14 DAY TRIAL // Screensavers as an idea are more and more apart from what they were created for. And I stand for this taking into account two different reasons although both of them concern safety. The first one is about the safety of your monitors and especially the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) ones. When a CRT screen displays the same image for long periods of time the phosphor coating on the inside of the screen gradually and permanently changes its properties, resulting thus, in most cases, a darkened shadow or a ghost image on the screen.
The first screensaver ever used on a PC was created by Josh Socha for IBM and it blanked the screen after three minutes of inactivity. Ever since, the technology has developed into nowadays modern screensavers. But one of the main reasons for their study upon was because of CRT's used in public locations for they were the most probable to display the same image for a long period of time. Other protective options were powering down (for systems which supported this feature) or blacking the screen but they may have looked as out of service. For modern CRTs with improved phosphor coating and LCDs (Liquid Crystal Display) the damage is seriously decreased so that the purpose of screensavers changed from safety to pure entertainment.
Images, sounds, birds or fish environments are now what most screensavers are all about. Of course they act like screensavers but I suspect something fishy here which leads me to my second reason. Under the safety coating, some screensaver developers planted and ran in the background a series of programs that are connected to the malware category. As a response to this sneaking feature anti-virus applications offer any user the option to run them in the background so that their scanning won't be paused during the idle period.
Screensavers, beside the entertaining, are a successful business as well. Hardly can anyone find a nice screensaver for free. Rollo's Photos is a collection of original photos gathered in a project called "Nature In Broome County, NY". Cristina Rollo, the photographer and leader of this project, has a special interest in nature and animals, therefor all her photos describe in different ways the sights and life this part of our world.
"Capturing life's beautiful moments..." is the motto of this project and Cristina's wish to share with all of us these "wonders" materialized in the making of photo prints (framed or unframed), note cards of different sizes, printed T-shirts and the Screensaver discussed upon. For a 10$ fee the developer welcomes us to view a number of 48 photos (the best I hope) presenting bees, flowers, frogs, birds, trees in different seasons and much more.
The images are displayed in a relaxing way, the slideshow fading through the images very smoothly. Unfortunately the transition effect is only about fading for there are no other options regarding this feature in the Settings menu. The blurry "frame" gives the feeling that one has a peep at the nature instead of looking at a common photo. Another good point is that these are original photos (as Christina assures us) and not edited. Even if the latter might look clean-cut, the nature has its own charm and the way she captured them is fantastic. The images are extremely clear thanks to the advanced technology but also sometimes it's all about skills. The monitor type is also important for not all of them display such quality.
All the photos in the screensaver look great and their "touch" is creditable. One can make use of the settings by selecting after how long the image changes when the fading effect is complete (in seconds), the order in which the items are shown (Sequential, Random, Shuffle) or if to launch the application on Startup. It would have been better if the images weren't locked so that one can easily add some of his own nature photos in the slideshow.
I can only advise you to install this screensaver, sit back and relax. If you enjoy what you are seeing feel free to email Christina with feedback on the sampling and the purchase banner will be removed.
The Good
The images are really great, as all about nature is, and they slide show using a slow fading effect. My suggestion is to take more photos and supply us with more screensavers of such kind.
The Bad
The settings can be worked on but for the first version they are satisfying.
The Truth
A nice screensaver, with high quality "peeps" at nature, for relaxing moments.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
