Screensavers and System resources

[Chipa66]

I've been to a couple of sites that offer customized themes, windowblinds and screensavers. How much of your system resources does a screensaver actually use? I know the obvious answer is that it will depend on the type of screensaver program(3D rendering vs. a 2D slideshow). Also, once you start using your computer and the screensaver is no longer in operation, is it using enough background resources to worry about? The reason I ask is because a lot of tweaking sites suggest disabling these to free up system resources. I had not been using one for quite a while and ended up developing burn-in on my old monitor. I now have a new Viewsonic that I would like to keep happy and healthy so I'm running the standard screensavers that come with XP for now.

I'm also interested in some of the custom themes and windowblinds I see around. Are the "themes" just additions to the themes options I see when I go to customize my desktop? I'm guessing that if I download and run some of them that I wont be using any more resources than I'm currently using by running the silver or classic blue theme that came with XP. I tend to be a minimalist and try to keep everything clean and streamlined so i don't want to clog my system with uinnecessary garbage but I do like some of the custom looks. Here's a link to the site I've been poking around in so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about:

http://www.wincustomize.com/

 

[aye29]

I've never noticed any performance hit from my screensaver but I still don't use it anymore, I just set the power options to turn of the screen. I'm also using Window Blinds 4 and I've never noticed a performance hit from that either.

 

[whiteknight]

There is no real point in using screensavers anymore. They were orignialy created when moniters would blow up if the screen didn't move in a certain amount of time. A better option would be to tell your OS to turn off your moniter after X minutes. That way you will use less energy and let your moniter last longer.

You can also tell your computer to turn off the hard drives after a longer period of time to let them last longer as well. Don't do this if you run servers on the computer or use it to let other people print through it in a network.

 

[Chipa66]

Well, I hate to tell ya but the "burn issue" is still a concern. It may have taken a while, but I definitely had "burn-in" on my monitor where the lighter parts of my dektop pattern had darkened the pixels on my screen. I noticed it one day when I had a white document up.

I had a pretty decent 19 inch CRT that was only a couple of years old so be on your guard. I wasn't concerned about protecting my screen because I had been hearing that it wasn't a concern on today's monitors....WRONG. It might not happen as quickly, but it CAN happen. Either use a screensaver or turn your monitor off using the Power Options in the Control Panel.