• You can easily make your own screensaver for your computer system.Orchids image by Patricia Molina from Fotolia.com
  
  Screensavers serve a dual purpose--to protect against static images burning into your computer's monitor and as a means of expression by allowing you to display images that you enjoy or ones that represent you. There are a variety of freeware and commercial screensavers on the market, but you can also make your own screensaver using your own photos, graphics and designs. After creating it, you can easily change the screensaver later to reflect a different mood, holiday or other theme.
  
  

Screensaver Applications

• The first item you need to make your own screensaver is a screensaver application such as the one built into the Windows operating system (My Pictures Slideshow), iScreensaver Designer for the Mac, Picsaver or similar program. Many screensaver applications are free and available on the Internet for downloading. See the Resources section for links to screensaver applications.
  
  

Photos and Graphics

• The next item you need is a collection of photos or graphics you would like to display as a screensaver. The collection should be in one folder on your computer's hard drive in a format recognized by the screensaver application you are using (JPEG, TIFF or other format) and should be cropped and sized to your liking. Use a photo manipulation program such as Adobe Photoshop to crop and resize your photos.
  
  If using Windows, the My Pictures folder is the default folder for your slideshow screensaver collection. The My Pictures folder is located in the My Documents folder on your Windows system. If using a Mac, the third-party screensaver application will create a new folder for your collection. Any photos stored on a CD-ROM, memory card or other removable medium will need to be copied to the My Pictures or other specific folder on your computer's hard drive before using those photos in your screensaver application.
  
  

Changing to the Custom Screensaver

• After you have installed and set up your custom slideshow screensaver, make sure you follow the on-screen prompts to turn off the current screensaver you are using and select the new screensaver. If using Windows' built-in My Pictures Slideshow, you must select My Pictures Slideshow from the pull-down box under the heading Screen saver.
  
  

Adding Photos and Graphics

• Last, you need an extra set of photos and graphics so you can change the photos when they become stale. Store the photos or graphics in another folder on your computer and simply move the files to the My Pictures or the folder created by your third-party screensaver application when you want to add the new photos or graphics.