atari 2600s) would, when not being played, change the screen
every few seconds, to avoid burn-in; and computer screensaver programs
were developed.

The first screensavers were simple screen blankers - they just set the
screen to all black, but, in the best case of creeping featurism ever
recorded, these tiny (often under 1K long) programs grew without regard
to efficiency or even basic usefulness. At first, small, innocuous
display hacks (generally on an almost-black screen) were added. Later,
more complex effects appeared, including animations (often with sound
effects!) 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 a
screensaver 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 that
distinguishes a program running as screensaver from other typical
programs? You're right, there is a bit of mystery. In order to
demystify it we should plunge deeper into screensavers' mechanics. But
don't be afraid. It isn't complicated at all.

First, as you already know, screensavers are launched automatically by
the operating system.

TIP: Be careful if you use CD-Burning devices regularly and your system
is configured to launch screensaver after some period of inactivity.
Some screensavers produce very sophisticated effects but for the price
of intensive CPU load. If you leave your computer while CD-Burning
software is working, screensaver will be launched. This can sometimes
lead to the CD-RW disks burned improperly.

During their installation process screensavers are copied to the system
directory (years ago users had even to copy screensavers by themselves).
Once they are there, Windows finds them and puts in the list of
available screensavers. You can see this list in the Display Properties
dialog. But how does the system know that the program in its system
directory is a screensaver? The answer is simple. Any screensaver
program has a name ending with ".SCR" extension, while a typical program
has an ".EXE" extension at the end. This is the first difference.

Second, almost every screensaver has a bunch of settings allowing you to
change its appearance in many ways. This isn't a much difference because
many typical programs have options and settings too. The difference lies
in the way user invokes configuration dialogs. Windows provides the only
way to do it. It's the Display Properties dialog mentioned above. Other
programs usually have their own buttons or menus to do that. Why are we
talking about it? It's simple. The whole process means that the system
has a way to communicate with screensavers: to launch them, preview and
configure on your demand while other typical programs don't have it.
Usually they are simply launched and that's all. This is the second
difference.

So what? How can we use it to our own advantage? Imagine yourself
downloading a new screensaver, running it and finding it rather amazing.
The screensaver can be so amazing and entertaining, that you would like
to show it running on your screen to the friend of yours. But wait. How
do you do that? What if your system is configured to launch the
screensaver after 5 minutes of inactivity only? Or after 10 minutes or
even more? Will you wait for this eternity? You can say that there is
always a way to launch the screensaver from the Dialog Properties. But
in order to do that you should launch the dialog, find the Screen Savers
tab and click the Preview button. Quite a lot of things to do. And if
you are willing to demonstrate two or even more screensavers the things
get complicated even more. And what if the screensaver you've found
looks best when the whole desktop wallpaper is seen on the screen? The
Display Properties dialog will simply destroy this unique beauty you
were willing to share.

Now imagine that double-clicking an icon on your desktop could do all
this. Simple action, no unnecessary dialogs. Sure, some preparation
steps are needed. But they are done once. After that you can enjoy
launching screensavers using icons as many times as you wish. Is it
worth doing? Try it, the result can be very effective. Once you manage
the process, you can proudly call yourself a "Professional Screensavers
User". 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 the
created icon. Enjoy! I will be glad if you feel a bit more control over
the system.