How To Set A Video As A Screen Saver In Windows 7

The default screen savers that come with Windows 7 are alright but sometimes they just get old a repetitive. Now there aren’t too many ways that you can go about getting new screen savers but there is one method that is relatively easy to set up and allows you to set any video as a screen saver on your computer. We can accomplish this by using a free program from Microsoft called Windows Essentials Photo Gallery.

To get started we need to download the latest copy of Windows Essentials from Microsoft’s website. Once the download has completed, install the program. Just follow the on-screen instructions to install. If prompted to select which programs you want to be installed, be sure the Photo Gallery program is selected. It is what we will be using to take our videos and make screen savers of them.

Once you have Windows Essentials Photo Gallery installed, run the program and navigate to the file menu. There should be an option for screen saver settings, click it.

Now click the settings option so we can configure our video source as well as the effect we would like it to be displayed with.

On the following screen select the folder which contains the video you would like to play as your screen saver. Note that all videos in the folder will be added to the screen saver. So if you want only one video to play just drop it into its own folder.

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On this screen we will also select our theme type. I find that the ‘fade’ theme is probably the best choice for playing a video as a screen saver.

Once you have configured this screen to your liking, click save. You can preview your new screen saver on the Screen Saver Settings page by clicking the preview button. Once you are satisfied, click okay and your new video screen saver will be in effect!

One thing I have noticed is that sometimes the screen saver will glitch up. I am not sure why but leave it to Windows to not be stable. I have found that all you need to do is go back to a default screen saver and then go back to the one of your video and it should all go back to normal. I really wish Microsoft would just build this into their operating system. It would be very useful and quite cool just to right click on my desktop, navigate to properties, and add my very own – video – screen saver. Ohh well, in time.

So what did you set your screen saver to, any cool ones that you would like to share? I set mine to a video I record with Fraps of me looking up at the sky during a night storm in Minecraft. The outcome looks quite neat and has a cool little cortex affect.