PC's & TV Screen Burn.
PCs
can be worse than all the others. At least with a game the image would
temporarily change between levels or games and with a TV channel it
might get a break from the logo during the adverts but with a PC there
are no such times.
Simply put you need to be more Aware, Check more often and take action
whenever required. Here are some tips to help minimise the problem a
bit. They are not however a complete solution to checking etc.
Get rid of the task bar. This almost always a bright primary colour and
stretches the entire width of the screen. You will be most unpopular if
the other half has to have the windows start button etc. in view while
watching East Enders. The task bar can be made to disappear and only
reappear when needed(hovered over with the mouse). In Windows XP do the
following:- Right click the task bar and select 'Properties'. You can
then 'tick' auto hide the task bar.
If browsing the web with Internet Explorer press 'f11' this will remove most(but not all) of the static frame.
Put your screen saver on a low start up time. If it's not too annoying
I would suggest the minimum of 1 minute. Don't use a screen saver with
slow or static images like 'space' or 'nature', use more dynamic ones
like 'star field', 'blank' or 'beziers'. The best screen saver to use
is a home made one. Read my entry on how to do this.
It is possible to use your PC on your Plasma or LCD screen but it must
be said it it is the most precarious usage with regard to image
retention. If you are going to use your PC on the TV then follow all
the precautions and check and take action regularly.
