How to Create a Screensaver for Windows XP and Windows Vista

Originally, the screensaver was designed to prevent phosphor burns on CRT and plasma monitors. Today, screensavers are used for simple visual appeal. A screen saver is simple to design on your own. This tutorial will show you how to create one on your Windows operating system.

Creating a Screensaver with Windows XP

1. The first thing you need to do is arrange your desired screensaver photos in a folder on your computer.
2. Once you have arranged your photos, right-click anywhere on the desktop and select Display Properties.
3. Select the Screen Saver tab once the Display Properties window is open.
4. Scroll down to Screen saver – My Pictures Slideshow. Select Settings.
5. Now you need to select the folder you saved the pictures on. The pictures in this folder will appear as a slideshow.

Creating a Screensaver with Windows Vista

It is even easier to create screensavers on Windows Vista. We will use the Windows Photo Gallery to create the screensaver.

1. Open the Windows Photo Gallery utility and click the File button located at the top of the screen.
2. Click Screensaver and then Settings in the dropdown menu that appears.
3. Select the Screen Saver list and click Photos. You can now customize your screensaver. Customize your screensaver. For example, you can show only pictures with a specific tag. Simply type in the tag in the With this section.
4. Display pictures with a particular rating, if you like. To do this, select a star rating with the With this rating feature.
5. Apply a slide show theme to your screen saver, if you want this effect. You can do this by selecting a theme from the Use this theme list. Alternatively, you can also display your pictures in a random order by selecting Shuffle.

Creating a Screensaver with PowerPoint 2007

1. Open the presentation with PowerPoint 2007. Now, click the Office button and click Save As. Select Other Formats to open the Save As window.
2. Once you are at the Save As window, you can either select an empty folder or create a new one to hold the PowerPoint images.
3. Enter a filename. You can select GIF, TIFF, JPG, PNG, or BMP. Click Save when you have made a choice.
4. PowerPoint will then give you a choice to save every slide or only the currently slide. Make your decision and click OK.

Your newly created screensaver can now be activated using the Display Properties window.