Is my monitor ruined?
 

http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/4360/problemtj3.th.png

So yea, Im getting some weird shadow/ghosting/afterimage effect, and its not just in word, it in everything Is my monitor ruined?.

Yea, its kinda hard to see, more noticeable on colored backgrounds.

I see nothing man but if it's the old ghost images burnt onto your screen thing then yeah, new monitor time. How long have you had this?

Just over a year. It only appears when there are things onscreen (like text) and its not so much ghosting as a motion blur kinda thing, I dont really know how to explain it.

I do not see anything either. But if it is burnt images, then yea new moniter, but its not like its not usable.

But I don't see anything, so yeah.

Um, if it's an effect on the monitor, I'm pretty sure a screenshot wouldn't catch it...

On the plus side we've pretty much established it is in fact the hardware.

So, is it a CRT monitor, a flatscreen, or what?

Well, before you go rushing off, if you have a CRT monitor, you can always try degaussing. A lot of them actually have a button built in to do it. If not, you can buy a degaussing ring. That may help.

Looks like somebody ran photoshop's wind blur to the right and it shows the most on high contrasts like white on black or black on white/gray/etc.

My comp's screen has the same issue. It's prone to happen if the screen gets moved around a lot, bumped, knocked, so on and so forth. Either it's old (which isn't really the case here since you said you've had it for about a year) orrr it's a supbar brand.

Its a Dell Flatscreen, had it since January 07. So, it is not a virus? Is there any way to undo that, or is it buggered? I know my sister wacks it around a lot.

It is hardware, and therefore not a virus. And therefore, unless you post a photo of the effect, we can't be more specifically sure.