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Activating screen saver manually
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el



Joined: Nov 14, 2006
Posts: 222
PostPosted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 1:06 pm    Post subject: Activating screen saver manually
Hi,

I would like to be able to activate my screen saver whenever I wish, and not to have to wait for it to come on. How can I do this? I'm working on Vista, but would be interested in how to do it on XP too.

El
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Werebo



Joined: Aug 09, 2003
Posts: 4078

Location: SE London, UK...
PostPosted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 4:38 pm    Post subject:
I'll assume it works the same in Vista as it will in XP, but you can make a shortcut to the screensaver of your choice. They're Blah.scr in the ...\Windows\System32 folder.

You can place it on your Desktop for a double-click to use it, or in the 'Quick Start' on the Taskbar for a single-click Very Happy
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BudDurland



Joined: Dec 05, 2002
Posts: 426
PostPosted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 9:16 am    Post subject:
Someone at work had his screen saver set to kick of in two minutes. The screen saver was configured to require a password to get the desktop back, and that was what he was really after -- lock the computer when he stepped away. I showed him the <start key>-L short cut.


You can also invoke a screen saver from a keyboard short cut you make your self. The following text is from this link

Quote:
To create a keyboard shortcut: create a shortcut on the desktop as described above (basically same procedure as Werebo said). Right-click the shortcut on your desktop. On the Shortcut tab, find Shortcut Key. The word “None” will be in the box. Position the cursor after the word “None” and press Ctrl+Alt+S (or another letter). That will create the keyboard shortcut.

To start the screen saver: depress the three keys simultaneously. The screen saver will start immediately and you don’t have to worry about the mouse moving when you initiate the screen saver.


Using the keyboard shortcut method, I suppose you could save desktop clutter by putting the shortcut in "My Documents" or some other folder.
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drwho07



Joined: Nov 29, 2007
Posts: 1135

Location: Central FL, USA
PostPosted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:17 pm    Post subject: [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Bud, thank you for that refresher course. Idea

I had completely forgotten how to do that. Haven't done it for years.

It sure works like a champ though......

Cheers Mate!
Doc
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mommabear



Joined: Feb 20, 2003
Posts: 6185
PostPosted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:17 pm    Post subject: [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Outstanding tip!

I usually have my screen saver come on after a few minutes when I'm normally going in and out of the office in the course of the day. But when I'm doing long time pc intensive tasks, like movie conversions or defrag, I prefer to turn off my screen saver so it doesn't start running in the middle of everything. Then I switch my monitor off and go do something else til it's finished.

Many times though, I will forget to turn the screen saver back on. Not good when I forget to turn off the computer before going to bed, or step out of the house for a few hours. So what I've done is set my screen saver to kick in after 3 hours. That should allow enough time for it to stay off during tasks, but kick back on to protect my monitor when I've been careless. Now I don't have to worry about remembering to turn it off for tasks, or back on when I'm finished with them.

This is great! Thanks!!!
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el



Joined: Nov 14, 2006
Posts: 222
PostPosted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:40 am    Post subject: [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Works great. Thanks! I didn't realise it could be that easy Wink

El
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