我最近搜索了好的免费屏保。我的发现非常令人痛心。免费屏幕保护程序似乎是恶意软件最喜欢的传递系统(delivery system)，而不是其他任何东西。然而，一切都没有丢失。如果你想要一个真正好的、免费的屏幕保护程序，你只需要看看你自己硬盘上的内容。我们大多数人都拥有可以完美运行的出色照片和图形，而Windows 照片库(Windows Photo Gallery)可以轻松地将它们变成有史以来最好的屏幕保护程序。让我们看看它是如何完成的。
如何打开屏幕保护程序设置(Screen Saver Settings)
首先(First)，您需要打开Windows的屏幕保护程序(screen saver)设置。右键单击或长按桌面(Desktop)并选择Personalize。我在这里使用的是Windows 7屏幕截图；Windows 8 看起来几乎相同。
在个性化(Personalization)窗口中，单击或点击右下角的屏幕保护程序(Screen Saver)图标。
如您所料，这将打开“屏幕保护程序设置”窗口。(Screen Saver Settings)打开它的另一种方法是遵循以下路径："Control Panel -> Appearance and Personalization -> Change screen saver"。
如果您已经选择了屏幕保护程序，它将显示，如果您还没有选择屏幕保护程序，则显示无(None)。
单击或点击(Click)屏幕保护程序名称(screen saver name)旁边的向下箭头，您将看到一个选项列表。
如何创建自己的屏幕保护程序
在屏幕保护程序设置(Screen Saver Settings)窗口中，选择照片库(Photo Gallery)。
一两秒钟后，Windows 接受了这个选择。单击(Click)或点击设置(Settings)。
下一个窗口将让您从照片库中选择要使用的照片(Photo Gallery)。您可以选择显示所有照片，也可以选择显示一张相册。由于我们大多数人都拥有大量图像，但并非所有图像都能成为出色的屏幕保护程序，因此使用您所拥有的一小部分图像是一个好主意。您可以按标签或评级（如果您选择对图像进行评级）过滤图像，并且可以告诉照片库(Photo Gallery)不要显示带有特定标签集的图像。一会儿我会讲到的。现在，采取简单的方法并选择您的相册(Photo Gallery)相册之一。在这里，我选择了一张相册，里面装满了我们大峡谷(Grand Canyon)之行的照片。
现在，单击或点击使用此主题(Use this theme)。这将让您决定图像在充当屏幕保护程序(screen saver)时如何在屏幕上显示。这是Windows 屏幕(Windows screen)保护程序的标准显示控件集。
最好的办法是依次点击或点击每一个，这样你就可以看到它们在行动中的样子。保存(Save)您所做的设置后，您可以在窗口的小屏幕中观看屏幕保护程序(screen saver)的预览，或者如果您想全屏查看，请单击或点击(click or tap) 预览。(Preview)
预览(Preview)可能需要稳定的手，因为如果您在单击后稍微移动鼠标，它将取消预览。
如何使用标签(Tags)个性化您的屏幕保护程序(Screen Saver)
如果您在Windows 照片库(Windows Photo Gallery)中添加了标签，则可以将屏幕保护程序(screen saver)设置为仅使用带有您指定的标签的照片。这是我们最近的教程，它解释了如何在照片库中(Photo Gallery)标记人物(Tag People)：如何使用Windows 照片库标记(Windows Photo Gallery)照片(Photos)中的人物。添加地理(Geotags)标签或描述性标签(Descriptive tags)的工作方式完全相同。
我发现当屏幕保护程序(Screen Saver)说使用描述性标签(Use descriptive tags)时，这正是它的意思。您必须使用照片库中的描述性(Photo Gallery)标签(Descriptive tags)功能在您的照片上放置描述性标签，否则屏幕保护程序(Screen Saver)找不到它们。
幸运的是，选择相册中的所有照片非常容易：单击或点击任何图像，然后按Ctrl + A选择所有图像。然后，单击或点击(click or tap) 添加描述性标签(Add descriptive tags)并输入您喜欢的任何内容。我已将所有这些照片标记为Grand Canyon。
现在我可以告诉屏幕保护程序使用我的大峡谷照片库图像。(Photo Gallery)
注意：(NOTE:)如果您有一个非常旧和/或非常边缘的视频卡(video card)，您可能会收到一条消息，说您的视频卡(video card)无法播放主题。如果发生这种情况，您可以查看这篇文章以获得解决方案：WLPG 屏幕保护程序设置对话框中的“此计算机的视频卡无法播放主题”消息("This Computer's Video Card Can't Play Themes" Message in WLPG Screensaver Settings Dialog)。
结论
如果您喜欢屏幕保护程序并且不想花钱购买商业屏幕保护程序，并且不想将您的系统置于风险之中，而“屏幕保护程序”只不过是恶意软件的传递系统(delivery system)，那么创建自己的就是要走的路. 我们对安全软件(security software)有很多好评，但最好还是不要碰运气。🙂
Windows 照片库(Windows Photo Gallery)与Windows自己的屏幕保护(Screen Saver)程序无缝连接（除了描述性标签的一个小怪癖），您应该能够在几分钟内创建自己的自定义屏幕保护程序。(screen saver)绝对比其他人的外太空概念或卡通超级英雄(space or cartoon superheroes)或动画图形只是等着吃你的硬盘吃午饭。
您是否创建了自己的屏幕保护程序？您最喜欢哪种变体？(Which)请(Please)在评论中告诉我们。
How to Create Your Own Screen Saver with Windows Photo Gallery
I recently searchеd for good and frеe screensavers. What I found was pretty distressing. Free screensavers appear to be a favorite delivery system for malware more than anything else. Howeνer, all is not loѕt. If you want a really good, free screеnsaver, you need look no farther than the contents of your own hard drive. Most of us have great photos and graphics that will work perfectly, and Windows Photo Gallery makes it easy to turn them into the best screensaver ever. Let's see how it is done.
How to Open the Screen Saver Settings
First of all, you'll need to open up Windows' screen saver settings. Right-click or long-press on the Desktop and choose Personalize. I'm using Windows 7 screenshots here; Windows 8 looks nearly identical.
From the Personalization window, click or tap on the Screen Saver icon on the lower right.
This opens up the Screen Saver Settings window, as you might expect. Another way of opening it, is to follow this path: "Control Panel -> Appearance and Personalization -> Change screen saver".
It will show if you have already chosen a screensaver, or show None if you haven't.
Click or tap on the down-arrow next to the screen saver name and you'll see a list of options.
How to Create Your Own Screen Saver
In the Screen Saver Settings window, choose Photo Gallery.
After a second or two, Windows accepts that choice. Click or tap on Settings.
The next window will let you choose what photos you want to use from Photo Gallery. You can choose to show all your photos, or pick one album to show. Since most of us have huge collections of images, not all of which would make good screen savers, it's a good idea to use some small subset of what you've got. You can filter your images by their tags, or by their ratings (if you've chosen to rate your images) and you can tell Photo Gallery not to show images with a particular set of tags. I'll get to that in a moment. For now, take the simple approach and pick one of your Photo Gallery albums. Here I have chosen an album full of pictures from our trip to the Grand Canyon.
Now, click or tap on Use this theme. That will let you decide how the images will be displayed on your screen when they're acting as a screen saver. This is the standard set of display controls for Windows screen savers.
The best thing to do with this is to click or tap on each one in turn so you can see what they look like in action. After you Save the settings you've made, you can either watch a preview of the screen saver in the small screen in the window, or click or tap Preview if you want to see it full screen.
Preview may take a steady hand, because if you move your mouse even slightly after you click, it will cancel the preview.
How to Use Tags to Personalize your Screen Saver
If you have added tags in Windows Photo Gallery, you can set up your screen saver to use only the photos that carry the tags you specify. Here's our recent tutorial that explains how to tag people in Photo Gallery: How to Tag People in Photos with Windows Photo Gallery. Adding Geotags or Descriptive tags works exactly the same way.
I found that when Screen Saver says Use descriptive tags, that's exactly what it means. You have to use the Descriptive tags feature in Photo Gallery to put a descriptive tag on your photos, or the Screen Saver can't find them.
Fortunately, it is very easy to select all the photos in an album: click or tap on any image, then press Ctrl + A to select all the images. Then, click or tap Add descriptive tags and put in whatever you like. I have tagged all these photos as Grand Canyon.
And now I can tell the screensaver to use my Photo Gallery images of the Grand Canyon.
NOTE: If you have a really old and/or really marginal video card you might get a message saying that your video card can't play themes. If this happens, you can check this article for a solution: "This Computer's Video Card Can't Play Themes" Message in WLPG Screensaver Settings Dialog.
Conclusion
If you like screensavers and don't want to spend money buying a commercial one, and don't want to put your system at risk with a "screensaver" that's nothing but a delivery system for malware, creating your own is the way to go. We have a lot of great reviews of security software, but it would still be better not to push your luck. 🙂
Windows Photo Gallery connects seamlessly with Windows' own Screen Saver application (except for the one small quirk about the descriptive tags) and you should be able to create your own customized screen saver in only a few minutes. Definitely better than someone else's notion of outer space or cartoon superheroes or animated graphics just waiting to eat your hard drive for lunch.
Have you created your own screensaver? Which of the variations did you like best? Please let us know in the comments.
