Make XP display a custom screen saver using your very own pictures

It used to be darn near impossible to create a personal screen saver using your own photo collection. To do this, you had to track down a third-party application and sloppily piece together your pictures to create a screen saver.

Well, the engineers at Microsoft must have realized they hated third-party applications and decided enough was enough. XP can take any pictures stored in your "My Pictures" folder and display them in random order as a screen saver.

To make a personal screen saver in XP, follow these directions:

Right-click an empty spot on your desktop and choose Properties.
Click the Screen Saver tab inside the Display Properties dialog box.
In the Screen Saver pull-down menu, choose "My Pictures Slideshow."
Underneath the Screen Saver pull-down menu, adjust the time of inactivity before Windows will initiate your screen saver.
Click Settings to make additional adjustments. You'll be able to adjust transition effects between pictures, how frequently they change, what size the pictures should be, and more.
Click OK when you're done tweaking the settings adjustments.
Press the Preview button to see what your screen saver looks like.
If everything is to your liking, click Apply.