Solved SCREEN with GEARS

[George Vou]

Can someone tell me why I get a screen with gears as a picture when I press F8, and how to correct it please?
Windows 7 Ultimate

 

[Anak]

Hi George Vou, welcome to 7F!

If you happen to use Yahoo widgets, exit them and it should stop. If you don't use yahoo it could be another style widget or helper object.
F8 key triggers monitor change to dark screen with 2 gears logo on it.

Why does this happen, hard to say, my best guess? When you're pressing F8 you're trying to go into safe mode or like in the above link the user was trying to debug a program.
In either case F8 would only allow a certain set of drivers and services to start or run and when this happens the widget or object throws up the gear screen as a way of telling you that there is a problem; I don't have my driver or service to operate properly!

Why a gear icon?

using a gear for settings is a metaphor that has made its way into our visual language lexicon. If you want to change how 'something' operates you need to alter the inner-workings of the system, which was often the gears.

Source, 1st answer: Why is the settings icon either associated with gears or a wrench + screwdriver - User Experience Stack Exchange

Trouble is it's not at all descriptive.

 

[George Vou]

Thank you so much Anak! - That was it!
Yahoo 'freespace' widget was the naughty one!

I'll thank you in Greek too, Ευχαριστώ πολύ!

 

[Anak]

You're welcome, glad to see you got it sorted out, and thank you for marking your thread solved.