While many computers are still set to use an animated screensaver after the computer has been idle for a period of time, this isn’t really necessary. An LCD monitor will never burn in in the same way as a CRT monitor. LCD monitors work differently than CRTs – there are no phosphors to burn in. Modern computer monitors (and even televisions) aren’t CRTs – they’re LCDs.

Screen savers display an animation that consistently changes, largely eliminating the problem of screen burn-in by ensuring that a single image isn’t on-screen all the time. Screen savers solved this problem by automatically activating when the computer wasn’t in-use.