How to Apply a Screen Saver

Screen savers used to be an important part of computing. You needed a screen saver to save your screen from image burn-in. In the olden days, if you left your computer on for a long period of time, the image that was showing on the screen would burn into the monitor. This doesn't happen anymore, but that doesn't mean we don't love our screen savers anyway. And now we use screen savers to protect our computers with a password while we're away from it, so screen savers actually do have a valid purpose.

To turn on or change a screen saver, follow these steps:

Right-click an empty area of the desktop, and select Properties.

In Personalize Appearance And Sounds, click Screen Saver.

Click the arrow in the Screen Saver dialog box to view the available screen savers. Select any one of them to view it in the dialog box; click Preview to view it in full-screen mode. (If viewing it in full-screen mode, move the mouse to exit the screen saver.)

After selecting a screen saver to apply, type how many minutes the computer should be idle before turning on the screen saver. You can also select On Resume, Display Logon Screen.

Click Settings, and configure the settings as desired. Not all screen savers have settings.

Click OK.