Use Your Digital Photos as Your Screen Saver
By Parent Hacks May 09, 2008
Taking snapshots with my digital camera is no problem. Snap-snap, all the time. Getting the photos from my camera to my computer-I can do that, too. Problem is, there they often stay, languishing in my Pictures folder. I always mean to upload them to a photo sharing site (I use Flickr, but Shutterfly is popular with my family), but I often get sidetracked before finishing the job.
My stopgap solution? Thanks to a Parent Hacks reader tip, I now point my computer's screen saver at my Pictures folder so we get an ongoing slide show whenever the computer's idle.
Here's how:
I use a Mac; in System Preferences, click Desktop & Screen Saver, and then choose the "Pictures Folder" screen saver.
In Windows, click the Start button, and then choose Control Panel/Display. In the Screensaver tab, choose "My PIcture Slideshow."
My kids love to watch the pictures float by, especially the ones that show them as babies, or that remind us of a special occasion or family trip. It's also a wonderful way for them to stay familiar with the faces of long-distance family members they don't see often.
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Asha Dornfest has been tinkering on the Internet since the mid-90s, and has been writing about it for almost as long. She's written a number of books about Web publishing, including several "For Dummies" titles. In 2005, she founded Parent Hacks, a popular parenting community site devoted to swapping smart, often unconventional parenting tips.
