HOW-TO HELP DESK
Screen savers put fun on your PC
By Kim Komando
Gannett News Service
Creating your own screen saver is a fun way to put digital images stored on your computer to good use. It's easy to collect your favorite pictures into a virtual photo album that displays on your monitor whenever the computer sits idle for a certain amount of time.
Screen savers are programs that start automatically when you're not using your computer. They were originally designed to prevent screen "burn in," a problem affecting older-style monitors. Over time, a static image or text would burn itself into the screen, leaving a ghost-like afterimage that could degrade picture quality. Screen savers filled the screens of idle computers with constantly moving text and images to prevent burn in.
Most monitors in use today aren't susceptible to burn in, but screen savers have remained popular because they're fun to look at.
Windows includes many screen savers. And Windows XP and Windows ME have an option that lets you create one that contains pictures of your family and friends. Here's how to set it up.
Right-click an empty area of the desktop. Select Properties and then the Screen Saver tab. Under Screen Saver, click the down arrow and select My Pictures Slideshow (on Windows XP) or My Pictures Screen Saver (on Windows ME). Click Settings and Browse to find the folder that contains your photos. The screen saver will automatically include all the pictures in the folder. You can also set how fast the pictures should change and the size of the pictures.
You can do the same with Mac OS X, the Macintosh computer operating system. Put your pictures in a folder on the desktop. Then, in the Dock, click System Preferences, Screen Effects and Pictures Folder. Click Configure. Drag the folder on the desktop to the Slide Folder well. Set your display options, and click OK.
You can quickly share screen saver slide shows with family members by using add-on software.
Easy ScreenSaver Studio (www.dd2002.com; $29.95) is one Windows program that gets high marks from reviewers. Its wizard walks you through the process. Once the screen saver is created, click File and Mail. That opens your e-mail program and automatically attaches the screen saver to a message. All you have to do is address and send it. At the other end, recipients right-click the screen saver's icon and then select Install.
You can share screen savers on the Macintosh a couple of ways. If you subscribe to Apple's .Mac service and use OS X, you can use .Mac Slideshow Publisher (www.mac.com), a free tool to exchange screen savers with other .Mac users. PhotoShow (www.simplestar.com; $29.99), which works with Mac OS 9 and OS X, is also worth considering.
If you don't have a bunch of family photos but want a personalized screen saver, check out Living Waterfalls (www.risoftsystems.com, $14.95), a popular Internet download. It includes a mix of tropical rain forest photos and soothing music. WebShots (www.webshots.com) is another popular site for screen saver software. WebShots says on its site that more than 100 million people have downloaded its free software for Windows or Mac, which lets you download WebShots photos for use as desktop wallpaper or in a slide show screensaver format.
Contact Kim Komando through her Web site, www.komando.com.
