Back in the day, we ran screen savers for more than just meditative entertainment, eye candy or news updates. We ran them for one good reason -- to save our freakin' screens! Burn-in was a serious problem on CRT monitors, and many displays ended up with a permanent menu bar shadow or outline of a high-contrast desktop pattern stuck there for posterity.While LCD screens aren't nearly as likely to run into image persistence issues as older CRTs, they aren't immune to damage, as developer Daniel Sandler (author of screensaver Pyrothèque) learned to his dismay a year ago. After his flat-panel got munged by green static overnight, he whipped up a pattern-shifting screensaver to repair the burned-in pixels (based on Apple's recommendation of leaving an all-white image over the affected areas). Whaddaya know, it worked -- hence the $18 LCD Scrub screensaver/display repair tool.
Just updated to version 1.02 with registration and other bug fixes, LCD Scrub might just save you the cost of a new display. It's the fluoridated water of screensavers: secretly doing good behind the scenes.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-17-2008 @ 1:32PM
Chris L said...
I'd like to see some kind of study to test whether this sort of "treatment" is actually more effective than just waiting for the monitor to fix itself.
Reply
4-17-2008 @ 1:41PM
CL said...
or better yet, just play your favorite dvd on a loop, save you $18.
besides that, i have never heard of such problem on a lcd before, it does happen to plasma tv, but it will just fix itself after you let it running for awhile.
Reply
4-17-2008 @ 2:00PM
Tony said...
It does happen.. my LCD TV at home has a couple of lines where the 4:3 borders are, and they've been there for over a year now.
I'm told it's a different mechanism to the way plasma fails, so it'd be incorrect to call it burnin, but it looks very similar.
4-17-2008 @ 1:43PM
jokkel said...
JScreenFix http://www.jscreenfix.com/ does this on every device you own and it's free. 18 bucks for a simple app like this, you gotta be kidding…
Reply
4-17-2008 @ 1:45PM
jokkel said...
Seems like this is another tuawertisement camouflaged as an article.
4-17-2008 @ 3:52PM
toastycode said...
JScreenFix appears to be primarily intended for loosening "stuck" pixels. I haven't had this problem, so I don't know if it works for that purpose or not.
Additionally, even though JScreenFix claims to have a fullscreen mode—required for reversing burn-in in areas like the Dock or menu bar—I couldn't get it to work on my Mac. (By contrast, LCD Scrub is written explicitly and exclusively for Mac OS X.)
Finally, since it's not available as a screen saver, you have to explicitly run JScreenFix when you want to do repairs (and remember to run it when you walk away from your desk). The screen saver approach seems much more convenient to me.
So, yeah, you can try a free Java applet, but I think you'll be happier with a custom tool from a Mac developer.
4-17-2008 @ 2:03PM
Obvious said...
"... It's the fluoridated water of screensavers: secretly doing good behind the scenes."
Must... protect... precious... fluids...
: )
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4-17-2008 @ 2:05PM
ryan said...
So if Apple recommends a white image over the affected area, why shouldn't someone just do that instead of spending $18?
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4-17-2008 @ 3:41PM
toastycode said...
In the case of my burned-in Dell flat panel, the all-white trick wasn't working, so I had to get creative.
The blog post has the full story:
http://toastycode.com/blog/2008/02/05/lcd-scrub/
LCD Scrub is also a great solution if you want to follow Apple's advice but don't want to futz with creating images and displaying them full-screen for extended periods. Not everyone has time or inclination to do the research and put together a custom fix.
4-17-2008 @ 4:00PM
Bad Mojo said...
Will this get rid of an annoying "comma" in the menu bar at the top of my LCD screen?
Anyone know what that's caused from? I know it's not dead pixels.
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4-17-2008 @ 5:53PM
alan westbrook said...
Using Leopard? Change your background.
;)
4-17-2008 @ 4:12PM
Luigi193 said...
18 dollars?!?!?!?!
Whats wrong with people! Freeware FTW!
Reply
4-17-2008 @ 5:53PM
toastycode said...
We've got that too. :)
http://toastycode.com/besavers/
4-17-2008 @ 4:25PM
chris g said...
Any chance of this "leaving an all-white image over the affected areas" fixing the stuck pixel on my iPod touch?
Reply
4-17-2008 @ 5:58PM
toastycode said...
As I understand it, "stuck" pixels have an entirely different etiology from image persistence. It's harmless to try the all-white image, but I haven't read anyone recommending it for stuck pixels.
4-17-2008 @ 4:39PM
jada855 said...
Hello All,
I just saw and read the article above. I downloaded to test it out to see if it would fix my problem but I do not think the 20min is enough for me to see a result.
My problem is dark spots or what looks like dust behind the screen has anyone here ever experienced this problem? This would be the second time apple has replaced my screen. There is a topic on apples website to show others who have the same problem http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1092319&tstart=45
Just desperately looking for a solution and help thanks.
Reply
4-17-2008 @ 4:59PM
Fritz Laurel said...
Being that fluoride is really, really bad for you, maybe that wasn't the best analogy. Just sayin....
Reply
4-17-2008 @ 8:41PM
robogobo said...
you're right, but most people don't know that.
4-17-2008 @ 5:56PM
Jam said...
Yet another pointless application that costs money.. Again an app that could be written in a day, an application that should be free, but no its $18.
What happened to the Mac developers? They used to be cool! Like China!
Reply
4-17-2008 @ 7:01PM
Dan said...
A day? Half an hour with Quartz Composer and Automator.