<para>This chapter describes how to set preferences for the screensaver.
This chapter also provides information on how to modify the displays that
are available for the screensaver.</para>
</highlights>
<sect1 id="screensavers-1">
<title>Introduction to Screensavers</title>
<indexterm>
<primary>screensavers</primary>
<secondary>introduction</secondary>
</indexterm>
<indexterm>
<primary>gnome-screensaver</primary>
<see>screensavers</see>
</indexterm>
<para>A <firstterm>screensaver</firstterm> is an application that
replaces the image on a screen when the screen is not in use. The screensaver
application for the GNOME Desktop is <application>gnome-screensaver</application>.
The following sections describe how to set preferences for the <application>gnome-screensaver</application> application, and how to change the themes that
are available for the screensaver.</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="screensavers-2">
<title>Setting Screensaver Preferences</title>
<indexterm>
<primary>screensavers</primary>
<secondary>setting preferences</secondary>
</indexterm>
<para>All screensaver preferences and settings are stored in <application>GConf</application>.</para>
<para>To modify screensaver application preferences, users can use the <application>Screensaver</application> preference tool. For information on screensaver preferences, see <citetitle>GNOME Desktop User's Guide</citetitle>.</para>
<para>Users can also run the command <command>/usr/bin/gnome-screensaver-preferences</command> to open
the <guilabel>Screensaver Preferences</guilabel> dialog.</para>
<para>To set default screensaver settings and policy for all users, modify the screensaver settings in the Default GConf Configuration Source.</para>
<para>To set mandatory screensaver settings and policy for all users, modify the screensaver settings in the Mandatory GConf Configuration Source.</para>
to choose one or more <firstterm>screensaver themes</firstterm>. A screensaver
theme is an application that displays images on the screen of the user when
the screen is not in use. The available screensaver themes are listed in the <application>Screensaver</application> preference tool.</para>
<para>To add a new screensaver theme, copy the executable file for the <firstterm>screensaver theme engine</firstterm> to somewhere in your PATH or into the
screensaver theme engine executable directory. The screensaver theme engine executable directory for your system can be determined using the following command: