Drive yourself to distraction by turning your Desktop into a flurry of color or an active slideshow. Some hacks are just too cool to bother rationalizing. This is just such a hack. Type the following into a Terminal [Hack #48] window: % /System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/ ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/ScreenSaverEngine -background Now lean back, press the Return key, and prepare to be amazed. No, you're not imagining things; that is indeed your preferred screensaver running right smack dab on your Desktop, behind and between your running applications (see Figure 4-34). Figure 4-34. The screensaver running as desktopProbably the most useful part of this hack is turning it off and returning your Desktop to its unchanging self. To do so, type Control-C in the same Terminal window from which you started the screensaver running. While any of the screensavers will do, perhaps the grooviest is Flurry, shown in Figure 4-34. More serene, but no less impressive, is one of the slideshows: Forest, Cosmos, or Abstract. Of course, a homemade slideshow composed of snapshots in your Pictures folder will keep those near and dear to you even nearer.
As you might expect, there are a number of freeware apps (http://www.versiontracker.com/mp/new_search.m?productDB=mac&mode=Quick&OS_Filter=MacOSX&search=screensaver+desktop) available to turn the desktop screensaver on and off without needing a visit to the command line. |