Creating a Slideshow Screensaver

Windows XP lists the My Pictures Slideshow screensaver (along with the other bundled screensavers) in the Screen Saver list on the Screen Saver tab (of the Display Properties dialog box, as shown in Figure 12.8). This screensaver cycles through the pictures you place in the My Pictures folder, which is one of the subfolders of the My Documents folder.

Figure 12.8. You can quickly create your own slideshow screensaver.

The possibilities provided by the My Pictures Slideshow Screen saver are limited only by your imagination (and the image files you have available). You can use personal photos, drawings you create, or any other images that are in an image file format (BMP, JPEG, and so on).

To create the image library for the My Picture Slideshow screensaver, save the images you want to use to the My Pictures folder. If you don't want to use the My Pictures folder, you can create your own folder and then specify the folder name when you set up the screensaver on the Screen Saver tab.

After you have your images in the appropriate folder (My Pictures or your particular folder choice), go to the Screen Saver tab of the Display Properties dialog box and select My Pictures Slideshow in the Screen Saver drop-down list.

Now you can set the various options for the slideshow screensaver by clicking Settings. The My Pictures Screen Saver Options dialog box opens (see Figure 12.9).

Figure 12.9. You can set the options for the slideshow screensaver.

The options for the slideshow are

• How Often Should Pictures Change? Use this slide bar to set the time a picture should remain on the screen before changing to the next image.

• How Big Should Pictures Be? Use this slide bar to set the percentage of the screen that should be covered by the pictures in the slideshow.

• Use Pictures in This Folder Set the folder that the slide will use as the picture library. Clicking the Browse button allows you to browse for the folder to be used.

• Stretch Small Pictures This option stretches small pictures so they cover the amount of screen specified.

• Show File Names Select this option to show the filename of the picture currently displayed by the slideshow.

• Use Transition Effects Between Pictures This option uses various transition effects, such as fades and slides, to transition from one picture to another.

• Allow Scrolling Through Pictures with the Keyboard If this option is selected, you can scroll through the pictures in the slideshow using the arrow keys on the keyboard.

After you have set the various options for the slideshow, click OK. This returns you to the Screen Saver tab. You can then set the timing for the screensaver by setting a time in the Wait box. You can also choose to password-protect the computer by requiring a password when you resume activity on the computer (the password is the same as your Windows password).

To test the slideshow screensaver, click the Preview button. To complete the process, click Apply or OK. If you click Apply, you can then go to the Themes tab and click the Save As button to save the modified theme. This assigns the slideshow screensaver to the theme, making it easy to retrieve the theme and your screensaver settings by selecting the Theme from the Themes list.

Note

For more about including a screensaver in a saved theme, see Chapter 4, "Creating Windows XP Themes from Scratch."