My laptop times out too quickly and goes into screen saver mode.

Anonymous
2011-05-15T19:50:33+00:00

How do I change my time -out screen saver control. It seems like one minute and then the screen goes black, then screen saver pictures begin. It's very controling and irritating. Usually if I press a button on the keyboard it will come back, but not always. Please advise.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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Anonymous
2011-05-16T13:44:16+00:00

Hi

1.       Was it working fine earlier, if yes then do remember making changes to your computer recently?

Follow these steps to change the settings for screensaver timeout:

a.       Right-click on your desktop and select "Personalize" from the menu that appears.

b.      Click on "Screen Saver" in the Personalization menu.

c.       Use the up and down arrow keys beside the "Wait" box to select the number of minutes you want the computer to wait before it activates the screensaver. You can also type the number of minutes directly into the box.

d.      Click "OK" to finalize your settings.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-01-19T12:15:06+00:00

    Thank you this worked perfectly.

    This was so irritating, of course I discovered, on following instructions it was on 1 minute! No wonder.

    CB-POPS

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-05-05T22:35:47+00:00

    I don't know if your advice transfers to Windows 8.1

    My new laptop goes into dark mode after about 2 minutes of no keystroke or screen touching.  I am only a rank beginner at trying to understand Win 8.1 (my old computer ran Win XP) but I managed to right click on the desktop, then selected "Personalize", and see a bar at the bottom that says "screen saver".  When I select that, I see no opportunity to change the length of time before computer goes to sleep.

    Any ideas?

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-07-01T22:36:10+00:00

    Hi

    1.       Was it working fine earlier, if yes then do remember making changes to your computer recently?

    Follow these steps to change the settings for screensaver timeout:

    a.       Right-click on your desktop and select "Personalize" from the menu that appears.

    b.      Click on "Screen Saver" in the Personalization menu.

    c.       Use the up and down arrow keys beside the "Wait" box to select the number of minutes you want the computer to wait before it activates the screensaver. You can also type the number of minutes directly into the box.

    d.      Click "OK" to finalize your setting

    Just wanted to say thank you !!! this was driving me crazy and I have a bit of A D D going on and it is hard for me to stay focused as it is and these instructions WORKED !!! SO THANK YOU

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-10-29T12:24:52+00:00

    I am using windows 10 and when I right click I do not get a menu to choose from as you described ?

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