Why Use a Screensaver?

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Why Use a Screensaver?

SYSTEM: Why A Screensaver?

By Diana Huggins

You are sitting at your desk, your computer is idle, and suddenly a cool image appears on your desktop that completely mesmerizes you. That would be your screensaver. Screensavers can serve a much more important purpose other than providing us with a few minutes of visual pleasure. Believe it or not, enabling a screensaver can actually increase the security on your computer.

You can configure a screensaver to start when your computer has been idle for a specific amount of time (for example, after 5 minutes). In other words, when you aren't using it. By password protecting the screensaver, the computer will be locked when the screensaver starts. This is a great idea for those of us who forget to lock our workstations when we leave them. In order to return to the desktop and resume working, you will need to supply the correct password. So once a password protected screensaver has been enabled, you can walk away from your computer knowing that your folders and files are secured. In Windows XP, you can use the steps outlined below to enable a password protected screensaver.

1. Right click your desktop and click Properties.
2. From the Display Properties dialog box, select the Screensaver tab.
3. Use the drop down arrow to select your screensaver of choice.
4. Change the Wait value to specify how long the computer can remain idle before the screensaver is started.
5. Select the On resume, password protect option. If you do not select this option, any activity will cause the desktop to appear.