Burn in
1. A term used to describe the process of turning on and leaving on an electronic device for a predetermined period of time to help prevent any premature failures. Often a computer or other electronics maker will perform a burn in before shipping a device to help identify and prevent failures.
2. Alternatively referred to as a ghost, a burn in is an issue that occurs when leaving a computer monitor on a non-moving image causing that image to be burned into the phosphors of the monitor. When this issue occurs the monitor has a ghost of the non-moving image.
This issue occurs most often with older CGA and EGA CRT monitors but can still happen with new CRT monitors (although not as common). To help prevent a burn in, turn the monitor off or use a screen saver when not at the monitor.
If this
happens on your monitor try degaussing the monitor. Unfortunately, a burn in is
usually permanent and will never entirely disappear from the monitor.
Also see: Ghosting, Video definitions