Create a Screen Saver Key Combo

1. Open the start menu by clicking the start button or by pressing the Windows logo key on your keyboard if you have one.

2. Click on the menu entry that says "Search".
For Windows XP, you might see a bar on the left that asks for what kind of file you want to search for. Click "All Files and Folders".
For earlier versions of Windows (Win95-Win2K), you'll just see a few text boxes asking for what the file was called, snippets of info in the file, where Windows should search, etc.

5. In the "File Name" box, type this exact phrase: "*.scr"

6. Right-click on one of the screen savers that show up and select "Create Shortcut".
Windows will send you an error message that reads: "Windows cannot create a shortcut here. Do you want the shortcut to be placed on the desktop instead?". Simply click Yes.

8. Go to your desktop and right-click on your new screen saver shortcut. Select Properties.

9. Click the box that says Shortcut Key, and press the key combination that you want to trigger the screen saver with.

10. One example is Ctrl-Alt-Q. You do not have to use this, but it is an acceptable combination

11. Click OK when you're through with everything.

12. You can now trigger your screen saver by pressing that shortcut key.


Again, ours was Ctrl-Alt-Q. So what you do to trigger that screen saver is hold down Ctrl (Control), hold down Alt along with it, and press Q. You would then let all three keys go.