Screen Saver - Turn On or Off

How to Turn Screen Saver On or Off in Windows 7​

   Information

A screen Saver is a moving picture or pattern that appears on a computer screen when the mouse or keyboard has not been used for a specified period of time. This will show you how to turn screen saver on or off in Windows 7.

   Note

If you checked the on resume, display logon screen box, it will still resume to the logon screen even if you have selected (None) for your screen saver.

OPTION ONE

To Turn the Screen Saver On or Off in Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic

1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click on the Display icon.

2. In the left blue pane, click on the Change screen saver link. (see screenshot below)

3. Close the Display window. (see screenshot above)

4. Go to step 3 in OPTION TWO below.

OPTION TWO

To Turn the Screen Saver On or Off in Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise

1. Right click on a empty space on the desktop and click on Personalize.

2. Click on the Screen Saver link at the bottom of the window. (see screenshots below)
NOTE: Under Screen Saver is the name of the screen saver in gray used in your current theme. If the screen saver name is None, then it is turned off.



3. Do either step 4 or 5 below for what you would like to do.

4. To Turn Off All Screen Savers
A) Under Screen saver, click on the drop down menu and select (None). (see screenshot below)

B) Decide if you wanted to turn the screen saver password protection on or off (option one at link).

C) Go to step 6.
5. To Turn On a Selected Screen Saver
A) Under Screen saver, click on the drop down menu and change the screen saver to a listed screen saver other than (None). (see screenshot below)

B) Select how many idle minutes to Wait before the selected screen saver displays.

C) Decide if you wanted to turn the screen saver password protection on or off (option one at link).
6. Click on OK. (see screenshot below step 4A or 5A)
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Change the Screen Saver in Windows 7
• How to Make your own Windows 7 Theme Pack
• How to Change or Save a Windows 7 Theme
• How to Add and Restore the Windows Energy Screen Saver Back in Windows 7
• How to Add and Restore the Aurora Screen Saver Back in Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable the Windows 7 Log On Screen Saver
• How to Create a Screen Saver Settings Shortcut in Windows
• How to Enable or Disable Windows 7 Screen Saver Password Protection
• How to Change Screen Saver Grace Period to Bypass Password Protection in Windows
• How to Allow or Prevent Changing Screen Saver in Windows 7
• How to Set or Change the Screen Saver Timeout Period in Windows 7
• How to Specify a Default Screen Saver for All Users in Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable Screen Savers in Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Add "Enable/Disable Screen Saver" to Desktop Context Menu

 

[Guru2223]

when i right click on my desktop the last entry is "gadgets" there is no "personalize" button. how do i turn screensaver on or off?

 

[Brink]

Hello Guru, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Are you sure that you do not have Windows 7 Starter instead? If you do, then that edition of Windows 7 does not include the Personalize feature.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/298-about-windows-open.html

 

[Guru2223]

Turning screen saver on or off

Hi Brink!

Thanx for the reply. I checked, I have Windows 7 Home Basic, which seems also not to have the Personalize feature.

I managed though = by going to Control Panel > Appearance > Display > Screen Resolution and doing a search in that screen for "Screen Saver" got me there.

There seems to be no other way to get there in the version of Windows 7 I am using. Why MicroSoft changed a simple operation (which required one right click on the desktop before) to something so complicated defies logic.

Happy New Year!

 

[Brink]

Guru,

I'm happy to hear that you found a workaround for this. Strange, the Windows 7 Home Basic edition should have Personalize included with it. For now, here is a Personalize shortcut that you can use until we can get this fixed.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/24013-personalization-shortcut-create.html


You might see if running a sfc /scannow command may be able to fix this for you. If not then a repair install may be able to.

 

[Guru2223]

Hi again Brink!
Thank you once again for your help.
Sadly, I have had a burglary at my house and my new laptop with Windows7 OS was stolen. The police came and took fingerprints and made all the right noises, but the chances are slim of recovering my loss.
Once my insurers have replaced the laptop, I will be sure to be in touch again.
With warm regards.

 

[Brink]

I'm sorry to hear that Guru. I hope that they at least catch the crook, and hopefully recover the laptop as well.

 

[Wino]

Hotkey to start screen Saver immediately

I am using my computer but need to step away, is there a way to start the screen saver immediately instead of waiting for the time to elapse before it starts?

 

[Brink]

Hello Wino, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Yes. You can create a shortcut from the screen saver .SCR file itself, then just click on the shortcut to start the screen saver at will. The blue NOTE box at the top of the tutorial below will show you the default screen savers .SCR file locations to be able to create a shortcut from.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2109-screen-saver-change.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Wino]

Thank you, but...

That does work but it does not prompt me for a password. You used to be able to move the cursor to a corner of the screen specified and that would start the screensave. This may have been a third party thing. What is needed is for you to be able to provide a "Hotkey" and that would start the screensaver.

 

[Brink]

I'm not sure if you can do this on demand with a screen saver, but you could use a Lock computer shortcut or Windows Key + L to instantly lock the computer to the log on screen.

 

[A320]

Why does my screen saver keep reverting to OFF On it's own. Really starting to bug me now.

 

[Brink]

Hello Chris,

Try saving your theme to see if that may help.

 

[A320]

My theme is already saved

 

[Brink]

Chris,

Is it a 3rd party screen saver that you are using?

If not, then you might see if doing a sfc /scannow may help, and if not, then a repair install.

 

[A320]

Chris,

Is it a 3rd party screen saver that you are using?

If not, then you might see if doing a sfc /scannow may help, and if not, then a repair install.

No, it's just "Ribbons". Doing the scan now.......

 

[A320]

scan complete, I got some message about a repair needing a reboot, just curious though, on a side note, is it possible that "sfc /scannow" could've reverted my custom icon set (MrGrim's) I had installed? It would appear now that any new folder's I create are the original Win7 icons now.

 

[Brink]

Yes, a sfc /scannow command will restore the system files back to their original unmodified state, and replace any corrupted ones if able. Sometimes a restart is needed afterwards to finish fixing corrupted or modified system files that are in use. That's all.

 

[A320]

Ok now what, I've reinstalled the icon set by Mr. GriM, reboot, and nothing, icons are still messed up.

 

[Brink]

Looks like a repair install will be needed then.