Selecting and Managing a Screen Saver

Screen savers are static or moving images that are displayed on your computer after some period of inactivity. The original concept behind screen savers was that they prevented your computer's monitor from being permanently "imprinted" with a specific pattern when it was left on for too long without changing. Modern monitors are not as susceptible to this kind of damage, but it is still a good idea to use a screen saver or to have your monitor automatically use power-saver mode after a period of inactivity.

Another reason for using a screen saver is to protect your computer from prying eyes when you are away from your desk. To further protect your data, you can require that your password be entered to unlock the screen saver after it is set in motion.

The default screen saver is a Windows Vista logo that moves around on a black background. Windows Vista comes with eight additional animated screen savers. You can choose any of these, display a slide show of the images and/or videos in a specific folder as a screen saver, download other animated screen savers from the Internet, or display no screen saver at all.

In this exercise, you will preview available screen savers and then select a screen saver that consists of a slide show of photographs.

1.	Under Personalization, click the Change screen saver task. The Screen Saver Settings dialog box opens
2.	Click the Screen saver arrow, and then in the list, click Photos. The preview screen displays a slide show of the 15 pictures in the Public Pictures\Sample Pictures folder. Troubleshooting If you have pictures in your own Pictures folder, you might see those pictures instead of the samples in the public Sample Pictures folder.
3.	Click Settings. The Photo Screen Saver Settings dialog box opens. [View full size image]
4.	To the right of Use pictures and videos from, click Browse.
5.	In the Browse For Folder dialog box that opens, browse to your Documents\MSP\SBS_WindowsVista\Chapter04 folder, and then click OK. Tip If you have a folder of your own favorite photos on your computer, feel free to browse to that folder instead.
6.	Adjust the slide show speed if you want, and then click Save. In the Screen Saver Settings dialog box, the slide show preview cycles through the pictures in the selected folder. You can click Preview to see the full-screen slide show as it will appear when in action; move the mouse or press the Esc key to return to the dialog box. Tip To use a password to return to your regular desktop in Windows Vista, select the On Resume, Display Logon Screen.
7.	Choose the screen saver option you want to use on your computer, and then click OK.