10.5: Install a number of bundled screen savers

Nov 16, '07 02:30:00PM

Contributed by: datasmid

You might know that some Screen Savers are built with Quartz Composer, included in the OSX Developer Tools (Retro.qtz and Security.qtz are famous examples). Less well known is that there are a bunch (80+) of Quartz Composer compositions living in the System folder that only need to be copied to another folder so they can be selected in the Desktop & Screen Saver preference panel in System Preferences.

If you would like to enjoy these Screen Savers when you are away from the Mac, just follow these steps:

  1. Quit System Preferences, if it is running.
  2. Copy the files you'd like to test from the folder /System/Library/Compositions into your user's Library/Screen Savers folder (create this if necessary). The system will copy automatically if you drag, as you don't have rights to modify the source folder. I've found that these files work quite well:
  3. Open System Preferences, select Desktop & Screen Saver, and scroll the left panel down and select the newly-added screen savers under Other.
Travelator is my personal favorite.

[robg adds: Make sure you check the Options button, as you can use it to tweak the settings on some of these savers, such as Travelator.]

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