Use Your Own Pictures as a Screen Saver

Windows XP allows you to use your own collection of digital images as a screen saver slideshow. You can specify a source folder containing just the images you want and choose from a variety of options to make the screen saver behave as desired.

By default, the screensaver will normally grab images directly from the "My Pictures" parent folder. However, you can choose any folder on your computer that contains a suitable collection of images. You can even create a folder just for the purpose and add copies of any images that you would like to appear in your screen saver.

If you just want to use images from the 'My Pictures" folder or another existing folder, you can jump straight to Step B.

Step A: Create your Screen Saver Image Folder

1. Create a new folder in "My Pictures" called "Slideshow" or something similar.
   
2. Copy and paste any images you want to use in the slide show into your new folder.

Step B: Choose and Configure the Screen Saver

1. Right-click an open area of the desktop and choose "Properties" to open the "Display Properties" window.
   
2. Click the "Screen Saver" tab and then choose "My Pictures Slideshow" from the drop-down list.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Click the "Settings" button to open the "My Pictures Screen Saver Options" window.
   
4. Click the "Browse" button to choose the file containing the images you want to use or just leave it as is to choose the default "My Pictures" folder.
   
5. Modify setting such as picture size and change frequency to taste.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Click "OK" to exit the My Pictures Screen Saver Options" window and then "OK" again to exit the "Display Properties" window.

The screen saver should now display a random slideshow of your chosen collection of images using the specified options.