Screensavers seem useless to me nowadays

glennmagusharvey

I typically just turn off the screen or close the lid (depending on whether it's a desktop or laptop).  It saves more electricity.  But as a side effect, it makes screensavers a moot point.

Icalasari

My laptop (or Windows 7, at the very least) is completely unable to connect to wifi until being restarted when the lid is shut or it goes into sleep mode



So it's still useful for me

MrW

Screensavers are more designed for desktops anyway.

glennmagusharvey

^^ What about setting it to "do nothing" when closing the lid?

Central Avenue

There's also the fact that modern screens don't really need "saved". These days even low-end computers come with LCDs, which aren't really susceptible to burn-in the way the CRT displays of 20 years ago were, so screensavers are pretty much just for decoration now.

Stormtroper

My favourite was Johnny Castaway.

Fuschlatz

Yeah, I think screensavers have only survived as long as they have because of how pretty and/or entertaining they tend to be. Especially these days, since their original purpose is so insignificant that anyone who still makes them now is putting almost all their faith into the aesthetic appeal.

707ruz

^^ While that seems fun to watch for a while, it is ineffective as a screensaver due to the fact that the image of the palm tree, island, and sea stay on the screen for a long time, leaving afterimages, which are what screen savers try to prevent.

glennmagusharvey

The same could be said of a lot of screensavers, actually, including Inside Your Computer (the one with flying circuit parts), the haunted mansion one (with the doors/windows/owl/bat/cat/moon occasionally moving), and the flying planes one (static cloud background).