OS X brings a wealth of new features to the Mac. Though certainly not the most important new feature, OS X users finally have access to a built-in screen saver function. Just open the System Preferences, and choose Screen Saver. You'll be able to select from several modules, as well as set activation options and hot corners. But what if you want to view the screen saver animation without activating the saver itself? SaverLab is the answer...
After launching SaverLab, you'll be presented with a window listing all available screen saver modules. If you double-click on a module, it will be displayed in a separate window (320 x 240 pixels by default) complete with animation, and without taking over your whole screen. Sure, that's pretty cool, but double-click on another module, and a new window will appear.
View A Screen Saver Without Activating It
Having multiple savers going at once is pretty cool. And thanks to the multitasking magic of OS X, you can grab a screen saver window and move it around, without interrupting the animation! This is a definite improvement over OS 9, where clicking and holding the mouse button seemed to bring many actions to a halt.
But wait, there's more! You can specify the size of the screen saver's window, from 160 x 120 up to full screen. You can also have full control of the animation, with the ability to pause, resume, restart, speed up, slow down or single step through the animation. Finally, you can set preferences that will restore your last selected modules on startup, as well as show the module list on startup.
So make sure to get the most out of your Mac OS X screen savers, and use SaverLab.
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John is a software engineer who works in the corporate R&D group of a Fortune 500 company, focusing on all aspects of communications technology. He has several degrees that claim he knows what he's doing when it comes to computers. After watching co-workers reinstall Windows, search for device drivers, and experience other horrors during the day, he's glad that he comes home to a Mac (compatible) computer. Have any comments, suggestions, or favorite Gadgets? Drop John a line at