By animating your screen, a screen saver ensures that static images dont burn patterns into your display.

Still, they can be pretty cool and are a nice distraction, which is why they still come on your computer, be it a Mac, a Linux machine, or a Windows PC.

To get started, first open the System Preferences and then click Desktop Screen Saver.

Also available is the option to display the clock over the top of your screen saver so that you can keep track of the time even while your desktop is hidden.

Here, each menu is a corner you can set up to perform a specific action when you drag the mouse into it.

So, you can set it up to start (or disable) the screen saver, launch Mission Control, the Notification Center, and so on.

Not all will have options, but many will, whether its the ability to change the text output, colors, speed, and so on.

You can also check out Screensavers Planet or this curated list at GitHub for some awesome ones.

Screen savers are a pretty easy part of your Mac to grasp, but its still nice to know all the features and options that come with them.

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Install Screensave For Mac