Apple provides a number of screen savers with the Mac OS, but you can never have too many. There are screen savers available for almost every holiday or occasion, and for many areas of interest, such as pets, fantasy, and cartoon characters.
Adding a third-party screen saver to your Mac is a simple process. You can add it manually, or if the screen saver has a built-in installer, as many do, you can let it perform the installation for you.
Installing Screen Savers Manually
Screen savers are stored in one of two locations on your Mac.
- /Library/Screen Savers/. Screen savers stored here can be used by any user account on your Mac.
- ~/Library/Screen Savers/. Screen savers stored here can only be used by that user account. The tilde (~) character at the front of the path name represents your personal home directory. For example, if your home directory is named 'tom,' the pathname would be /Users/tom/Library/Screen Savers/.
You can copy screen savers you download from the Internet to one of the above two locations. Mac screen savers have names that end with '.saver.' Never move a folder or file that doesn't end with .saver to a Screen Savers folder.
Installing Screen Savers the Easy Way
Most Mac screen savers are smart little buggers; they know how to install themselves.
- Close System Preferences, if you happen to have it open.
- Double-click the screen saver you wish to install.
- The Installer will start.
- Most installers will ask if you wish to install the screen saver for all users or just yourself. Make your selection to complete the installation.
That's all there is to it. The installation is complete, no matter which way you chose to perform the installation. You can now select and configure the options your new screen saver offers, if any. 'Screen Saver - Using the Desktop & Screen Saver Preferences Pane' provides detailed instructions on how to set up a screen saver.
