A screensaver is a computer program originally designed to conserve the image quality of computer displays by blanking the screen or filling them with moving images or patterns when the computers are not in use. Today, screensavers are primarily for entertainment or security purposes.
3d pipes by MicrosoftUntil recently, most computer screens depended on cathode ray tubes (CRTs). CRT images are generated using electron beams which are "launched" from the back of the monitor and "draw" images continuously on the screen. Most computer programs paint images in the screen. Some of these images (letters, pictures, animations, menus) are usually moving or changing, and never stay in the same place for long. But some portions of the screen (like the Start bar in Microsoft Windows, or the typical upper "score" bar of some video games) are always in the same place, sometimes for hours or even days or months. Particularly with older CRTs, these sorts of images, continuously drawn in the same place for a long time, could damage the screen because the electron rays always hit the same points on the screen. Damage would consist in poor image quality, and those fixed images could remain "burned in" to the same place like "ghost lines" even if the image eventually changed. This is commonly known as "screen burn". This effect could be observed in some older video game machines; after displaying the same image for years on end, "ghost images" could be seen to be "burnt" into the display.
Screensaver programs were originally designed to help avoid these effects by automatically changing the images on the screen when the computer was not in use. They can be usually set up to launch automatically, waiting a specified amount of time after the last keystroke made by a user. Then the screensaver switches the image to black, or sometimes produces some animation effects, thus avoiding any "fixed" images. The screensaver remains active until a user enters a keystroke or makes a mouse movement. At that moment, the screensaver closes and the former screen contents are restored, to allow the user to work again.
Modern CRTs are much less susceptible to burn-in than older models. Flat panel displays are used in all laptop computers and are gradually replacing CRTs on the desktop. Flat panels are burn-in resistant because they use a fluorescent bulb or similar light source instead of an electron beam. For this reason, screensavers today primarily are decorative or for entertainment, and usually feature moving images or patterns and sometimes sound effects. Screensaver software also has been adapted as security measure. Many screensavers can be programmed to ask users for a password (called "locking the workstation"), before permitting the user to resume work. In addition, some screensavers activate a useful background task, such as a virus scan or a distributed computing application.
Screensavers are not to be confused with power management features, which place the computer in a low power state after it has been idle for a specified amount of time. In fact, screensavers can actually waste power, because they can prevent the computer from entering the lower power (or sleep) state, and they often cause the CPU and GPU to perform more calculations, and keep the hard disk running for longer than if the computer were idle.
Security Risks Users of the Microsoft Windows operating systems should be aware that the native screensaver format has the potential to install a virus when run. It is recommended that end users not open any email attachment with the file suffix ".scr". Windows will execute .scr (screensaver) files automatically - this has the potential to allow a virus or malware to install itself as the default screensaver. Such malicious software will then be automatically executed when the screensaver kicks in.
LCD Considerations
Using a screensaver with a flat panel or LCD screen actually reduces the lifetime of the display since the fluorescent backlight remains lit and ages faster than it would if the screen was turned off completely. As fluorescent tubes age they grow progressively dimmer and are expensive to replace (if it can be done at all).
Fiction is the term used to describe works of the imagination. This is in contrast to non-fiction, which makes factual claims about reality. A large part of the appeal of fiction is its ability to evoke the entire spectrum of human emotions: to distract our minds, to give us hope in times of despair, to make us laugh, or to let us experience empathy without attachment. Fictional works-novels, pictures, stories, fairy tales, fables, films, comics, interactive fiction-may be partly based on factual occurrences but always contain some imaginary content. The term is also often used synonymously with fictional prose. In this sense, fiction refers only to novels or short stories and is often divided into two categories, popular fiction (e.g., science fiction or mystery fiction) and literary fiction (e.g., Victor Hugo or William Faulkner).
Fiction is largely perceived as a form of art or entertainment, although not all fiction is necessarily artistic. Fiction may be created for the purpose of educating, such as fictional examples used in school textbooks. Fiction is also frequently instrumentalized by propaganda and advertising. Fiction may be propagated by parents to their children out of tradition (e.g. Santa Claus) or in order to instill certain beliefs and values. Fables with an explicit moral goal are not necessarily targeted at children, however.
Fiction may over time blend with factual accounts and develop into mythology. Many atheists perceive religion as no different from any fictional tale, whereas members of religious groups typically explain their beliefs with faith and claim they are fundamentally different from fictional tales (although they may call other religious views fictional). The sociological school of constructivism argues that every view of reality is fundamentally a construction of the self and that a safe distinction between fact and fiction is impossible, whereas the philosophy of naturalism holds that reality can be approximated and truth can be demonstrated through usefulness, allowing the distinction from fiction.
| Possible keyword strings: 3D Fantasy Art Surrealism Pictures: free 3-d desktop wallpapers. Best 3d computer graphic desktops screensavers in the net. Limited edition prints artist certified signed fine arts, surreal fine art posters, free wallpapers multimedia gallery, paintings screensavers, drawings fantasy landscapes, posters, multimedia screensavers drawings, fantasy landscapes mystery suspense, 3ds studio max, surrealistic picture, Toronto Canada romantic design fineart gallery screensaver, screen saver, screen, saver, programming, free screensavers, free, screen savers, custom screen saver development, desktop themes,. |
|
