# Screen Saver problem

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screen-saver-problem/365828>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 24, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screen-saver-problem/365828 "2006-07-24T15:51:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screen-saver-problem/365828/1 "2006-07-24T15:51:08Z")

</div>

My Wndows XP Screen Saver applet doesn’t work properly.

It doesn’t kick in when the 30 minutes of non usage occurs. I can get the program to work by hitting the Preview button, but even then, it kicks out after a while, seemingly at random. I.e., no emails have come in, no reminders have come up, etc.

I have scanned the harddrive any number of times for malware, but it always gives a clean bill of health every time.

Any suggestions?

If you’re going to tell me to reinstall the screensaver thing, please, please, give step-by-step instructions.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screen-saver-problem/365828/2 "2006-07-24T16:10:52Z")

</div>

My suggestion is ditch the screensaver. There is no use for them with today’s monitors (the original use was to prevent “burn-in” of static images on the screen, but that’s a non-issue now.) I just set my monitor to turn off after twenty minutes of non-use just for the power saving aspect. Unless you really like looking at the screen saver, there’s no use for it. And if that is the case, then my advice is to use crtl-alt-del and see what processes you have running. Even legitimate programs sometimes are doing things in the background that will stop a screensaver, like an IM client or open email program.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screen-saver-problem/365828/3 "2006-07-24T16:29:38Z")

</div>

> [@BarnOwl](#):
>
> My Wndows XP Screen Saver applet doesn’t work properly.
> 
> Any suggestions?
> 
> If you’re going to tell me to reinstall the screensaver thing, please, please, give step-by-step instructions.

Seconded, forget the SS.

Might want to try looking at your startup tasks and see if you have any oddballs/blanks/items that look like a random string of charachters. I dont know of any legit tasks named lkjbnRnuoik3oi for example.

If you are really all that worried about it, try running wfc /scannow from the run option, or a repair install of XP and see if that fixes it.

Not sure of wfc checks that particular function.

Both of these may require reapplying some windows updates.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screen-saver-problem/365828/4 "2006-07-24T16:58:52Z")

</div>

Thank you, **bouv** and **drachillix**.

I turned off my screensaver and kicked in the Monitor/HardDisk shutdowns.

Later (when I finish my piano drills), I’ll also try the repair install as you suggested **drachillix**.