up vote 3 down vote favorite
share [g+] share [fb]

Mac OS X Lion doesn't come with a "black screen" screensaver. Where can I get a screensaver that works with Lion and blanks the screen?

link|improve this question
100% accept rate
feedback

3 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

Assuming it also works for Lion (which I can't test), I uploaded this for you, you can download the screen saver file here.

If you want to do it manually, do it like this:

  • Open Quartz Composer.app, which comes with Xcode (so install that first).

  • Create a new blank file with the Screensaver template. Delete everything except for the "Clear" panel. You can also start with a totally empty window and drag "Clear" from the Patch Library to the work area.

    enter image description here

  • Save it under /Users/your-user/Library/Screen Savers to make it available for you only, or /Library/Screen Savers to make it available for all other users. Doing the latter, you'll have to enter an admin password.

  • Then, select it in System Preferences under "Other".

enter image description here

And there you go, a simple black screensaver.

Alternatively, you could of course just put the monitor to sleep, or let it display a folder of pictures, which only has one black picture inside.

link|improve this answer
Thanks, that worked, but I had to save 'blank_screen.qtz' it to my home directory then 'sudo cp ~/blank_screen.qtz /Libraray/Screen\ Savers/blank_screen.qtz' .. could you update your post plz. – lexu Aug 27 '11 at 9:40
You only have to do this if you want to make it available system-wide (notice the difference between ~/Library, which is in your home folder, and /Library, which is for all users. The former should work — but I'll adapt it to clarify. – slhck Aug 27 '11 at 9:45
@lexu Interestingly, this one showed "Quartz Composer" after a while. I fixed it and hope this now works perfectly. – slhck Aug 27 '11 at 13:19
1  
I'm curious why you wouldn't just put the monitor to sleep...why incur the extra wear and tear on your backlight, trivial though it may be? – peelman Aug 27 '11 at 15:19
@peelman I don't know — OP asked for it, I suggested to put the monitor to sleep anyway. Could be a problem with external display though (some take a while to get back from a display sleep or even switch to another input source). – slhck Aug 27 '11 at 15:27
show 1 more comment
feedback
up vote 3 down vote

Simple is best for me.

enter image description here

Place this flat black image in a folder and set that folder as your screensaver source.

enter image description here

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

Just get this one, it worked fine for me on 10.6 and now on 10.7:

There it is, THE REAL screensaver. Since this screen saver will only display a black blank screen it should actually save your screen. Of course, if you REALLY want to save your screen use the "Energy saving" settings in your system's preferences. Now featuring transparency! It's Freeware, so don't hesitate to Media:Blankscreensaverfolder120.zip download the 1.2.0 version (for Snow Leopard).

link|improve this answer
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.