3. Choosing and Configuring Your Screensaver
Screensavers turn on when a computer has been idle for a specified
period. Originally, screensavers were designed to prevent image burn-in
on CRT monitors by displaying a continually changing image. With today’s
monitors, burn-in is not much of a problem, but screensavers are still
around because they offer a different benefit today: the ability to
password-lock your computer automatically when the
screensaver turns on.
NOTE
Windows 7 performs many housekeeping tasks in the background when the computer
is idle. These housekeeping tasks extend to creating indexes,
defragmenting hard disks, creating whole computer backups and system
restore points, and more. Because of this, you should be more careful
than ever when choosing a screensaver for your computer. So although
you can install your fancy fish-tank screensaver with the sharks and
stingrays, you may do so at the expense of your computer being able to
efficiently perform background tasks while you are away from your desk
rather than while you are sitting at your desk.
3.1. Selecting a screensaver
You can configure your screensaver by performing the
following steps:
Right-click an open area of the desktop and then select
Personalize.
Click the Screen Saver link to display the Screen Saver
Settings dialog box, shown in Figure 3.
Use the Screen Saver listbox to select a screensaver.
Although you can install additional screensavers, the standard
screensavers are:
- (None)
Turns off the screensaver.
- 3D Text
Displays the time or custom text as a 3D message
against a black background.
- Blank
Displays a blank screen (i.e., a screen with a black
background and no text or images).
- Bubbles
Displays multicolored bubbles floating across
your desktop. The open windows and documents on the desktop
remain visible.
- Mystify
Displays arcing bands of lines in various
geometric patterns against a black background.
- Photos
Displays photos and videos from a selected
folder as a slideshow.
Ribbons
Displays ribbons of various thicknesses and
changing lines against a black background.
- (Other)
If you’ve installed a screensaver program on your
computer, you’ll typically see options for the additional
screensavers this program provides. Be careful with some of
these, as they can require a substantial amount of system
resources to maintain, preventing your computer from
effectively performing background housekeeping tasks.
To password-protect the screensaver, select “On
resume, display logon screen.” Clear this option only if you do
not want to use password protection.
Use the Wait box to specify how long the computer must be
idle before the screensaver is activated. A reasonable value is
between 10 and 15 minutes.
3.2. Customizing the 3D Text and Photos screensavers
Two of the standard screensavers deserve additional
discussions: 3D Text and Photos. With these screensavers (and likely
any custom screensavers you install), clicking Settings displays a
dialog box that allows you to customize the screensaver. To customize
the 3D Text screensaver, follow these steps:
In the Screen Saver Settings dialog box, select 3D Text as
the screensaver and then click Settings. This displays the 3D Text
Settings dialog box shown in Figure 4.
You can display the current time or a custom message as 3D
text. To display the current time as 3D text, select Time. To
display a custom message as 3D text, select Custom Text and then
type your message.
Click Choose Font. Use the Font dialog box to set the font
to use for the 3D text. The default font is Tahoma.
Use the Resolution slider to control the display resolution
of the text. The higher the resolution, the more processing power
required to draw and move the message.
Use the Size slider to control the size of the text.
Use the Rotation Speed slider to control the speed at which
the text moves and rotates on the screen. The faster the rotation,
the more processing power required to draw and move the
message.
Use the Rotation Type listbox to select the type of rotation
to use, such as spin or tumble. If you set the rotation type to
None, you can turn off rotation and reduce the amount of
processing power required to draw and move the message.
Use the following Surface Style options to configure the way
the 3D text looks:
- Solid Color
Displays the text in a solid color. Click Custom Color
and then click Choose Color to display the Color dialog box.
Choose the color to use and click OK.
- Texture
Displays the text with a textured surface. Click
Custom Texture and then click Choose Texture to display the
Choose Custom Texture dialog box. You can use any bitmap (.bmp) image as the texture. Once
you find a .bmp image
to use, click Open.
- Reflection
Displays the text with a reflective surface. Click
Custom Reflection and then click Choose Reflection to
display the Choose Custom Reflection dialog box. You can use
any bitmap (.bmp) image
as the texture. Once you find a .bmp image to use, click
Open.
Click OK to save your settings and then click OK to use this
screensaver.
The Photos screensaver is my favorite of all the
screensavers. It displays a slideshow of photos. You can customize the Photos
screensaver by following these steps:
In the Screen Saver Settings dialog box, select Photos as
the screensaver and then click Settings. This displays the Photos
Screen Saver dialog box shown in Figure 5.
By default, this screensaver displays the images in your
Pictures library, which is a combination of your My Pictures
folder and the Public Pictures folder. If you want to use photos
from a different folder, click Browse and then select the folder
to use.
Use the options on the “Slide show speed” list to set the
speed of the slideshow. The options are Slow, Medium, and
Fast.
Normally, photos are displayed in alphanumeric order. If you
want to shuffle the photos and display them in random order,
select the “Shuffle pictures” checkbox.
Click Save and then click OK.
NOTE
If you’ve installed Windows Live Essentials and selected
Windows Live Photo Gallery, you’ll also have the
Windows Live Photo Gallery screensaver, which functions much like
the Photos screensaver, but includes additional options such as a
choice of transitions, and the ability to specify photos by tag or
rating.
