Software → Re: [Need Info] what's your favorite screensaver?

None. They are no longer needed and I don't sit at my computer and look at the screen when it's not in use. Monitor does auto turn off after a while. The On/Off switch works too.

You are wrong that they are not needed anymore. My new Dell 2014 24" Ultrasharp LED monitor comes with explicit instructions to ALWAYS use a good screen saver to avoid burn in and states the three year warranty is voided if you get burn in and weren't using a screensaver. It is the same sort of position that Samsung takes on at least some of their TVs (higher end ones) where they explicitly state that the warranty is voided if one does not use their TV in full screen mode 95% of the viewing time and must vary the channels watched to avoid burn in from the channel icons that many channels now leave on the screen all the time except during commercials. I'm wondering if using 5:4 or 4:3 modes that are on this monitor for very long will cause burn in and I am wondering why Dell included them just as I wonder why Samsung included lots of aspect ratios for the Smart TV but tells me I cannot use them more than 5% of the time.

I LOVE looking at my screen saver ("Ribbons", which looks far more dramatic on this monitor than on my older monitor). My problem is that there are not enough screen savers available that will work on Windows 8. Photos screen saver doesn't work right on Win 8 - at least not with my older Dell Ultrasharp monitor but I haven't tried it yet with this one. My screen saver comes on at THREE MINUTES OF INACTIVITY so I see it frequently while sitting at the computer. I have to remember to disable it when watching long youtube videos full screen as it coming on in the middle of a video will throw me out of full screen. I have the time short like that because I firmly believe it saves the monitor's life span. My older Dell Ultrasharp is OVER 10 years old and has approximately 30,000 hours on it and it still has a strong backlight (although not as bright as when brand new). Most people buy cheap, junk monitors and dont take care of them and that is OK considering they were cheap and are cheap to replace. Folks who buy premium monitors tend to take better care of them because of the cost of replacing them.

As a rule of thumb, that's mostly true. It's also true that older LCD panels are more prone to Image Retention (IR) than newer, both because they are older (have more hours of usage--liquid crystals can eventually "wear out" [though it might take many years of continual usage]) and use liquid crystals less-resistant to IR. Also, as a rule, IR is almost always temporary; burn-in (such as with CRTs) is almost always permanent. Of course, the manufacturers of displays simply provide the verbiage of "Don't do this!!!" as CYA ("Don't sue us!!!") for the worst case scenarios. As long as one isn't doing something obviously ill-advised (such as displaying static image/text continuously--such as a grid display), there won't be a problem with IR. However, even if a problem does develop, it can typically be remedied by simply turning the display off for an extended period of time (24 hours, for example). Beyond that there are also utilities and processes which can fix things like IR and "stuck" pixels (even if it's simply displaying a bright, white image for a few hours). The point, though, is that IR is not a problem with non-defective LCD panels given normal usage.

Also, any light emitter (either CCFL-backlit LCDs or LED-backlit LCDs) has limited lifespan. In a while it's emitting property diminishes and screen become dim. The only solution is to turn it off when you don't need it.

Personally I set reasonable timeout to turn it off automatically or I just press a hot key combination (I've already mentioned it above) when I know, that I don't need screen anymore. And THAT actually saves screen