How to Fix an LCD with Burnt Pixels

While the images that linger like a shadow on your LCD screen may look "burnt-in," the phenomena is actually known as image retention on LCD. It is the technology's competitor, the plasma television, that suffers from "burnt-in" images. But, the causes are fundamentally the same -- leaving a static image, such as a station ID, playing for too long a period of time, which, then, leaves a "ghost" of the image that can annoy and detract from your viewing pleasure. Fortunately for LCD owners, there are a number of cures for this technological ailment.

• 1

  Bring up the menu on your television; many include screen saver settings. Select the white screen saver and leave the television to play this image for over two hours. In some cases, this will remove the ghost image.

• 2

  Recall how long you have left the television on with the image that become stuck. If, for example, it was for 12 hours, then turn off your television at the wall outlet and leave it switched off for 15 hours before powering it up again.

• 3

  Power up your computer -- a laptop is ideal for this solution --- and download a program that "scrubs" LCD screens; such programs run bespoke patterns that are designed to combat image retention. Plug your laptop into the LCD screen, if possible, using a VGA cable and then run the video sequences for the time prescribed by the software developer.