How to Change the Screensaver Registry Settings

A screensaver is an application that prevents Phosphor burn-in (otherwise known as "screen burn") on CRT and plasma monitors. A screensaver can be comprised of shapes, texts, pictures or animations. When it is activated, the screen darkens, as images move back and forth across the screen. Adjusting screensaver settings using the registry is very easy. Because the registry contains values for screensavers installed on your computer, you can select a new screensaver, adjust the timeout settings and disable it if you don't want it anymore.

Instructions

Change the Logon Screen Saver

1. Click the Windows "Start" button and click "Run" or "Start Search" (Windows Vista users). Type "regedit" (without quotes) and click "OK" to open the registry.

2. Click "HKEY_USERS" and click ".DEFAULT." Click "Control Panel" and click "Desktop."

3. Double-click "SCRNSAVE.EXE" on the right panel and type in the name of the screensaver in the "Edit string" dialogue box.

4. Click "File" on the top menu and click "Exit" to close the registry.

Change the Logon Screen Saver Timeout Time

1. Open the registry by following step 1 in section 1.

2. Click "HKEY_USERS" and click ".DEFAULT." Click "Control Panel" and click "Desktop."

3. Double-click the "ScreenSaveTimeOut" on the right panel. In the "Edit strings" box, select the number of seconds after which your screensaver will begin when your computer has been idle. For example, if you want your screensaver to launch when your computer has been idle for 10 minutes, type "600" seconds. Click "OK" to save your changes after adjusting the time settings.

4. Click the "File" button located on the top menu and click "Exit" to close the registry. Your screensaver will automatically begin after it has been idle for the time that you selected.

Turn Off the Logon Screen Saver

1. Open the registry window by following the same steps you used in section 1 and 2.

2. Click "HKEY_USERS" and click ".DEFAULT." Click "Control Panel" and click "Desktop."

3. Double-click "ScreenSaveActive" in the right panel. In the "Edit string" box, type "0" in the "Value data" box and click "OK" to save the changes. This will disable the screensaver.

4. Click the "File" button on the main menu and click "Exit" to close the registry.

References

• How to change the Windows Logon screen saver