Solved Is it possible to connect a particular screen saver to a power plan?

[pxfragonard]

Probably not but it would be cool and convenient.

 

[Gornot]

AFAIK, no. Screensavers are "connected" to your desktop theme - if you save a theme different from your current, and assign another screensaver to it, it should change when you which between themes.

 

[Callender]

Scrren Saver - change power plan

Well I don't actually use screen savers so I cannot test this theory but:

ProcessLasso has an option to change power plans if a certain process is running so if you've got different screen-savers with different .scr running process names then it's possible.

Configure power plan to switch to high performance when bubbles screen-saver is active:



The problem with this approach is that you might not want or need ProcessLasso's other process taming features but it does seem to indicate that what you're asking for is possible.

Also see: Change Power Plan when application starts

 

[Anak]

Along with what Callender mentioned about ProcessLasso, another avenue could be you copying the .scr saver information into the theme.

Now, whether or not you can just copy the .scr into the theme or if this involves a set of related .dlls to make the .scr work as it should would require some experimentation on your part.

Related Link;
OLE for Process Control

 

[pxfragonard]

Along with what Callender mentioned about ProcessLasso, another avenue could be you copying the .scr saver information into the theme.

Now, whether or not you can just copy the .scr into the theme or if this involves a set of related .dlls to make the .scr work as it should would require some experimentation on your part.

Related Link;
OLE for Process Control

AFAIK, no. Screensavers are "connected" to your desktop theme - if you save a theme different from your current, and assign another screensaver to it, it should change when you which between themes.

Brilliant! Just change the theme. Do you know how I could make a shortcut to the theme and drag it onto the taskbar?

The other options are beyond my computer skills by thanks for your replies!!!

 

[Pyprohly]

Hi,

Do you know how I could make a shortcut to the theme and drag it onto the taskbar?

Custom user themes reside in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes. So Context-Menu -> New -> Shortcut and create a shorcut how you would normally, but append the word 'explorer' in front of the path to the selected theme file.

Example shortcut:

explorer "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\Custom.theme"

Lastly, stick it to the taskbar. (Or change the icon and/or filename first.)


A thing to note, though, is that the Personalization window must be open for the theme to change. Windows will open the Personalization window if it isn't already.

 

[Gornot]

Once you actually save the theme, it's not too difficult to change it via right click -> Personalize -> choosing your theme, instead of making a bunch of shortcuts on your desktop/taskbar.

So here's an idea: if you're constantly switching between screensavers but don't want to change the rest of the theme, just use the screensaver name as the theme name, and manage them in Personalization.

 

[pxfragonard]

Hi,

Do you know how I could make a shortcut to the theme and drag it onto the taskbar?

Custom user themes reside in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes. So Context-Menu -> New -> Shortcut and create a shorcut how you would normally, but append the word 'explorer' in front of the path to the selected theme file.

Example shortcut:

explorer "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\Custom.theme"

Lastly, stick it to the taskbar. (Or change the icon and/or filename first.)


A thing to note, though, is that the Personalization window must be open for the theme to change. Windows will open the Personalization window if it isn't already.

Why would I use that code rather than, say, C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\Theme.theme? I tried that and it worked, opening the personalization, choosing and applying the file in one click. Just curious about the use of the percentage symbol. Is it a shortcut eliminating the need to write the full path? Thanks for telling me where they're stored! I didn't know that.

 

[pxfragonard]

Once you actually save the theme, it's not too difficult to change it via right click -> Personalize -> choosing your theme, instead of making a bunch of shortcuts on your desktop/taskbar.

So here's an idea: if you're constantly switching between screensavers but don't want to change the rest of the theme, just use the screensaver name as the theme name, and manage them in Personalization.

Actually, it's the screen saver I want to change because I have one attached to one theme and a different one attached to another. I just use the two: one for day, one for night. Having a different background image tells me at a glance which screensaver is going to be employed.

 

[pxfragonard]

Well I don't actually use screen savers so I cannot test this theory but:

ProcessLasso has an option to change power plans if a certain process is running so if you've got different screen-savers with different .scr running process names then it's possible.

Configure power plan to switch to high performance when bubbles screen-saver is active:

View attachment 344166

The problem with this approach is that you might not want or need ProcessLasso's other process taming features but it does seem to indicate that what you're asking for is possible.

Also see: Change Power Plan when application starts

Thanks very much but it sounds way too complicated and I prefer to work within what the system offers first. And within my limited knowledge.

 

[Gornot]

Once you actually save the theme, it's not too difficult to change it via right click -> Personalize -> choosing your theme, instead of making a bunch of shortcuts on your desktop/taskbar.

So here's an idea: if you're constantly switching between screensavers but don't want to change the rest of the theme, just use the screensaver name as the theme name, and manage them in Personalization.

Actually, it's the screen saver I want to change because I have one attached to one theme and a different one attached to another. I just use the two: one for day, one for night. Having a different background image tells me at a glance which screensaver is going to be employed.

Awesome

 

[pxfragonard]

It's because I have so many themes and don't want to fish all the time for them. Thanks again.

 

[Pyprohly]

Hi,

Do you know how I could make a shortcut to the theme and drag it onto the taskbar?

Custom user themes reside in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes. So Context-Menu -> New -> Shortcut and create a shorcut how you would normally, but append the word 'explorer' in front of the path to the selected theme file.

Example shortcut:

explorer "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\Custom.theme"

Lastly, stick it to the taskbar. (Or change the icon and/or filename first.)


A thing to note, though, is that the Personalization window must be open for the theme to change. Windows will open the Personalization window if it isn't already.

Why would I use that code rather than, say, C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\Theme.theme? I tried that and it worked, opening the personalization, choosing and applying the file in one click. Just curious about the use of the percentage symbol. Is it a shortcut eliminating the need to write the full path? Thanks for telling me where they're stored! I didn't know that.

Only if you want to pin the theme to the taskbar, is the 'Explorer' prefix really necessary... You see, Windows only permits applications on the taskbar, a .theme file is nothing near an application, so it cannot be pinned under normal circumstances.

Explorer on the other hand is an application (C:\Windows\explorer.exe) and is pin-able. If a file path argument is parsed to explorer.exe, the application will invoke the file. This is a neat trick to allow for non-applications to be pinned to the taskbar.

Appologies I didn't make this clear earlier.


Regarding the mysterious percent business (I like your curiosity btw), Pxfragonard, %LOCALAPPDATA% is an environment variable that expands to "C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local" -- and you can probably guess what %USERNAME% expands to.

So "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\Theme.theme" would just represent the same path as "C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\Theme.theme".

All operating systems will have their own implementations of these so called environment variables. In Windows 7, environment variables are (usually) denoted by text surrounded by percent symbols.

A (non)complete list of avaliable environment variables can be obtained by the SET command via the command prompt.

 

[pxfragonard]

You needn't apologize. I should have just followed your advice. I wasn't able to drag it to the taskbar and now I know why! Just as well, it's getting crowded there. Anyway, the whole thing is fascinating. It reminds me of doing searches in the way olden days when asterisks served a different purpose. Or did they? Idle curiosity! I tried typing SET and saved what I found there. I'll look at it later when I've done some work. I only have so much time for idle curiosity, which often needs a working computer! Back to the BSOD thread. Cheers!

 

[Anak]

Although there were some shaky moments in this thread, these last two posts show a grand example of the camaraderie, and honesty amongst friends.

Members working towards a common goal!

My hats off to not only, pxfragonard, and, Pyprohly, but also, Gornot, and Callender.

Well Done!