Screen savers are designed to turn on when a computer has been idle for a specified period of time. The original job of the screen
saver was to prevent image burn-in on CRT monitors by displaying a
continuously changing image. With today’s monitors, burn-in is no longer
a problem, but screen
savers are still around. The primary benefit that they offer today is
the ability to password-lock computers automatically when the screen saver turns on.
Configuring Screen Savers with Password Protection
Password-protecting a screen saver deters
unauthorized users from accessing a computer, which can protect both the
personal data of the user and the intellectual property of an
organization. As an administrator, you should ensure that the computers
you deploy have password-protected screen savers enabled.
You can password-protect a screen saver by performing the following steps:
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Press and hold or right-click an open area of the desktop, and then tap or click Personalize.
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Tap or click the Screen Saver link to display the Screen Saver Settings dialog box, as shown in Figure 1.
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Use the Screen Saver list box to select a screen saver. To disable the screen saver, select None and skip the remaining steps.
Note
REAL WORLD Unfortunately, screen
savers use a computer’s resources, increasing both the energy usage of
the computer (which otherwise would be idle) and its memory and
processor usage. Some screen
savers can cause the processor to run at a higher utilization
percentage as well. The reason for this is that some designs are very
complex and the computer must make a lot of computations to maintain and
update the screen saver image.
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Select On Resume, Display Logon Screen.
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Use the Wait box to specify how long the computer must be idle before the screen saver is activated. A reasonable value is between 10 and 15 minutes.
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Tap or click OK.
Note
One of the best screen savers is the Photos screen saver, which
displays a slideshow of photos from the Pictures library by default, but
you can select any other folder. By editing the settings, you can set
the slideshow speed and choose to shuffle the pictures rather than
display them in sequence.
Reducing Screen Saver Resource Usage
A computer that is running Windows 8 and that performs background
tasks or network duties such as print services should not be configured
to use a complex screen saver, such as 3D Text. Instead, the computer
should be configured with a basic screen saver, such as the Blank screen
saver. You can also modify the settings for advanced screen savers to
reduce resource usage. Typically, you do this by reducing the redraw and
refresh rates of the advanced screen saver.
To reduce screen saver resource usage, follow these steps:
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Press and hold or right-click an open area of the desktop. and then tap or click Personalize.
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Tap or click the Screen Saver link to display the Screen Saver Settings dialog box.
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If you want to use a screen saver that uses fewer resources without
making configuration changes, use the Screen Saver list box to select a
basic screen saver, such as Blank.
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If you want to use 3D Text or another advanced screen saver but
reduce its resource usage, select that screen saver and then tap or
click Settings. Use the Settings dialog box to reduce the values for
Resolution, Size, Rotational Speed, or similar settings that affect the
drawing or refreshing of the screen saver.
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Tap or click OK to close each of the open dialog boxes.
Setting Energy-Saving Settings for Monitors
Many newer monitors have energy-saving features that cause them to
shut off after a certain period of inactivity. Enabling this feature can
reduce the organization’s
electricity bill because monitors typically use a lot of electricity to
stay powered up. On some systems, this feature might have been
automatically enabled by the operating system during installation. This
depends, however, on the operating system properly detecting the monitor
and installing any necessary drivers.
On a portable laptop computer running on batteries, saving energy is
especially important. By configuring the monitor to shut off when the
computer is idle, you can save the battery life and extend the available
battery time for when the laptop is unplugged.
To manage a monitor’s energy settings, follow these steps:
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Press and hold or right-click an open area of the desktop, and then tap or click Personalize.
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Tap or click the Screen Saver link to display the Screen Saver Settings dialog box.
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Tap or click Change Power Settings. The Power Options console in Control Panel is displayed.
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In the left pane, tap or click Choose When To Turn Off Display.
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Use the selection list provided to specify when the monitor should be
turned off to save energy. Mobile computer devices may have separate
on-battery and plugged-in options.
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Tap or click Save Changes.
Note
If the computer is connected to a monitor that doesn’t support
energysaving settings, some power options might be unavailable. If you
are configuring the computer in a build area and are using a different
monitor than the one the user will have, you might want to obtain the
user’s monitor or a similar monitor and repeat this process.
Note
REAL WORLD Typically, you’ll want to turn off the monitor after 15 to 20 minutes of idle time. On my office computer, I turn on the screen
saver after 7 minutes and then turn off the monitor after 15 minutes of
idle time. On my laptop, I use settings of 5 minutes and 10 minutes,
respectively.
