Part Two - Summary: 01/10/07 Wed Nite KH Computer Help Desk Chatroom Session

[mommalina]

Part Two - Summary: 01/10/07 Wed Nite KH Computer Help Desk Chatroom Session

COMPUTER TOPICS DISCUSSED (Cont'd)

MANAGING LCD MONITORS

Should I turn off my ViewSonic 21.3-inch LCD monitor when I expect periods
of inactivity of 20 minutes to an hour? (No. 3 Son had told me that turning
it on and off causes more wear and tear than leaving it on, just like a
fluorescent light.)

If the LCD monitor should be left on, should I put a blank Notepad page on
the screen in lieu of using a screen saver? (I've been told that screen savers
can be problematic.)

The consensus seemed to be that I should probably turn it off but that further
research was needed. I promised to contact ViewSonic tech support and
find out.

Before I called ViewSonic, I did Googled around and found the following
which planted more doubts in my mind.

From an online LCD monitor owner's manual (not ViewSonic):
Due to the nature of the LCD screen, switching of images after a
prolonged period of time if displaying the same image, the image from the
previous screen may remain. In such case, the screen is recovered slowly
by changing the image or turning off the power switch for hours.

From an LCD monitor message board:
Often turning a light on and off wears it more than a long time of constant use.
Don't know if this is the case with display backlights, anyway to make
things a little less manic, I'd set display sleep for a much longer time than
one minute. More like 5 minutes, if you're going for maximum longevity
instead of convenience. Mine is set for an hour

This morning a gracious, seemingly knowledgeable ViewSonic female tech
confirmed:

1. Leave the monitor on during short periods of inactivity (I mentioned
20 minutes to one hour). Turning it on and off will cause unnecessary wear
and tear.

2. Yes, there can be a burn factor. Yes, I can use a blank Notepad page in
lieu of a screen saver. (BTW, I can move the Notepad page all the way up
so that very little of the top heading is on the screen, just enough to
facilitate moving it down to X it out. So I don't think there will be much to
"burn" into the screen. )

3. When I turn off the computer, the monitor status light turns orange. I
don't need to press the monitor button so the monitor status light will turn
red. (That's another thing my son advised.)

4. Even though the recommended resolution is 1600 x 1200, my settings
of 1024 x 768 with 120 DPI (125%) are okay.

Sooooo, according to ViewSonic, my son was correct on all points. Do
any of you disagree?

MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSIONS

- Australia's "Slow Food" movement, back to natural foods, to replace Fast
Food.......

- Liquid nitrogen to purify water.......*EDIT- See below

- When your TV remote control doesn't work......

- Aldi supermarket and nonfood doorbusters, sometimes computers or
related hardware (in USA, Australia, global) ......

That's all, folks. Vivienne, hope you can make it next week! Never the
same without you.

Until next week .. :grouphug:

Lina

*EDIT - This should read:

- Ozone and water purification......

- Liquid nitrogen and ice on exterior of a space shuttle in hot weather......

[compusimple]

Lina-
I think there is a correction.
The liquid nitrogen discussion was in reference to how a space shuttle has ice on its exterior in hot weather.

The water purification was about ozone.

regards

Elliott

[mommalina]

Lina-
I think there is a correction.
The liquid nitrogen discussion was in reference to how a space shuttle has ice on its exterior in hot weather.

The water purification was about ozone.

regards

Elliott

Thanks, Elliott! I've edited the original post. Hopefully, it was the only
error. I lost parts of my draft twice (my fault), was tired and frustrated,
and just got sloppy .. :frown:

I had scribbled "ice rockets in FLA liq nitrogen" and "pool - ozone
generation" in my notes and failed to triple-check those against the final
draft. Had I studied more than very basic biology in school (no science at
all), I might have caught the error.

Thanks again .. :)

Lina

[Vivienne]

Lina:

Vivienne, hope you can make it next week! Never the
same without you.

:-) It's so nice how you make me feel so welcome!! :-) I'm so looking forward to being there next week.

Vivienne

[Seth]

Should I turn off my ViewSonic 21.3-inch LCD monitor when I expect periods
of inactivity of 20 minutes to an hour? (No. 3 Son had told me that turning
it on and off causes more wear and tear than leaving it on, just like a
fluorescent light.)

Continuously turning off the LCD's back light by pressing the power switch, will indeed cause it to wear much quicker. Reason being, when it's powered back up, the light has to go from 0 volts to 120 volts instantaneously. This is like a punch in the face to the light's filament. It's also precisely why LCD tv's take about 15 seconds to turn on, and a good minute before the picture reaches it's brightest. The TV's have circuitry in them which slowly applies power to the back light, thus turning that "punch in the face" to a gentle caress. This also applies to LCD computer monitors, but not to the same degree, as when it comes to computers, being fast is the priority. So, don't turn it off by the power switch, just let the monitor go into "standby" mode (the orange light will be on). In your power settings it will say "Turn off monitor after xx minutes". This is misleading, as it doesn't actually turn the monitor off, but rather puts it into standby. Which is exactly what you want.

Also, having a blank white page as a screensaver is the worst thing you could do. To create a white image, every single liquid crystal has to be turned on to create "white". This would be akin to putting your vehicle in neutral, and holding down the gas pedal to the floor.

[mommalina]

Also, having a blank white page as a screensaver is the worst thing you could do. To create a white image, every single liquid crystal has to be turned on to create "white". This would be akin to putting your vehicle in neutral, and holding down the gas pedal to the floor.

Thanks, Seth. Didn't know that.

Other than turning off the monitor for short periods of time (less than an
hour), can you suggest what I can manually put on the screen in lieu of
Notepad or using the automatic screen-saver option?

I just don't want to use an automatic screen saver or hibernate, but would
go along with having the monitor turn off automatically after one hour of
inactivity if I could put something on the screen to protect it before it
automatically shuts off.

Thanks.

Lina

[Seth]

When you say, "Turn off the monitor", I don't know if you mean 1) the light goes off completely, or 2) the green light turns to orange (standby).

I wouldn't recommend #1 unless you weren't using your computer for days at a time. Reasons being what I previously posted.

The backlight on a LCD is the first thing to go, and it's very expensive to replace. Using any sort of screensaver (even the blank one that turns the screen black), still leaves the backlight on. This serves no benefit, but rather causes premature failure (or dimming) of the backlight.

I simply recommend using the Power Options in Control Panel to allow the LCD to go into standby after a given amount of time. (Remember, it actually say's "Turn off", but it's really Standby) This will allow the backlight to use a tiny amount of power to keep warm...thus avoiding a dreaded cold start.

[qldit]

Good Afternoon All, I would have to agree entirely with Seth's view and the monitor operation.
In the old days with thermionic devices it was a good learning experience with cathodic devices and standby situations.
Keeping systems fully powered when not required was detrimental to service life, and allowing things to fully power down was also problematic. The standby mode where a token voltage was applied to systems was the answer, this allowed rapid return to operation and stopped premature failures from cold powerup cycling, the longevity was excellent.
The screen backlight is a conventional flourescent style tube, with a finite life under normal operating brilliance conditions, it makes excellent logic to allow it to use a standby mode after a period of non-use.

With regard to the ozone generation and systems, this suddenly becomes a really interesting tool which is going to really have a large effect in the future.
I have just received an incredibly interesting email from China where a company is making these small ozone generators for kitchen type usage, when the cold water tap is turned on the water enters a mini-turbine driving a mini 3 phase generator which is stepped up to produce effect to produce ozone which enters the water and has a sterilising effect, this device is very interesting.
Other ozone generation systems may have application in operating theatres and places where organic bugs and substances may be sterilised, this system uses ozonated air flow.
My area of interest is in swimming pool sterilisation in place of having to use chlorine or ionisers using salt, this looks very interesting and I suspect will really take off.
The application potential is limitless, so far there don't appear to be any real problems with the idea. I feel these systems are going to be big!
My only problem is purchasing from the Chinese manufacturer at 300 euros per unit with a minimum buy of 10, shipping and duties will be extra!!!
Anyone interested in an ozone sterilising system for their swimming-pool!! LOL!!

That ice mentioned from the rocket wouldn't be from liquid oxygen by any chance would it?
I think we mentioned liquid nitrogen, I am not up on rocket stuff!!

By the way Momma, you couldn't possibly make a mistake!!!!
I do like your method of generating discussion, you are definitely a "switched on cookie"!!!
Cheers, Lawrence.