Monday, October 29, 2007

Screensavers

If you're looking for a new screensaver for your computer, one thing you DON'T want to do is go searching on Google for "free screensaver". Just about everything that comes up in that search result will be loaded with spyware, and could really mess up your computer.

Incidentally, screensavers have really gone through an evolution. With the original (really old) CRT monitors, you had to have a screensaver to avoid having the icon images burned into the screen. Then, with the newer CRTs, the problem of phosphor burn was no longer an issue so you didn't really need a screensaver other than to have something interesting on the screen when the computer wasn't being used. Now, with almost everyone using the new LCD monitors, screensavers are again necessary to avoid the icon burn-in problem.

I have recently found a few great screensavers that are safe to use, and free. They also are all along the "clock" theme. Here they are:

The first one is called PolarClock. (download)
This is basically a black background, and a series of incomplete circles. Each circle represents a component of the date and time, and the circles complete as time passes.


The next one is called Fliqlio. (download)
This one just resembles a big digital clock that occupies your entire screen.


And finally, we have WorldClock. (download)
As the name implies, this is a selection of clocks, and each one resembles a different time zone.



In this week's video, this little kid hasn't quite gotten the hang of drinking from a hose -