When waiting for a user to log on to Windows, Windows XP will display the Logon dialog box or the Welcome screen for 10 minutes before  the Windows XP logo floating on a black background appears; which is the default logon screensaver.

(You can do this both in Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional.)

If you wish, you can reduce the amount of time Windows XP waits before activating the default screensaver.

Also you may not be too impressed with the Windows logo; and may prefer instead something with a little more color: The OpenGL 3D Pipes screensaver perhaps.

Here’s how to change both. If you only want to change one of these then ignore the procedure for changing the other: (If you only want to change the time that Windows waits, ignore section 3.

***Please do remember that editing the registry can be risky: It can only take a single cock-up to irreversibly mess up your entire installation in a worst-case scenario – Be sure to back up your registry or your entire C: drive before making any changes to the registry.***

Let’s start here:

1. Launch the Registry Editor by going to a command prompt and typing “regedit”. (To open a command prompt you should click Start>Run and type “cmd” in the dialog box that appears.)
2. Find the registry key “HK_USERS” – It should be the fourth one from the top. Click the corresponding + sign, then click the + sign corresponding to “Default”, then do the same with “Control Panel”, and click once on “Desktop” to highlight it.
3. In the panel on the right, locate and double-click the SCRNSAVE.EXE string value. In the Edit String dialog box that appears, type the name of the screensaver you want in the Value Data text box and click OK.
4. In the panel on the right, locate and double-click the ScreenSaveTimeOut string value. In the Edit String dialog box that appears, change the value from 600 seconds to another number, such as 120 for two minutes.
5. Close the Registry Editor and restart Windows XP. After the system restarts and you see the Logon or Welcome screen, do nothing and wait to see your new screensaver/delay in action.

…And that’s how it’s done.

This procedure might be useful in a computer lab or an Internet café where systems at times are unused and just sit there waiting for someone to log on eventually. If you have the authority to do so; you could add that little extra to give it a touch of individuality. Alternatively, you might just like to do it on your computer only, for the same purpose.