Screen saver?

L

Larry M.

Ok, this is really got me puzzled, and I have no idea where else to turn.
It seems for maybe the past couple of weeks it seems that sometimes the
screen saver doesn't kick in.
When the time for the monitor just goes right to sleep it does. W/o the
screensaver kicking in, or after it
runs maybe a minute.

The odd thing is after I go and check the power settings, which all look
fine, it works as it should. I have
tried different screen savers as well as changes the timers. I don't know
if this is from 1 numerous amt.
of MS updates or is there maybe a corrupt file or something. Any ideas are
appreciated. TIA
 
G

Gene E. Bloch

Ok, this is really got me puzzled, and I have no idea where else to turn.
It seems for maybe the past couple of weeks it seems that sometimes the
screen saver doesn't kick in.
When the time for the monitor just goes right to sleep it does. W/o the
screensaver kicking in, or after it
runs maybe a minute.

The odd thing is after I go and check the power settings, which all look
fine, it works as it should. I have
tried different screen savers as well as changes the timers. I don't know
if this is from 1 numerous amt.
of MS updates or is there maybe a corrupt file or something. Any ideas are
appreciated. TIA

I've been going through this for a while, and the fun thing is that there
is very little consistency in what the system does. I try something, it
seems to work, and then it doesn't. It's hard to solve such a problem.
However, I have learned a few things.

1. My (now retired) previous wireless keyboard and mouse delayed the start
of the time out by 5 minutes (not 4:59 or 5:01, either). It took me a while
to track that down, and I though of it while driving to lunch one day,
remembering that the KB&M timed out so you had to press a key or button to
wake them up. The new KB&M is fine. BTW, I have also seen references online
to wireless keyboards causing screen saver problems, although the details
were a bit different from mine.

2. Turning off Windows Search Indexing didn't seem to have an effect.

3. Changing the idle-time delay in Norton seems to have worked. So far:
it's only been a couple of days. It's called Idle Timeout, in Miscellaneous
Settings. Norton supposedly waits for that length of time before starting
any of its idle time work. If I set it to less than the Screen Saver or
Monitor Off timeouts, there seems to be interference. If I make it longer
than both, it seems to be OK.

One problem is the max value in Norton is 30 minutes, but my screen saver
choices were less than that anyway. The Norton default value is 10 minutes,
though, which was too short for my screen saver settings.

It took a bit of experimentation to suss out all of this.

The program is Norton Internet Security 2010, if anyone is asking. I have
put on my bullet-proof vest in preparation for the onslaught of people
telling me how bad NIS 2010 is, so I have no problem there.
 
X

xfile

The program is Norton Internet Security 2010, if anyone is asking. I have
put on my bullet-proof vest in preparation for the onslaught of people
telling me how bad NIS 2010 is, so I have no problem there.

Don't forget your helmet. LOL.

Meant to be a joke but I think those criticisms are silly.
 
G

Gene E. Bloch

Don't forget your helmet. LOL.

Will my tin-foil hat do?
Meant to be a joke but I think those criticisms are silly.

They prove that once you've made a mistake, you'll never live it down :)

I gave up on Norton years ago because of the afore-mentioned mistakes
(plural, not singular!), but after seeing favorable reviews a couple of
years ago, I figured I'd try it again, and, by golly, I'm OK with it.
Usually...
 
L

Larry M.

Gene,

Why I don't see my orig. post here I don't know. But I see your reply.
My KB&M are PS2 connected. So the wireless guess doesn't apply.
I am not sure I understand the comments re: Norton.

I have Norton 360 v4 on this pc. I do not quite follow you re: a timing
change.
Any other ideas or clarification is appreciated.
 
X

xfile

I have Norton 360 v4 on this pc. I do not quite follow you re: a timing

If I remember correctly, NIS 2010 has a feature called Idle Time Scan, so it
will run scans when the system is not in use or being identified as idle. A
user can specify the system's idle timeout duration (e.g. 10 min), and my
guess is that she was referring to the settings of idle timeout that may
have caused her (and possibly yours, too) problem.


I don't know anything about Norton 360, but you can try settings.

Hope it helps and good luck.
 
G

Gene E. Bloch

Gene,

Why I don't see my orig. post here I don't know. But I see your reply.
My KB&M are PS2 connected. So the wireless guess doesn't apply.
I am not sure I understand the comments re: Norton.

That's OK, neither do I. The changes seemed to help, but ultimately, the
problem returned. As before, it is intermittent...
I have Norton 360 v4 on this pc. I do not quite follow you re: a timing
change.

Since you have a different program, you probably have different settings.
 
G

Gene E. Bloch

If I remember correctly, NIS 2010 has a feature called Idle Time Scan, so it
will run scans when the system is not in use or being identified as idle. A
user can specify the system's idle timeout duration (e.g. 10 min), and my
guess is that she was referring to the settings of idle timeout that may
have caused her (and possibly yours, too) problem.

By "she" do you mean me? That's a change :)
I don't know anything about Norton 360, but you can try settings.

Hope it helps and good luck.
 
L

Larry M.

Ok, I looked in settings and found something for Idle time. The max setting
is 10mins. I can make it less.
But if I understood your suggestion it was to increase the delay. N360 won't
let me go beyond 10mins.
Any other ideas. TIA
 
G

Gene E. Bloch

I hate to give you any new ideas, since what I did say doesn't even work
for me :)

Not to mention that N360 and NIS aren't the same. My original suggestion
was meant for you *if* you had the same software as I do, which of course I
didn't know, so I just posted anyway.
 

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