Dirty Fingerprints

Looking at any office computer monitor we usually see leftover fingerprint marks on the physical screen, the result of proposed changes by colleagues, or instructions from superiors.

'Dirty Fingerprints', is a screensaver that gathers mouse-clicks from a variety of collaborating websites and renders them visible on the screen. The X-Y coordinates of web-surfers mouse clicks are retrieved by the screensaver and displayed as dirty fingerprints on the user's screen. The screensaver checks the web every five minutes to see if a new fingerprint has been placed. As a result of this missed human contact and we see the gradual buildup of residual markings.



Version 2.0 now contains a "Work Offline" option. This option is for those of you without a constant connection that still want to see the screensaver. It simply displays random prints.

The screensaver is in constant need of web surfer's clicks to render its fingerprints. You can help extend the network of collaborating sites by adding a simple line of code to one of your webpages, which will be invisible to your site visitors. Please see Join the network for more information.

The screensaver also keeps track of all of the hits that it collects on the server. Each unique URL is logged and you can View the Hits that have been collected.

If you would like to see a prototype version of the screensaver before downloading then please view the On-line prototype. The prototype checks for new fingerprints every five minutes, and new fingerprints can be added by clicking on this page. You must be using Netscape or Internet Explorer 4 or later to view the prototype.

The screensaver uses HTML, javascript, ASP and a compiled executable written in Delphi. The screensaver is currently only available for PCs running Windows. You must have an active internet connection to run the screensaver. After downloading the screensaver please unzip the contents and then double-click setup.exe. If you experience any problems then copy the dirtyfgr.scr file to your C:/Windows/System directory, then right-click the file and select 'Install'. For a full technical explanation please see the Technical Specifications.